Deuteronomy 10:12-22: a reflection

12Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13to keep the LORD’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14Behold, to the LORD your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein. 15Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. 16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17For the LORD your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take bribes. 18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing. 19Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him. You shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. 21He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.

Moses reminds Israel of who their God is: the God to whom belong heaven and earth, the God of gods and Lord of lords, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. And then he says something striking about this great God: He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore, Moses says, love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. God's own love for the outsider becomes the ground of the command to love the outsider.

Notice both God's heart and the command that flows from it. The great God, to whom all things belong, loves the foreigner, the outsider, the one who does not belong, and cares for his needs. And because God loves the foreigner, his people are to love the foreigner too, remembering that they themselves were once foreigners in Egypt, strangers who knew what it was not to belong. Their own experience of being outsiders, and God's mercy to them, was to make them tender toward other outsiders.

That command still speaks. God's heart is tender toward the outsider, the stranger, the one who does not belong; and he calls his people to reflect that heart, to love the foreigner and the outsider rather than despising or excluding them. And the ground is our own experience: we too were once outsiders, strangers to God, shown mercy we did not deserve. Remember that you were once a stranger, and let it make you tender toward those who are strangers now. Love the foreigner and the outsider, whoever does not belong, as God loves them and as you were once loved when you did not belong. Reflect God's own heart for the stranger.

Lord, Moses reminded Israel that you, the God of gods and Lord of lords, who show no partiality, execute justice for the fatherless and the widow, and love the foreigner, giving him food and clothing; and therefore they were to love the foreigner, remembering they were once foreigners in Egypt. Speak to me through that command. Your heart is tender toward the outsider, the stranger, the one who does not belong; and you call me to reflect that heart, to love the foreigner and the outsider rather than despising or excluding them. And the ground is my own experience: I too was once an outsider, a stranger to you, shown mercy I did not deserve. Help me remember that I was once a stranger, and let it make me tender toward those who are strangers now. Help me love the foreigner and the outsider, whoever does not belong, as you love them and as I was once loved when I did not belong. Give me your heart for the stranger.