ProveText 1480. Rethinking Immigration Through the Old Testament with Dr. David Firth
In this ProveText Podcast conversation, Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb sits down with Old Testament scholar Dr. David Firth (Trinity College Bristol) to discuss foreigners, immigrants, and belonging in the Old Testament—especially across Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
Dr. Firth challenges the common assumption that the Old Testament is broadly hostile toward foreigners and argues that the biblical story consistently centers loyalty to YHWH over ethnicity as the defining marker of God’s people. Along the way, they discuss Rahab, Caleb, Jael, Uriah the Hittite, Elijah, and more—and why modern immigration debates often flatten biblical categories into political talking points.
Topics include:
- Are “foreigners” consistently portrayed negatively in the Old Testament?
- Rahab, Achan, and the question: Who belongs to God’s people?
- Key Hebrew terms for “foreigner/sojourner” and why context matters
- Why “legal vs illegal” can distract from the deeper biblical question: what is just?
- A fresh take on ḥerem (חרם) as renunciation/devotion rather than simply “destruction”- Refugee language and why modern labels can cause Christians to talk past each other
Resources mentioned:
👉Hope for the World from the Old Testament (Festschrift for Gordon McConville): https://glossahouse.com/products/hope-for-the-world-from-the-old-testament
👉Trinity College Bristol faculty page for Dr. David Firth: https://www.trinitycollegebristol.ac.uk/staff/revd-dr-david-firth-bth-ma-phd/
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