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Context No. 4304 of 4322 · Wisdom

Context · Reflection

Wisdom 19:1-16: in context

1But indignation without mercy came upon the ungodly to the end; for God also foreknew their future, 2how, having changed their minds to let your people go, and having sped them eagerly on their way, they would change their minds and pursue them. 3For while they were yet in the midst of their mourning, and lamenting at the graves of the dead, they made another foolish decision, and pursued as fugitives those whom they had begged to leave and driven out. 4For the doom which they deserved was drawing them to this end, and it made them forget the things that had happened to them, that they might fill up the punishment which was yet lacking from their torments, 5and that your people might journey on by a marvelous road, but they themselves might find a strange death. 6For the whole creation, each part in its diverse kind, was made new again, complying with your commandments, that your servants might be kept unharmed. 7Then the cloud that overshadowed the camp was seen, and dry land rising up out of what had been water, out of the Red sea an unhindered highway, and a grassy plain out of the violent surge, 8by which they passed over with all their army, these who were covered with your hand, having seen strange marvels. 9For like horses they roamed at large, and they skipped about like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who was their deliverer. 10For they still remembered the things that happened in the time of their sojourning, how instead of bearing cattle, the land brought forth lice, and instead of fish, the river spewed out a multitude of frogs. 11But afterwards, they also saw a new kind of birds, when, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties; 12for, to comfort them, quails came up for them from the sea. 13Punishments came upon the sinners, not without the signs that were given beforehand by the violence of the thunder, for they justly suffered through their own wickednesses, for the hatred which they practiced toward guests was grievous indeed. 14For while the others didn’t receive the strangers when they came to them, the Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors. 15And not only so, but while punishment of some sort will come upon the former, since they received as enemies those who were aliens; 16because these first welcomed with feastings, and then afflicted with dreadful toils, those who had already shared with them in the same rights.

This passage reflects on the judgment that fell on the Egyptians, and it names the root of their guilt in a striking way: their grievous hatred of strangers. They had received the Israelites as guests and then enslaved and afflicted them, mistreating the very people who had come among them and been a benefit to them. The sin the passage highlights is the mistreatment of strangers and guests, a hostility toward the outsider.

What stands out is how seriously Scripture treats the sin of inhospitality, the mistreatment of the stranger and the guest. The Egyptians welcomed the Israelites at first, then turned on them, enslaving and afflicting those who had come to dwell among them. This hostility toward outsiders is named as a grievous evil, drawing God's judgment. How a people treats the stranger in its midst matters deeply to God.

Scripture consistently calls God's people to the opposite of this hostility: to welcome and care for the stranger, the outsider, the guest. The mistreatment of those who are foreign or vulnerable, the ones who come among us needing welcome, is a serious matter in God's sight. We are called instead to show hospitality, remembering that we too were once strangers, and that in welcoming the stranger some have welcomed angels unawares.

How do I treat the stranger and the outsider, the vulnerable ones who come needing welcome, and will I show the hospitality Scripture commands rather than the hostility that drew judgment on those who mistreated their guests, remembering that I too was once a stranger?

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