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Causes of the Emphasis on ‘Return Migration’ in the Old Testament

정중호 1

1계명대학교

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ABSTRACT

The phenomenon of increasing 'return migrants' worldwide points to the need to give attention to the issue of 'return migration' in discussions regarding the emergence of a multi-cultural society. Korean society has seen a total of 2.5million ‘return migrants’ after World War II, and today we experience not only the return of Korea minorities living in China, but also expect the unification of Korean peninsula to ignite further waves of return migration. We find that the issue of return migration is the essential theme of the Old Testament. The purpose of this paper is to find reasons for the strong emphasis on 'Return Migration' in the Old Testament. The people of Israel in the central mountains who were migrants accepted the Exodus tradition as their story and established their identity by claiming the land as their property. The post-exile community also established their identity as returnees and claimed the land as their property. David and Jeroboam, who established kingdoms, and Moses, who was hero of Israel, were also return migrants. We also know Ezra and Nehemiah were return migrants. Returnee leaders were welcomed for their experience with migration and their understanding of the various situations faced by migrants. Therefore, return migrant leaders were able to unify their society into one community. Return migrants also returned with symbols of God, specifically the Ark or temple vessels. The Ark entered the Jordan River in hand with the Exodus returnees, and the post exile returnees also returned with temple vessels. Another Ark also returned from Philistine. We know that many Israel captives were taken to Philistine following numerous battles. Moreover, famine forced Israelites to leave their home land and go down to Philistine. Thus, it is likely many return migrants from Philistine existed in Israel, among them King David. David, as a return migrant, carried the Ark which returned from Philistine to Jerusalem. Through this process God returned from Philistine and formed the basis of authority and security for a Davidic kingship.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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