alien

a foreigner, or person born in another country, and therefore not entitled to the rights and privileges of the country where he resides

Among the Hebrews, there were two classes of aliens.

  1. Those who were strangers generally, and who owned no landed property.

  2. Strangers dwelling in another country without being naturalized (Leviticus 22:10; Psalm 39:12).

Both of these classes were to enjoy, under certain conditions, the same rights as other citizens (Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:19). They might be naturalized and permitted to enter into the congregation of the Lord by submitting to circumcision and abandoning idolatry (Deuteronomy 23:3-8).

This term is used in Ephesians 2:12 to denote persons who have no interest in Christ (“ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”).

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