Hebrew Word Study – Sojourner – Gur

Genesis 23:4: “I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Hebrews 11:9: “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:”

Abraham was in the Promised Land, the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants and yet, he said he was just a stranger and sojourner.  Of course, he was not going to blurt out to the Hittites who already inhabited the land: “Hey, this is my land, God gave it me, so I am just going to take some land here to bury my dead.”

Yet, I believe there was something more here than just Abraham being diplomatic.  Even though this land was his new home, a land that God called him to live and he was never to return to his home land again, he still felt like a stranger and sojourner in his new home land.  In Hebrew the word for stranger is gar from the root word gur which is to live without protection. It is also the word for a sojourner.  The Hebrew word rendered for sojourner in Genesis 23:4 is toshav from the root word yashav which is the word for one who takes up a temporary resident. That is curious that Scripture would use two words for pretty much the same thing. The word gur is a temporary resident who lives without protection, that is with no real security.  Some translations say a foreigner. A foreigner is one who comes from a different land to live but he still retains the language of his former home and the culture of his former land. He also would have family back in the old country. He has no citizenship in his present land and hence no real governmental protection or privileges.

A yashav is also a foreigner, but he is one who has settled down in his new land and made a home in his new land but is still not a citizen in the new land although he is living in peace with those around him and contributing to the well being of the citizens of his new land. So, Abraham was simply dwelling in this new land, living there, and contributing to the well-being of the citizens of the land, but he did not consider this his real home. Yet, we have no indication that he considered the Land of Ur to be his home, even though that was the land he grew up in. He was not a part of that country and their pagan culture? 

What was it that made him a man without a country? In that day, to be a citizen, a true member of the community, you had to embrace the religion of the people, and since the land of Ur and Canaan did not worship God Jehovah, Abraham could not feel at home in either land.

In the Aramaic, we learn that the word used for sojourner is tuthav which is to tightly insert. God tightly inserted Abraham into the land. He fit, and yet he was not really a part of that land. We learn in Hebrews that he had to live by faith in this new land. Although the people of the land of Canaan accepted him and lived in peace with him, he just did not belong and never would truly belong in that land until it became a land that worshipped the God Jehovah. His nephew Lot embraced the culture and religion of this land, and hence, he found he could then live among them in the land of Sodom. Abraham could not because he worshipped a different God, so he always dwelled in a tent outside the cities and towns of the land.

There is a great picture being shown here. So long as Abraham worshipped the God Jehovah, he had no real home on this planet. He could live in peace and acceptance by the people in the surrounding communities, but he could never really call that place home or be a part of that community. He had many friends among the Canaanites, and he even fought wars with them and protected them, but he still lived outside the cities. 

There is an old hymn we used to sing when I was a child. “This world is not my home; I am just a travelin’ through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at  home in this world anymore.”

Like Abraham, we are strangers in a foreign land. We do not embrace the religions of this world. By religions, I mean whatever it is that we place our hopes and dreams upon. If we hear of economic collapse, wars, or political change, it should not create anxiety or fear in us, for we live like Abraham, by faith that our home is not of this world. We are simply passing through. In fact, II Corinthians 5:20 tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador does not live in his own country but dwells in a foreign land to represent his home country. We are here in this world to represent our true nation, the Kingdom of God, our true home. Until such time that we return to our true home, we will be just sojourners and strangers in a foreign land.

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