Bible Contradiction? How should strangers be treated?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: How should strangers be treated?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Love and be kind to them.

“The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)

“So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)

“You shall not pervert the justice due a stranger or an orphan, nor seize a widow’s garment as a pledge.” (Deuteronomy 24:17)

“Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means among you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a resident, so that he may live with you.” (Leviticus 25:35)

“You shall not oppress a stranger nor torment him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21)

“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9)

“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.” (Leviticus 19:33)

“if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin,” (Jeremiah 7:6)

“and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’” (Zechariah 7:10)

“And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:10)

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong to the stranger, the orphan, and to the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and for the widow. 21 “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.” (Deuteronomy 24:19-21)

“This is what the Lord says: “Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3)

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;” (Matthew 25:35)

Kill them.

“and when the Lord your God turns them over to you and you defeat them, you shall utterly destroy them. You shall not make a covenant with them nor be gracious to them.” (Deuteronomy 7:2)

“So when the tabernacle is to move on, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But the layman who comes near it shall be put to death.” (Numbers 1:51)

“So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”” (Numbers 3:10)

“Now those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle eastward, in front of the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the layman coming near was to be put to death.” (Numbers 3:38)

“But you and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything that concerns the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a service that is a gift, and the unauthorized person who comes near shall be put to death.”” (Numbers 18:7)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit thirteen passages (Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:19, Deuteronomy 24:17, Leviticus 25:35, Exodus 22:21, Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33, Jeremiah 7:6, Zechariah 7:10, Leviticus 19:10, Deuteronomy 24:19-21, Jeremiah 22:3 and Matthew 25:35) as affirming the claim “Strangers should be treated with love and kindness” against five other passages (Deuteronomy 7:2, Numbers 1:51, 3:10, 3:38 and 18:7) as affirming “Strangers should be killed.”
4. In term of the laws of logic just from the skeptics’ own claims of what the Bible teaches we actually don’t have a contradiction already. 
   1. To contradict the claim “Strangers should be treated with love and kindness” the second claims should be “Strangers should NEVER BE treated with love and kindness” or “Strangers should ONLY be killed.”  But those two claims are actually not what the skeptic asserted since the actual second claim is “Stranger should be killed” and as we shall see only in specific situations and not as a general principle of how to treat strangers generally.
   2. To contradict the second claim “Strangers should be killed” the first claims should be “Strangers should NEVER be killed” or “Strangers should ONLY be loved and shown kindness.”  But that’s not the skeptic’s actual second claim since it is “Strangers should be loved and shown kindness.”
5. The thirteen passages (Leviticus 19:34, Deuteronomy 10:19, Deuteronomy 24:17, Leviticus 25:35, Exodus 22:21, Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33, Jeremiah 7:6, Zechariah 7:10, Leviticus 19:10, Deuteronomy 24:19-21, Jeremiah 22:3 and Matthew 25:35) was accurately interpreted by the skeptic as asserting the claim “Strangers should be treated with love and kindness.”
   1. Some of these passages mentioned loving strangers.
   2. Some of the passages mentioned not oppressing or have ill towards strangers.
6. Let us look at the five specific verses on killing strangers more closely to note the specific and unique situations when it is lawful in the Old Testament to take the life of a stranger.
   1. When one look at Deuteronomy 7:2, the verse before in Deuteronomy 7:1 indicates this is not a general command to kill strangers in general but only the specific nations of “the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you.”  Deuteronomy 7:24-25 reveals that one of the reasons for their judgment from God is for their idolatry and in Deuteronomy 12:31 in talking about the nations that God had Israel dispossess (Deuteronomy 12:29) their judgment is also due to children sacrifice: “You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, because every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.“
   2. All those passages with the book of Numbers cited here is about the tabernacle.  This is a place where there’s an altar to worship God.  It would be trespassing for strangers. Moreover this death penalty is not without further safety measures such as a linen surrounding away from the tabernacle and also Numbers 1:53 mentioned about how the Tribe of Levites camped closest to the tabernacle so to protect others from the Tabernacle.  Moreover strangers of that time would have been in Ancient Near Eastern culture and understood the framework of sacred/common divide and it would not be a thing seen to tread non-chantly about.
7. Just because there’s verses on treating strangers in general kindly and lovingly while other specific passages talk about the application of force does not mean they are a contradiction.  Think about how we teach kids to be kind to strangers but also watch out for strangers in our time today; that would not be a contradiction even though they are opposites (though that opposite action depends on the situational context).  Similarly we don’t have a problem here with situational awareness.
8. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
9. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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