Immigration: A Biblical Curse or Command?

by Chris Vasquez, D.Min. Candidate, Ashland Theological Seminary

It is nothing new for Christians to take passages from the Bible out of context to support their conclusions on a topic. One example that I have seen on social media relates to Deuteronomy 28:43-45. This passage of Scripture speaks about how God will punish His people by allowing foreigners to overtake native born Israelites if God’s people fail to uphold Biblical commands. These memes imply a number of problematic ideas. Most importantly, these memes see America’s complex immigration issues as God’s curse and judgment. It’s not a particularly difficult interpretative leap from seeing immigration issues as a curse to seeing immigrant people as a curse. But Deuteronomy 28:43-45 isn’t speaking about America or modern questions of immigration policy.  

A common anti-immigrant meme shared on social media. Credit to Christian Memes on Facebook.

So what does Deuteronomy 28:43-45 mean?

Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to Israel. He led Israel through the wilderness for 40 years. The generation who lived through the Exodus, and those who were present when God gave the law at Mt. Sinai have all died out. This New Generation of Israelites is at Jordan River, preparing to enter into the promised land. They are on the verge of seeing God’s promise fulfilled – to give Canaan to Abraham’s descendants.

Deuteronomy is generally separated into 3 sections:

• Israel’s story (Deuteronomy 1-11)

• Restating of the law (Deuteronomy 12-26)

• A series of blessings and curses on Israel based on covenantal obedience (Deuteronomy 27-34) 

Beginning in Deuteronomy 27, Moses outlines a ritual process for Israel to renew the covenant when they enter the promised land. This is to remind Israel of both the blessings and curses associated with following God. In Deuteronomy 28, God outlines a series of blessings for Israel if they keep the law, and starting in verse 15, God outlines a parallel series of curses if Israel transgresses the law. The blessings and curses are holistic and address every part of Israel’s existence, from their families, to crops, to animals, to the land itself. God demonstrates that the promised land is a gift, but that Israel’s enjoyment of the land is conditional based on their faithful obedience to God. 

But what about foreigners? Why does God include foreigners in the curses? Well the Hebrew word translated as “foreigner” is ger which broadly means: stranger, foreigner, and alien. It appears 89 times in the Old Testament, 22 of which are in Deuteronomy. The vast majority of the remaining uses are found in the legal codes of Exodus-Numbers. In Deuteronomy, God outlines Israel’s wholistic obligation to the ger in their land:

• The ger are to receive fair judgement in court 

• The ger must be allowed Sabbath rest

• Israel is to love the ger because Israel was ger in Egypt 

• Israel is to set aside their produce tithes every 3rd year for the Levites, ger, orphans, and widows 

• Israel must allow the ger to harvest leftover crops 

God specifies many obligations that Israel has toward the ger, and God explicitly states that He is a God who loves the ger. Israel is called to love the ger because God loves the ger and because God loved them when they were the ger. 

What does Deuteronomy 28:43-45 mean? To the original audience, it meant that if Israel (the majority, privileged people) failed to care for the ger (the minority, vulnerable people) in accordance with God’s law, then God would divinely orchestrate reversing their roles. If Israel failed to be God’s vessel to care for the ger then God would care for the ger at Israel’s expense. 

How does this apply to us? Well, to begin, immigrants coming to America are not a Biblical curse. We are not Biblical Israel and America is not the promised land. Instead, we should carefully consider God’s proclamation that God loves the ger. Deuteronomy outlines practical ways that God wanted Israel to embody God’s love for the ger. From these laws, we can see principles for loving the ger which we can then apply to our modern context. 

However, if we insist on seeing ourselves as Biblical Israel and seeing immigrants as a curse, then they are a curse sent by God because we have failed to uphold God’s commands to care for the ger. If we insist on seeing these verses as literally applying to 2025 America, our response should be holistic repentance for failing to uphold Deuteronomy’s numerous commands to love and care for the ger and ensure they receive justice. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chris Vasquez is an Ordained minister with the Assemblies of God and resides in Akron, Ohio. He is an Associate Pastor at Akron First Assembly and is a professor with Pathway Training. Chris is a doctoral student at Ashland Theological Seminary where his focus is on Biblical Ethics and Immigration. He is married to Hannah and has three kids: Felicity (6), Gideon (3), and baby (Oct 2025). Chris likes reading Sci-Fi/ Fantasy, Carpentry, and Ostriches.