The nation of Israel wasn’t the only group to leave Egypt. Way back in Exodus 12:38, a group of people known simply as the “mixed multitude” left alongside Moses and the Israelites, most likely because they were impressed with the power of God displayed through the plagues.
Up until this point, this group was mostly just there. They lived alongside the people of Israel, dwelt in tents, probably intermarried (Moses’ own wife was a Midianite, according to Exodus 2:16-21), and lived in a relative fear of God.
In Jewish history, this type of person is known as a ger, which is translated as “protected stranger.” They had no formal land inheritance; many of them lived in Israel simply as day laborers. Although some were most likely wealthy, many were not, and were taken care of in the same way that an Israelite would take care of their fellow Jew (Leviticus 25:35).
It’s a blurred line between Israelite and ger, but maybe not as much as we would think. In fact, Numbers 15:16 even says that there is to be “one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.”
This “same law” has some caveats, though. Whereas a ger was not expected to take part in the sacrificial aspects of the Law (Numbers 15:14-16), or the Passover (Numbers 9:13-14), they could, provided they followed the right purification rituals.
They were, however, expected to follow the purity aspects of the Law (Leviticus 15:14-15, 29-30; 17:15-16) as well as the commandments (Numbers 15:27-31). This was in place to keep the land and the people pure. Sin was a corruption of God’s people, so anyone who dwelt with them must follow God’s rules.
So why did someone choose to become a ger? Even though there’s a big difference between someone like Bill the Egyptian who wants to dwell among the Israelites and Cornelius from Acts 10, the reasoning is the same. They’ve observed the power and the people of God, and want to throw their lot in with them.
It must’ve taken a lot of guts to leave Egypt and follow a former-slave population into the desert, but isn’t that what we do when we become Christians? We see the way they act, see the God they serve, and decide that’s the best use of our life. Or, in our case, the only use of our life.
Next time you read about the “aliens and the sojourners” that dwelt among the Israelites, tip your hat to them. They made the hard choice to follow God, when it would’ve been much easier to sit on their couch in Egypt.
