Aliens
THE
Alimony
.1
i:VISlI
In Prov. v. 3 "a another person" (Prov. v. 10). stnuif^e woman" = adulteress," a woman, not a man's wife, with whom he ha.s illicit rehitions. The most important term is ti, resident alien," a foreij^iier who has eome to dwell permanently anions people with whom he, to a certain e.l<nt, idenlilics Nearly eiinivjdent to //</ is atlD. "sohimself. journer," a i-.ire word in the Old Testament, apparently iniplyini; a less settled residence than ger(t)ut compare (ien, .xiii. 4; Lev. x.w. 2:i). Jlost of tlie occurrences are in Lev. x.xii. 2.5. In I Kin-rs, xvii, 1 we should probably read with Septuajrinl To these two terms may be added mit-tiMuih. TaC, "hired man," a person who, though he may be a native (Deut, x.iv. 14). is often contrasted with the native (Dent. xv. IS) and associated with
Three clas.ses of Aliens Canaanites dwellinir in Is raeiitish communities; (2) persons from other lands (fugitives, etc.) seekinir permanent abode in Israel; (3) foreijriiers dwelling there t<'miiorarily. No sharp the tdihiib (Ex.
may be
xii.
recognized:
45).
(1)
distinction is made in the Old Testament between the first and second cla.sses. As to the position of Aliens in the pre-Cansmnite period, we have no knowledge. After the .settlement in Caniwn, up to the time of Solomon Canaanites the relations Ijetween the Israelites and and their neighbors seem to have been free Israelites, and unrestricted. The clans dwelt side by side there was no central gov;
ernment; intermarriages were Uriah, etc.);
going to
live
common
(Samson,
was generally accepti<l that a man in a community .should adojit its re-
it
This state of things lasted ligion(I Sam. xxvi. lit). until the establishment of Israel's iiolilieal supremacy and the birth of a distinct national feeling. Gradually the rights of citizenshii) were in part formally restrictecl to natives. Some of the foreign tribes were reduced to slavery (Josh. ix. 27: I Kings, ix. 20; com|iare I Chroii. xxii. 2): and resident foreigners occupied an inferior ]iosition.
Though Aliens did not enjoy full civil rights, and were not citizens in their own right, their interests were not neglected. Living, as they
Friendly
did, in close social relations with the natives, they were iirotecfa'd by the 'There broad dictates of humanity. seems to have been a relation similar to tliat of clientage (Lev. xxii. 10, XXV. 40). Gradually this kindly sentiment was formulated in laws. No ]iropliet beBefore fore Jeremiah speaks of duties to Aliens. his time i)ublic ojiinion had apparently not been directed to this point: it was a new social (luestion. The alien, a.s well as indigent persons (Levites, widows, orphans), was to have a share in the third year's tithes (Deut. xiv. 29, xxvi. Vi, 18) and in the offer Ing of first-fruits (Deut. xxvi. 11); he h.id the right to glean (Deut. xxiv. 10-21 Lev. xix. ID. xxiii. 23); he miglit tlee from the avenger of blood to the city of refuge(Josli. xx. i), Num. xxx v. 1.")) and strict justice was to be meted out to him (Ex. xxii. 20 [A.'V. 21] Deut. xxix. 10 [A.V. ll). xxvii. 19; Jer. vii. 6. xxii.
Laws.
Ezek. xxii. 7). The ordinary commercial regulations applied to him: he might become poor and Insold as a slave (Lev. xxv. 4."i), or grow rich and ow n slaves, even Isnielitish slaves (Lev. xxv. 47); but should he be sokl he remained a slave in jierpetnity. whereas the Israelite slave was freed at the jubilee. It was lawful to lend money at interest to a foreigner (Deut. xxiii. 21 [A.V. 20]) and toexactof him the payment of a debt (Deut. xv. 3): but it is not As clear whether or not the rule applied to a ger. to the right of the alien to own land, we have little information. In early times, probably, the right ex3;
KNCYCLOPEDIA isted; see II
398
Sam,
vi.
xxiv. 24 (Anuinah).
(Ezek.
kiel
Civil
10 (Ohed edoin). xi. 8 (Uriah), v aliirmeil bv Eze-
It is distinctl
xlvii.
2-2,
23);
had been modilie<l before
whether
it
his time, or
was modilied after his time, it is hardly i)ossilile to say. The tendency was to an extension of the rights of Aliens; see especially the broad tone of Num. ix. 14, xv. l."i, xxx v. The general rule of Lev. xxv., by which land 1.x reverted to the Israelite owner at the jubilee, is not incompatible with ownership of land by residi-nt Aliens. On the whole, it seems likely that the right had never been denied them by law. In the religious status of the ger we find a simi-
Rights.
movement toward freedom and ec|uality. At first he was not subject tn the stricter ritual Religious rules: he might eat of food from aniRights. mals that had died a natunil death
lar
(Deut.
xiv.
21),
or s<ich a carcass
xiv. 21); but this permission was afterward rescinded (Lev. xvii. lie was required to observe the national holi1.5). days. Sabbath (Ex. xxiii. 12, xx. 10), the feasts of Weeks and of Boollis (Deut. xvi. 11, 14), though this was |ierhaps ;i civil and social regulation, the.se being probably old Caiiaanitish festivals. It is prob-
might be sold to a foreigner (Deut.
able also that from the beginning he observed the other agrieidtural festival, Mazzot: though such
observance is not commanded in Deuteronomy, it is The case is ditTerent with enjoined in Ex. xii. 19. This was at first not the nomadic f<stival, Pesiih. considered to be an affair of the .ger; but after the Exile, when the community became religiously a unit, he was permitted to "take part in it (Num. ix. 14).
Finallv, as it would seem, Ihe rite of circumcision was made acon<lition of such ]>articipation (Ex. xii. ])robal)ly at this time gerim were as a rule Hut participation was forbidden to circumcised. the foreigner (nohri), the sojourner itoahnh), and the In other jioints hireling (sukir) (Ex. xii. 43, 4.5). equality came to be the rule; as to eating blood (Lev. .xvii. 10), the cidl of Jlelek (.Moloch) (Lev. xx. 2), blasphemy (Lev. xxiv. 10), sins of inadvertence (Num. XV. 29), offerings (Lev. xvii. 8, xix. 10, xxii. 18; Num. XV. 14-16), the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. The general statement of equality is made in 29). Lev. xviii. ^26. The broadest conception of God's relation to the Kings, foreigner is given in Snlomon's jirayer in viii. 41, 43: the prayer of the foreigner will be heard. The perfect ethical iirinciplo is announced in Dent. x. 19; Lev. xix. 34: the resident alien is to be loved Israel is to remember that it w as once an as oneself. alien in f^gypt. The result in Ihe Old Testament is the substantial fusion of .Miens with the nation. Yet from I's. cxlvi. 9 it may tie inferred that Aliens long continued to form a separate cla.ss; in some circles (Isji. hi. 0) the admission of foreigners to national fellowship was advocated. For postcxilic conditions .see Pkoselytes;
4S);
1
Dnx yfnmi.vhe
BiBLiofiRAPilY: Miflinelis,
lirrlit. ITTrt;
Worlfs
Sjuilsrhfltz. Kwald. Brn/AniiiT, and Nolinliertsoh Smith, HeUiii'in nf thr Snnilni. pp. 1'ict Wf/. For Araliirpanillels idfni. Kinshiji and Marritmr^ Si«U:hn VrrUillliiiysr d. Israil:ss.i. pp. 42 ct .««;.: liiihl, ilni. pp. 47, af; BiTtholi't. Iih sl,Uiinii<l hrnrlilrii uiid dcrjiulen zu den Frcinddi, ISSKi; HastiiiRs, Ltwt. liihlc, s.v. Foreifyncrs; Cheyne, Ency. Bibl. »..Alie)iis.
on llelirew .rrhnjlom':
wack
W.
DU
T.
ALIMONY
to a woman by an order of court, from her huslmnd's estate or income, for her maintenance after her divorce or legal separation from him, or during a suit therefor" '•
The allowance made
("Standard Dictionarv
").
This
is
its definiti<ni in
1
