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Stranger.


1 . This term was applied to any sojourning among the Israelites, who were not descendants of Israel. The law gave injunctions against the oppression of such. Num. 15: 14-30.


2. Gentiles are also called 'strangers' from the covenants of promise (Eph. 2: 12), showing that the covenants made with Israel did in no wise embrace the Gentiles, though God's grace at all times extended to them.


3. Those called strangers in 1 Peter 1: 1 were Jews away from their own land: sojourners of the dispersion.


4 . Both the O.T. and the N.T. saints were and are strangers upon

earth. David said, "I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." Ps. 39: 12. They "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb. 11: 13. The same is true of the saints now. 1 Peter 2: 11. Their citizenship is in heaven, and this earth is no longer their home or their rest.