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You won't find the term "refugee" in the Bible. But the Word of God has plenty to say about people called "strangers" and "sojourners" or "foreigners" in our translations.

"Strangers" and "foreigners" refer to anybody who was from another ethnic group but had chosen to live with the Jews in Israel - no matter what category they might represent in today's terms.

For instance, the book of Ruth is about a widow from the tribe of Moab who chooses to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, back to Israel and live there with her. In Ruth 2:10 we see her ask Boaz, in whose field she is gleaning, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me - a foreigner?" She understands her status as being outside the tribe of Israel.

"Sojourners" are people who are temporarily living in Israel or just traveling through the country.

Today's strangers and sojourners

We use many different terms today for what the Bible calls strangers, foreigners, and sojourners. Here are a few:

Displaced persons - those who have been forced to leave their homes (community) due to violent conflict, war, or a natural disaster. These people temporarily live in another community in their country and usually return home when things improve.

Refugees - people who have been forced to leave their nation due to violent conflict or war. These people want to return to their country once the war or conflict is over. These situations often lead to years of displacement.

Migrants - those who have chosen to leave their home country, mainly to escape poverty. These people are making a permanent move and would not return unless conditions improved significantly.

Immigrants - very similar to "migrant." Someone who moves to another country for any number of reasons, including marriage or other family ties, employment/business opportunity, etc. Some distinguish between immigrants with legal papers to enter a country and those without legal permission. This would not have been a consideration in Bible times.

Asylum seekers - individuals who ask to live in another country to escape severe religious or political persecution or another violation of their human rights. These people would not return home unless the reason for their move came to an end.

Stateless persons - those who are not a citizen under the laws of any country. People can become stateless in many ways, such as when a country ceases to exist or when a country adopts discriminatory laws that do not recognize certain ethnic groups within its borders.

Visitors - people coming into a country or community for a defined time. Some come for a vacation or sabbatical. Others come for an education. These individuals return home when that time period is over.

There are principles in God's Word about how his people are to treat strangers or foreigners.

Jesus said how his followers treated strangers should show disciple-like behavior.

... I was a stranger and you invited me in.-Matthew 25:35

Middle Eastern cultures are famous for their hospitality. For example, Abraham invited the angelic visitors into his tent and provided a lavish meal for them (Genesis 18:1-15). Even so, strangers among the different tribal groups were looked at with suspicion, often conned or taken advantage of, and not treated well, especially if they were poor. God's instructions in the Old Testament were countercultural.

Jesus follows the Old Testament pattern and takes it a step further by saying that how we treat strangers indicates whether we are his followers. We are to invite the stranger in if we are his disciples.

Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.-Exodus 23:9

This is the basic rule of thumb: Don't burden foreigners. Notice that the Scripture gives Israel a reason why - because they knew how it felt to be a foreigner. Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees who were made into slaves in Egypt. They weren't to cheat them or take advantage of them in any way.

And since we, as believers, were once strangers outside God's kingdom, we can identify with the idea of not belonging as the reason why we treat refugees or displaced people without discrimination.

Treat foreigners or refugees as citizens and with love.

The foreigners residing among you must be treated as native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.-Leviticus 19:34

Most Christians are aware of Jesus' instruction to "love your neighbor as yourself," but may not be as familiar with the law of Moses that has the same instruction for treating foreigners. The instruction to treat them as "native-born" would have been shocking to people in Moses' day.

Refugees then and now can end up living elsewhere for a short time or for many years. Of the 25.4 million refugees in the world today, more than 14 million have been out of their country for more than five years. Of these, 3.5 million have been refugees between 10 and 37 years. And another 3 million have been displaced for 37-plus years - that's a lifetime! This instruction in Leviticus is especially helpful when people end up staying for years as refugees or migrants.

God has set a high standard for treating those who are foreigners. His people are to love them like we love ourselves and to treat them as citizens. And the reason given? Because God - the "I am" - commanded us to.

Make foreigners part of the community.

Miscellaneous instructions in the Law made sure foreigners were included in the Jewish community. They included provisions for them to be treated equally under the law and to be included in festivals and celebrations of the community.

Cities of refuge were available to Israelites and foreigners in cases of accidental murder (Numbers 35:15).

Foreigners were to be included in festivals and celebrations mandated in the Law (Deuteronomy 16:14; 26:11).

Some of the tithe collected by the priests was to be used to not only feed them and their families, but also to help provide food for foreigners, widows, and orphans (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

Also, farmers were instructed to leave the gleanings of their fields for the poor and the foreigner (Leviticus 23:22). And to treat the stranger as they would the poor among the Israelites (Leviticus 25:35).

Notice the last two points were about providing for displaced people's needs, especially food. The truth, even today, is that people come to live in another country for a variety of reasons and with a variety of resources in their hands.

What needs would someone have coming to the U.S. with a job prearranged as a research scientist in a pharmaceutical lab? How about someone from Syria who had lost his business and home, then walked across Europe to reach asylum in Germany with his wife and three children? The inequalities are striking. But God provided for those with very little to have food and some income. They weren't to be left desperately poor and hungry.

All believers are to show hospitality to strangers.

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.-Hebrews 13:1-2

In this passage and a few others (Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9; 3 John 1:5-8), hospitality is held up as a mark of those who follow Jesus. The church was to support one another, including strangers who came to worship with them. This became especially important once the Jews were forced from Jerusalem and Palestine in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Then and now the church should be a welcoming community.

All believers are strangers on Earth.

... live out your time as foreigners here with reverent fear.-1 Peter 1:17

This is a principle for God's people of all times. Moses instructed the Israelites not to sell any of the land permanently, because the land belonged to God and they were only foreigners living there (Leviticus 25:23).

Think of how graciously God treats us, the foreigners living in his world. His kindness to us can guide our thoughts and actions towards those living as strangers among us.

All believers in Jesus Christ belong to the kingdom of God.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household.-Ephesians 2:19

This verse follows the great passage that lays out how we have been saved by faith in Jesus (2:8-10). In it, the terms "foreigners" and "strangers" are used as metaphors for our condition before our faith in Jesus Christ. Before we believed, we were outside the covenant and considered foreigners or strangers in God's kingdom (2:11-13). But because of our faith in him, we are now part of God's community - strangers who have been welcomed in.

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What does the Bible say about refugees? | World Vision

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You won't find the term "refugee" in the Bible. But the Word of God has plenty to say about people called "strangers" and "sojourners" or "foreigners" in our translations.

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Syrian Conflict explained (explainity® explainer video)

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Nazi Germany- Hitler defied the Treaty of Versailles when he tripled the size of the German army.

Fidel Castro- Castro originally tried overthrowing Batista.

Syrian Conflict- The terrorist group, 'IS,' wanted full domination over the world with the intention of conforming the inhabitants to Islamic belief.

Refugees Biblically- Jesus told his disciples that they should show disciple-like behavior towards strangers.

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They created the V-2 Rocket

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They Created the V-2 Rocket

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it said to love refuges and foreigners as your own since you were foreigners  in Egypt Leviticus 19:34

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The original name of the nazis was German worker party also Hitler was a BAD guy

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Under Adolf Hitlers leadership, the Nazi regime was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of other victims.

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They won the Bay of Pigs battle.

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it says to treat other they way you want to be treated therefore you should treat them like your family and include them like family

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On the date of 5 August 1994, protests erupted on the Malecon in Havana, as thousands of Cubans poured into the streets demanding freedom and the overthrow of Fidel Castro. These protests were ignited by a few different factors.

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When Hitler was in office, he wanted global domination. That is why he tried to rid of most Jews.

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Fidel was the president of Cuba and made his country the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere

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More than half of the Syrians had to leave their homes.😢

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The conflict in Syria dates back to 2011. Many people were unhappy about the high levels of unemployment, widespread corruption and lack of political freedom.

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Don't burden refugees, we were all strangers to God and his kingdom. We should be able to understand how it feels to be a forgiener.

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The bible says to love everyone no matter there background refugee or not.

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love them no matter what they are, treat them the way you wanted to be treated. we are all still human, therefore you should do good things.

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Turkish-backed forces in the northwest fighting the Syrian government because of the peoples discontent with how it ran, starting with small protests and ending with armed battle.

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Matthew 25, Jesus says that how we treat “strangers” shows if we are his followers.

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1950  he belived the president needed to be over thrown so he tried to overthrow but he got put in prinson instead for a year.

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Moses was a refugee

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Hitler attempted a coup and got jailed.

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hitler lost presidence, he triple the size of the military which was agnist the treaty of versi

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The Bible says to not oppress foreigners because we were once foreigners too. The Bible also says to love them as yourself and to treat them like disciples.

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Hitler wanted global domanation and that lead to world war two.

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Hitler was very self centered and wanted everything to be under his control

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hiter was the chancelor and though the jews were the reason for there loss

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One thing I learned from this video was that Hitler did run for president. I knew most of the other stuff, but I thought that was cool.

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After Hitler came into power in 1933, Germany became a dictatorship.

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as the war happened, there were many different religions that were there, so as they were breaking out, it began to have conflict, which made them loose control, to where they lost or had to leave there homes.

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It started in like 2011 and everyone was unhappy because of unemployment and their whole government was corrupt then Russia invaded

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Hitler was the chancelor and thought the jews were the reason for there failure

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Hitler tripled the size of the military and went for world domination causing WW2.

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Fidel Castro was a Cuban dictator that became a dictator after overthrowing the president. After his death he gave dictatorship to his brother.

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in Matthew 25:35 it talks about being thirsty and hungry but then he gave you food and drink and also it says for I was stranger but you welcomed me like you don't have to know a person to love them like do what is right and care for people who you know don't have it better than you.

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I didn't know he led the failed an attack and was put in prison for it.

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they had the bay of pigs and then they became a communist country

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Died at 90 and passed his leadership.

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There was a religious thign that split them all up and diffrent groups got diffrent aid liek weapons,food, or medical from diffrent countries that supported them

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des castro seized control and became the head minister soon to be president of cuba

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he became prime minister to where he started to be the government. controlling the Bay of Pigs, where he lead them to in the battle, he also was kind of strict to where if someone did something wrong he throw them into prison, or would do something worse to them.

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Hitler tripled his army, which went against their treaty.

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The was not only through Syria but had other countries helping different. sides.

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they want Syria to be all islam and thats not good

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Fidel became a dictator in Cuba and killed or arrested anyone that disobeyed him. About 15,000 were executed because of their rebelion.

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There are lots of different groups of people and cultures living in Syria and it causes lots of different conflicts.

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they had a massive impact. but as their nation grew in poverty, they had a plan? he criticized and tried to lead Germany to power.

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After Batista was dethroned Castro became prime minister and eventually president leading to the bay of pigs battle

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why would people blame the jews instead of the politicians?

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During the Syria conflict, many people were unhappy about the high levels of unemployment, widespread corruption, and lack of political freedom

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No matter the kind of person they are or what their background is, we are told to love them.

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Fidel executed those who disagreed with his ruling, and Cubans tried to escape Cuba to get freedom.

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why would they start a dictatorship?

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who fights who? who allies with who? why is conflict so complex?

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is wanted to turn syria into an Islamic theocracy

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After collage Fidel became involved with revolutions and rebellions in the Dominican Republic and Columbia.
The US government distrusted Castro and attempted to remove him from power.

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On August 5th, 1994, protests spread on Malecon in Havana, as thousands of the Cuban people protested for their freedom as well as the overthrow of Fidel Castro. The people did not enjoy his rule and around 33,000 rafters left the island to leave.

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Because Syria has so many opinions and different religions, a conflict broke out in it.

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I think that we are all foreigners in our home countries.

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An extremist group known as "IS" or Islamic state wants to turn Syria into an islamic theocracy.

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The Syrian war has made many of the refugees run aways from their homes and they might never be able to come back cause of the damage that has been done to the land.

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Alot of the fighting and disagreement is about religon. Because they wanted to get rid of a religons.

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Castro was incredibly popular for being hated.

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the bible says they are someone outside of a tribe

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God says to love all no matter what.

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Everyone has their own opinion on what Syria should look like and be like, so everyone is fighting and no everyone has to escape because of this.

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we are all foreigners to one another.

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Syria is split up in many parts with different people and their different beliefs.

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Hitler was a dictator that wanted world domination and was the reason of the death of millions of Jews.

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Hitler went to prison and was chancellor before becoming dictator.

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Fidelo Castro appointed his brother into office before he died.

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It does not say refugee exactly, but it does say things like foreigners and strangers which means they are from another ethnic group.

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The terrorist group, 'IS,' wanted to have complete domination over the world with the intention of conforming its inhabitants to Islam.

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The US government distrusted Castro and attempted to remove him from power.

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The holocaust was the genocide of many European Jews during WWII, they killed around six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, led by Adolf Hitler

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Jesus wants his disciples to treat strangers with a disciple manner.

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Those who spoke out against Castro's laws were arrested.

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We should help others with the love of God and help lead them on the right path.