Context No. 3349 of 4322 · Numbers

Numbers 15:13-21: in context

13“‘All who are native-born shall do these things in this way, in offering an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD. 14If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD, as you do, so he shall do. 15For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so the foreigner shall be before the LORD. 16One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.’” 17The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land where I bring you, 19then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to the LORD. 20Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering. As the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it. 21Of the first of your dough, you shall give to the LORD a wave offering throughout your generations.

In the middle of instructions about offerings comes a striking principle of equality: you shall have one law for the native-born and for the foreigner who lives among you. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the LORD. The stranger who worshiped Israel's God was to be treated under the same statute and given the same access to God's presence.

The foreigner was not held at a distance as a second-class believer. Before God there was to be one standard, one welcome, for the homeborn and the sojourner alike. This is remarkable in the ancient world, and it anticipates the gospel's breaking down of the dividing wall, where in Christ there is no longer Jew nor Greek. Even under the old covenant, God's heart made room for the outsider who came to him, granting them the same standing before him as his own people. The one who draws near to God is welcomed on the same terms as everyone else who draws near.

Do I welcome those who come to God from outside my circle as equals before him, one law and one welcome, rather than holding them at a distance?

Sources

Numbers 15:15: "As you are, so the foreigner shall be before the LORD."
Numbers 15:16: "One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you."
Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek... for you are all one in Christ Jesus."