Forty years ago, I butted heads with those who insisted on only using the King James Version of the Bible. “People need to hear the word of God in everyday language,” I said. But today, I was reading my NIV modern translation for Genesis 37:1 and found a word that its “liberal” translators had skipped, but the stuck-in-the mud King James version had taken seriously. The Hebrew word is mə·ḡū·rê which means an alien, or stranger, or sojourner, who lives in a nation without citizenship or a permanent residence. Jacob, Isaac, Rebecca, and Sarah were tent dwellers.
King James says, “Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger (magure), in the land of Canaan.”
But NIV says, “Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.”
Mere omission? Why does it matter? The context of this story is that Israel’s founding saints were all foreigners. They depended upon the kindness of the Canaanite people to survive. They were undocumented aliens in the land of promise. The author of Hebrews writes:
“By faith Abraham… made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob.”
– Hebrews 11:8-9
Further, their wives willingly left their ancestral homes. Ruth, living some 400 years later, is also famous for being a foreigner. And yet her story is the prequel to the rise of Jerusalem’s famous monarchs. Jacob’s wives and their survival in a land they didn’t possess is the back-story to the rise of the nation Israel.
No, modern translations are not to be blamed for American Christianity’s failure to embrace the refugees and undocumented aliens that stream each year into our nation. I find that conservative Christians are reluctant to read the Bible in its social context. They memorise verses and forget basic biblical themes. Compassion for the poor. Hospitality towards strangers. Love for neighbors, regardless of their race, religion, or choice of life-partners.
Who matters in the story of God’s people? Women like Rahab the Harlot who is a sex worker. Those in prison, like the Apostle Paul. The poor. Think of the Syrian widow who harbored the prophet and fugitive, Elijah. Those who are meek. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The list is unavoidable, no matter which translation you read. It helps, though, to read every Bible story in its context.
One more thing. A major theme in the Jacob and Joseph narratives is that justice begins at home. If you treat your children unfairly, you will face consequences. If you treat your neighbors unfairly, you will be cast out. The nation that closes its doors to refugees and immigrants cuts itself off from needed new blood. So young Joseph arrives in Egypt as a slave and rises to be the Pharaoh’s most trusted advisor.
Remember: Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.