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4.3 Foreigners^31
4.3.1 The resident alien of Israel, the ger, was subject to the laws
of Israel and was not to be abused (Exod. 23:9; Lev. 19:33). The
one who subverts the rights of the ger, the fatherless, and the widow
receives the communal curse in Deut. 27:19. The ger was subject to
the legal restrictions of Israelites. They were not to curse with God’s
name on penalty of death (Lev. 24:16); they were subject to the
same penalties for homicide, battery, or damage to animals (Lev.
24:18–22).4.3.2 The ger was considered disadvantaged, along with the orphan
and widow (Exod. 22:21–22). Their judgment was not to be sub-
verted (Deut. 24:17); they could glean in the fields and vineyards
and join in eating first fruits (Deut. 26:11).4.3.3 Leviticus 25 considers the situation in which the resident ger
becomes rich enough to have Hebrew debt slaves and calls upon
the relatives to redeem the slaves by considering the number of years
left until the Jubilee and paying him the wages of a hired hand for
that number of years (Lev. 25:47–54).4.3.4 Unlike the ger, the nokri(“foreigner”) did not have to observe
dietary rules, could buy the carcasses of animals found dead (Deut.
14:21), and pay back debts in the sabbatical year (Deut. 15:3).4.4 Gender and Age
4.4.1 The legal system envisions Israelites as male heads of house-
holds, while women are defined in relationship to the household.
According to the Pentateuch’s grand narrative, this system was insti-
tuted by Moses, who addressed only the men of the congregation,
saying “do not approach a woman,” when he told Israel to remain
sexually chaste in anticipation of the encounter with God (Exod.
19:15). Women were normally attached to a household as wives,
daughters and daughter-in-laws, and their status depended both on
the household and their position in it. Unattached women such as
divorcées and widows would normally be expected to marry again.(^31) See Van Houten, The Alien in Israelite Law.
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