And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
The verse belongs to the account of Moses's years in Midian after fleeing Egypt, where he married one of Jethro's daughters and remained forty years tending flocks in his father-in-law's service. God directed Moses in his flight to Midian to find a home with Jethro, who was both priest and prince of Midian and a worshiper of God. The name Gershom was given as a reminder that Moses had become a stranger in a foreign land.
To be a stranger in a strange land is to be far from one's own country among unfamiliar people, language and ways, where a person can appear retiring and diffident and be unable to show true character, promise and worth, especially when speaking a foreign language. The same experience describes the Puritans as exiles in Holland, having left homes and livelihoods to live among people of a different language and customs.
Such a stranger is not to be neglected or kept at a distance, but deserves special attention, honor and respect, being placed in the most favorable circumstances with every possible advantage, encouragement, help and training for God's work. This care aims to equip him to be a practical worker when he returns to his own country. The verse also describes the missionary who at great sacrifice leaves behind aged mother, only brother and many friends in America to obey God's call to a new field. To be such a stranger is to serve there as a conscientious servant of Jesus Christ, sent as the ablest available man for his caution, experience and God-fearing dignity, whose counsel should be accepted and who should be aided in every possible way.
The verse belongs to the account of Moses's years in Midian after fleeing Egypt, where he married one of Jethro's daughters and remained forty years tending flocks in his father-in-law's service. God directed Moses in his flight to Midian to find a home with Jethro, who was both priest and prince of Midian and a worshiper of God. The name Gershom was given as a reminder that Moses had become a stranger in a foreign land.
To be a stranger in a strange land is to be far from one's own country among unfamiliar people, language and ways, where a person can appear retiring and diffident and be unable to show true character, promise and worth, especially when speaking a foreign language. The same experience describes the Puritans as exiles in Holland, having left homes and livelihoods to live among people of a different language and customs.
Such a stranger is not to be neglected or kept at a distance, but deserves special attention, honor and respect, being placed in the most favorable circumstances with every possible advantage, encouragement, help and training for God's work. This care aims to equip him to be a practical worker when he returns to his own country. The verse also describes the missionary who at great sacrifice leaves behind aged mother, only brother and many friends in America to obey God's call to a new field. To be such a stranger is to serve there as a conscientious servant of Jesus Christ, sent as the ablest available man for his caution, experience and God-fearing dignity, whose counsel should be accepted and who should be aided in every possible way.