No Offerings From an Alien?

No, not that kind of alien.

 

Did you know the Bible says that there is no God? It’s true! In both Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1, we find the phrase, “There is no God.” But — and this is a huge but — the context of the verses changes the meaning entirely. Here’s what both verses actually say: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good’” (Psa. 14:1; nearly identical in Psa. 53:1).

Ah! It is the fools, those who are corrupt and do abominable works, who say that there is no God. They wish to convince themselves that there will be no reckoning for their wickedness. Context is critical!

Now, this is admittedly an extreme example. Virtually no literate person would read these passages and believe that the Bible is telling us God doesn’t exist. However, you’ll see many examples of people taking Scriptures out of context and causing them to say things they simply don’t say. I’m sure all of us have done this at some point, merely by failing to read the context of a verse we quoted.

Today, as we’ve done many times before, let’s take one such Scripture and put it back in its proper context. This one is Leviticus 22:25: “Nor from a foreigner's hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because their corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.”

On occasion, this verse will be taken out of context and interpreted to mean that foreigners — also called aliens, Gentiles, strangers, etc. — could not bring offerings to God, a conclusion which would contradict the rest of Scripture, as we’ll see shortly. This verse raises three questions:

1. What was “the bread of your God”?

2. Was it acceptable for a foreigner to bring offerings?

3. Was it acceptable to offer offerings obtained from a foreigner?

We’ll answer each of these in turn, but first let’s look up the whole passage and read it in context.

The Full Passage

Lev. 22:25 comes at the close of a passage about offering blemished animals, something which God’s Word repeatedly prohibited. Here’s God’s entire statement, found in verses 17-25:

17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the LORD as a burnt offering —

19 ‘you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats.

20 ‘Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf.

21 ‘And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.

22 ‘Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the LORD, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the LORD.

23 ‘Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb too long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

24 ‘You shall not offer to the LORD what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land.

25 ‘Nor from a foreigner’s [or “son of a foreigner”] hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because their corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’”

The context here is simple: No blemished animals could be offered to God under any circumstances. The Israelites couldn’t offer blemished animals from their own flocks, nor could they offer blemished animals (“any of these”) obtained from foreigners. That also means that foreigners, like Israelites, couldn’t offer “any of these” blemished animals to God.

We’ll examine this in more detail, but that’s the gist of the passage. No blemished animals could be offered to God under any circumstances, no matter who brought them or where they came from. Verse 25 simply serves as a point of emphasis: “Even if the offering comes from a foreigner, you may not offer any of the defective animals listed above.”

Now, let’s start breaking this down line by line.

Breaking It Down Further

Like the context itself, the Hebrew sentence structure dictates that “any of these” must refer to the defects already listed, and not to the ethnic origin of the worshiper. The list of defects has already been spelled out; no list of foreigners has been given. If it meant to say “any foreigner,” then it would say “any foreigner” rather than “any of these.” Therefore, “any of these” refers to the list already given, and not to a brand new category.

The Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, agrees that this is the intended meaning. “Neither shall ye offer the gifts of your God of all these things by the hand of a stranger, because there is corruption in them, a blemish in them: these shall not be accepted for you” (Lev. 22:25; Brenton English Septuagint).

Next, let’s look at the Hebrew word for “blemish” or “defect,” which is m’um (Strong’s # H3971). In both this chapter and the previous one, it describes physical defects. In the previous chapter, Leviticus 21, God said that no one with physical defects could serve in the priesthood — defects such as blindness, lameness, misshapen body parts, or even broken bones or skin disorders. Here in this chapter, too, “defects” are spelled out as blindness, broken bones, ulcers, skin disorders, etc. Such defects don’t pertain to the animal’s current or previous ownership.

So this passage contains no prohibition against foreigners offering sacrifices to God, or against Israelites acquiring unblemished animals from foreigners and offering them to God. Such a prohibition doesn’t even enter the discussion! The only prohibition here is against offering animals with physical blemishes and defects. “Any of these” must not be offered.

Notice, in fact, that this very passage presumes that strangers dwelling in Israel will be bringing sacrifices to God, as the beginning of the passage shows! “Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the LORD as a burnt offering…” (v. 18).

Now, this word for “stranger” is different from the one for “foreigner” in v. 25. This can sometimes be a point of contention, so let’s take a quick look at the two Hebrew words here.

Types of Foreigners

The “stranger” in verse 18 is ger in Hebrew (Strong’s # H1616), which means “a sojourner, temporary dweller, or newcomer.” The Bible often tells us that the same laws govern both sojourners and native Israelites. For example, “One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger [ger] who dwells with you” (Num. 15:16). And again, “The stranger [ger] who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 19:34).

The “foreigner” in verse 25 is ben-nekhar in Hebrew, which literally means “son of a foreigner.” The word nekhar (Strong’s # H5236) simply means “foreigner” or “that which is foreign.” A citizen of a foreign nation, or a visitor from a foreign nation, wouldn’t be described as a sojourner, but rather as a foreigner. The Bible often uses this word to describe foreign gods and worshipers of foreign gods, as well as foreign peoples and foreign lands in general.

God prohibited any uncircumcised foreigners (including sojourners) from eating the Passover lambs, as we can read in Ex. 12:43-49. He also prohibited them from entering His sanctuary: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘No foreigner [ben-nekhar], uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner [ben-nekhar] who is among the children of Israel” (Ezek. 44:9).

Nevertheless, God says that He will accept the sons of foreigners if they desire to serve Him:

6 “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants — everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant —

7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isa. 56:6-7.)

So God prohibited uncircumcised foreigners from entering His sanctuary or eating the Passover lamb. But that’s no prohibition against foreigners donating animals for sacrifice, or bringing offerings to the temple for a priest to offer on their behalf. We’ll see more on this shortly.

Now, let’s get back to our three questions on Lev. 22:25, starting with “the bread of your God.” What does this phrase mean? Could animals really be offered as “the bread of your God”?

What Was “the Bread of Your God”?

Throughout the Bible, the word “bread” (lekhem in Hebrew; artos in Greek) refers both to bread specifically and to food in general. For example, Jesus Christ told us to pray to the Father, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mat. 6:11). Does this mean we can only pray for bread, or that we can only eat bread? Of course not! “Bread” includes all food. This applies to both ordinary food and to offerings. And yes, that means the Bible also sometimes calls meat “bread.”

Concerning offerings, God instructed the priests in Lev. 3:14-16, 

14 ‘Then he shall offer from it his offering, as an offering made by fire to the LORD. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,

15 ‘the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove;

16 ‘and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food [lekhem, “bread”], an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma; all the fat is the LORD’s.

In this example, just as in Lev. 22:25, the sacrificial animals and their flesh are described as “bread,” that is, food.

Likewise, Lev. 21:21-22, too, describes all the offerings as the bread (or food) of God: “No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy.”

God gave all the offerings to His priests as food: “This shall be yours of the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering and every sin offering and every trespass offering which they render to Me, shall be most holy for you and your sons. In a most holy place you shall eat it; every male shall eat it. It shall be holy to you” (Num. 18:9-10).

But God also expressly granted the priest’s unmarried daughters to eat of this same food, and described it as bread: “If the priest’s daughter is married to an outsider, she may not eat of the holy offerings. But if the priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food [lekhem, “bread”]; but no outsider shall eat it” (Lev. 22:12-13).

We could go on, but the point should be unmistakable. “The bread of your God” refers broadly to any offering made to God, whether a grain offering, a drink offering, or the flesh of animals.

Next, could foreigners themselves bring offerings to God?

Could a Foreigner Bring Offerings?

As noted already, there is no prohibition anywhere in the Bible against foreigners in general bringing offerings to God at His sanctuary. Quite the contrary! Instead, we are simply told that sojourners in Israel must abide by the same laws as Israelites, and their offerings must meet the same requirements as those of Israelites:

14 ‘And if a stranger [or “sojourner”] dwells with you, or whoever is among you throughout your generations, and would present an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD, just as you do, so shall he do.

15 ‘One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.

16 ‘One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.’” (Num. 15:14-16.)

This passage demolishes any notion that foreigners couldn’t bring offerings to God. “One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.” Just as Israelites do, so must the foreigners do.

But let’s continue. Again, in Lev. 17:8-9, God instructed Moses, “Also you shall say to them: ‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, to offer it to the LORD, that man shall be cut off from among his people.’” God commanded both Israelites and sojourners among them to bring any offerings to His sanctuary.

And for unintentional sins, God commanded both native Israelites and strangers to bring a sin offering to Him:

27 ‘And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering.

28 ‘So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.

29 ‘You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them.

30 ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.

31 ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’” (Num. 15:27-31.)

So not only did God’s Word not prohibit foreigners from bringing offerings to God, but it actually commanded them to do so if they sinned against Him! The same standards that applied to native Israelites applied also to the foreigners who dwelt among them.

But what about visitors from a foreign land? The sons of foreigners (ben-nekhar) that we read about earlier? We already saw that, if they sought to serve God, He would accept their offerings and sacrifices. Isa. 56:6-7 explicitly says so.

And we also have the example of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Nowhere does the Bible describe Jethro as a righteous man, but only says he was the priest of Midian. His daughter Zipporah, Moses’ wife, failed to circumcise their sons on the eighth day as God commanded (Ex. 4:24-26), even though both Midianites and Israelites were descendants of Abraham (Gen. 25:1-2). Jethro himself, after hearing Moses’ retelling of the exodus and God’s miracles, told Moses, “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them” (Ex. 18:11). He didn’t say, “The LORD is the only God”; he didn’t say, “I have known the LORD”; he simply said, “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods.”

Jethro was, by definition, a foreigner. But he recognized YHWH as greater than all the gods, and in the next verse, we read, “Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God” (Ex. 18:12). Jethro offered a sacrifice to the true God, and the elders of Israel honored his sacrifice. There’s no condemnation of Jethro’s sacrifice, nor any indication that Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel sinned by honoring his sacrifice. Jethro’s sacrifice was, by all indications, acceptable to God.

Now, this renders the next question a moot point, but, for the sake of being thorough, let’s examine it anyway. Could an Israelite obtain something from a foreigner and offer it to God?

Could an Israelite Bring Offerings From a Foreigner?

If foreigners themselves could bring offerings to God, then there’s no reason why an Israelite couldn’t obtain an animal from those same foreigners and offer it to God, provided that the animal itself was unblemished. Indeed, we find multiple examples in Scripture of offerings being brought to God, both of things purchased and of things plundered from enemies.

After Abraham ambushed and defeated a coalition of kings who had captured his nephew Lot, he offered a tithe of the plunder to God: “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he gave him a tithe of all” (Gen. 14:18-20).

In Numbers 31, Israel defeated the Midianites, who were pagans and idolaters. But after Israel’s victory, God commanded that part of the spoil be presented to Him as an offering: “And levy a tribute for the LORD on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the LORD” (Num. 31:28-29).

The term “offering” here refers to dedication or tribute, not sacrificial slaughter. Obviously, the people offered to God were not slaughtered in sacrifice; human sacrifice is an abomination, as God’s Word repeatedly tells us! Rather, they had to be ransomed with money according to the rules laid out in Lev. 27:1-8, and the money given to God.

When the Israelites captured Jericho, the first city they captured in the Promised Land, they dedicated it to God as He commanded. As such, God commanded that everything in it be burned, and all the metals dedicated to the house of God:

17 “Now the city shall be doomed [or “dedicated”] by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

18 “And you, by all means abstain from the accursed [or “dedicated”] things, lest you become accursed [or “dedicated”] when you take of the accursed [or “dedicated”] things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.

19 “But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.” (Josh. 6:17-19.)

One man, Achan, disobeyed God’s command and took plunder from Jericho, so he was put to death (Josh. 7). In essence, he was put to death for stealing what belonged to God. But more on that another day.

Likewise, when King David defeated his enemies or received gifts from foreign kings, he donated a portion of these items to the house of God: “Hadoram brought with him all kinds of articles of gold, silver, and bronze. King David also dedicated these to the LORD, along with the silver and gold that he had brought from all these nations — from Edom, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, and from Amalek. (1 Chron. 18:10-11.)

On another occasion, David conducted an improper census of the Israelites, so God sent a plague upon Israel, as we can read in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. At this point, David pleaded with God for the lives of his people, and God told him to go up to the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and build an altar there. Now, the Jebusites were some of the original inhabitants of Canaan, the very Gentiles from whom David himself had captured Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:6-8; 1 Chron. 11:4-9).

So David went to meet Araunah as God had commanded. Let’s pick up the story in 2 Sam. 24:21-25:

21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

23 “All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

So God told David specifically to go to Araunah the Jebusite — a non-Israelite — and build an altar on his threshing floor. Notice also that Araunah didn’t tell David, “May the LORD our God accept you,” as an Israelite would; he said, “May the LORD your God accept you.” And David bought the threshing floor from Araunah, built an altar as he was commanded, and bought Araunah’s oxen to use for the sacrifice. God heeded David’s prayers and his sacrifice, and withdrew the plague.

Later, King Solomon built the temple on this very same threshing floor (2 Chron. 3:1). So not only did David’s offering come from the hand of a foreigner, but so did the very site of Solomon’s temple! And Scripture tells us plainly that God accepted both.

During the reign of Solomon’s great grandson, King Asa, the Ethiopians came up against Judah with a massive army, but Asa prayed to God for help, and God gave the victory to Asa and Judah (2 Chron. 14:9-12). Asa and his people plundered the Ethiopians and other hostile Gentiles, and “carried away very much spoil” (vv. 13-15). In the next chapter, we read that the people assembled at Jerusalem, renewed their covenant with God, “And they offered to the LORD at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought” (2 Chron. 15:11).

And finally, when God brought back the Jews from captivity in Babylon to rebuild His temple, we find multiple examples of pagan kings and their subjects donating livestock to the Jews for the express purpose of worship at the temple. First, King Cyrus commanded, “And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:4). And in verse 6, we read that the peoples surrounding the Jews did as Cyrus commanded.

King Darius issued a similar decree, writing to the Jews’ enemies, “And whatever they need — young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem — let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons” (Ezra 6:9-10). Verse 13 tells us that the Jews’ enemies “diligently did according to what King Darius had sent.” And in the following chapter, we can read that King Artaxerxes, too, issued a similar decree.

We find, then, numerous examples in Scripture of Israelites giving offerings to God from things they bought or plundered from foreigners, including pagans. On several of these occasions, God Himself commanded it!

Conclusion

The Scriptures are clear, both in the full context of Leviticus 22 and of the rest of the Bible. The answer to our three questions at the beginning are the same, no matter which way we look at it.

Leviticus 22:25: “Nor from a foreigner's hand shall you offer any of these as the bread of your God, because their corruption is in them, and defects are in them. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.”

What is “the bread of your God”? Both this passage and the rest of Scripture show it to mean “the food of your God,” and it explicitly includes the flesh of sacrificial animals.

What are “any of these” that God prohibited the Israelites from offering? Both this passage and the rest of Scripture show that it refers to animals with defects and blemishes. Just as Israelites were forbidden to offer blemished animals, so also were foreigners. One law and one custom applied to both Israelites and foreigners, as we’re told many times in the Old Testament.

Could a foreigner bring an offering to God? Yes, as long as it was an otherwise acceptable offering, and as long as he brought it to the temple for a priest to offer it on his behalf. In fact, there were occasions when God commanded it! To be clear, no uncircumcised foreigners (including sojourners) could eat the Passover lambs (Ex. 12:43-49), or enter the temple (Ezek. 44:6-9). But they weren't prohibited from bringing or donating offerings to the temple.

Could an Israelite obtain something from a foreigner and offer it to God? Yes, as long as it was an otherwise acceptable offering. Again, there were occasions when God commanded it!

Throughout both Old and New Testaments, God desired for both Israelites and Gentiles to serve Him. The New Testament isn’t unique in this; it’s a continuation of the Old!