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Old Testament Response to the Multicultural Phenomenon

Taek Joo Woo 1

1침례신학대학교

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to attempt a new approach to the multicultural phenomenon in Korea, not seeking a new solution. This arose from critiques on the previous studies on the issue under consideration. They illustrate insufficient exegesis on the words like ger and nokri, as well as on narratives of immigrating people, the lack of understanding the ancient society, and inadequate application of the modern concept to the ancient society. To complement such drawback, this study explores three dimensions of the Old Testament, that is, literary, historical and theological one with regard to the multicultural phenomenon. Literary and historical dimensions of the Old Testament on this issue share the point that the multicultural phenomenon is embraced under the condition of confessing Yahwism. Ruth is a representative case and Job is understood as a discourse on Yahwism in the multicultural society. And a history of ancient Israel illustrates a spectrum from acceptance to rejection to this phenomenon. Israelites were the descendants of Abraham who came from Chaldea in Mesopotamia; Joseph were married with an Egyptian, and Moses, with a Midianite woman. The Exodus group did not expell the Canaanites completely and coexisted with them. David the king of the united kingdom managed the foreign mercenary; Solomon married with foreign women; Ahab married with Jezebel, a Phoenician princess. In the colonial period, however, Ezra and Nehemiah reformed Yehudites by prohibiting the intermarriage. For it threatened the identity of Yehudites as Yahweh believing community. Theological dimension focuses on exploring how two Hebrew terms, ger and nokri of the Deuteronomic code are treated. Dates of the legal codes show that certain political and military conflicts caused the people to move to safer places, but it is also considered as a generic trend in agrarian society. The Deuteronomic code suggests that ger as the societal weak are to be taken care of, while nokri as affluent people from outside are to be socially distanced from the natives. In sum, the Old Testament teaches that the societal weak are to be taken care of under the condition that they do not threaten Yahwism. To discuss the multicultural phenomenon is related with how to keep our identity. The more the outsiders in the society, the more fear grows. But the Old Testament teaches the faith community to provide care and support to the societal weak, for instance, like the Yehmenite refugees arrived at the Jeju Island in 2018, as far as they do not threaten Christian faith and our identity.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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