Hospitality in The Hebrew Scriptures

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To welcome the other, the friend or the stranger, is a fundamental aspect of human society, friendship, love and life. It is the intersection of two lives, an event that can fundamentally alter the paths of all those involved. This importance within the basic functioning of human life makes the recognition of hospitality as a central theme of the Hebrew Scriptures an unsurprising reality. With this in mind then, through this essay we will examine the understanding of hospitality laid out in the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew Bible. Through exploring the events of Abraham’s meeting guests in Genesis 18, the ‘text of terror ’ in Judges 19 in which hospitality is violated and the story of the book of Ruth, we will elicit the role hospitality plays in the story of Israel. From this exploration, we will then garner a comprehension of the theological underpinning of hospitality through exploration of the paradigmatic hospitality stories in the life of Abraham and the practices enshrined in the Mosaic Law. Finally, we will apply the theology of the theme of hospitality elicited from these reflections to a contemporary political context, namely the policy of the New Zealand government surrounding refugees.

Before beginning to explore the theme of hospitality within the Hebrew Scriptures, it would first be helpful to ascertain a working definition of the term hospitality, as it is understood socially and biblically. Defined in The Anchor Bible Dictionary as “The practice of welcoming a guest or stranger graciously…” , hospitality can be understood as the manner in which you welcome those who come to you, with the potential for both negative and positive expression. This definition also fits quite neatly with the biblical port...

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...ation Act 2009: Refugee and protection status determinations. Oct 4, 2010.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/immigrationact/factsheets/refugees.htm (accessed June 11, 2011).

Kessler, Diane C., ed. Recieve One Another: Hospitality in Ecumenical Perspective. Geneva: WCC Publications, 2005.

LaSor, William Sanford, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush. Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing co., 1996.

Mark, Strom. The Symphony of Scripture: Making sense of the Bible's many themes. Phillpsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001.

Robert, Alter. The Art of Biblical Narrative. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1981.

Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of the Biblical

Narrative. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1984.

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