Alien

An alien in biblical usage is a person residing in a land not their own — a foreigner living among the covenant people of Israel. The Hebrew terms ger (sojourner) and nokri (foreigner) cover related but distinct categories, with the sojourner enjoying greater legal protections as an integrated resident. The Mosaic law made extensive provision for aliens: they were not to be oppressed (Lev. 19:33), were entitled to gleanings from harvests, and were to be treated with the love reserved for native Israelites, with the reminder that Israel had itself been alien in Egypt (Deut. 10:19).

At the same time, the law maintained distinctions between resident aliens and native Israelites in certain ritual and civic obligations. The New Testament extends the language of alien to describe believers who, as citizens of heaven, are strangers and pilgrims in the present world (1 Pet. 2:11; Heb. 11:13).