Show Hospitality to Strangers

by Margaret Nichols

From Strong’s Concordance and New American Standard Version:

Alien (1616) – stranger, foreigner, alien, pilgrim, sojourner, guest, visitor

From the root (1481) – basic definition: “to turn aside (from the road)” for the purpose of lodging for the night, to sojourn (as a guest), to dwell (as a stranger). This root essentially means to live among people who are not one’s blood relatives. God directed the Israelites to practice the “Golden Rule” with those non-Israelites who wanted to live among them as proselytes… Because of disobedience, the Jews were exiled in Mesopotamia to sojourn there.

Job 31:32 (Job speaking), “The Alien has not lodged outside, for I have opened my doors to the travelers.”

Romans 12:13, “…contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

1 Timothy 3:2, “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach…” – Qualifications of an elder.

Hebrews 13:2, “…do not neglect to shoe hospitality to strangers…”

1 Peter 4:9, “Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”