Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy explains exclusion by the refusal to help people in need. This resembles the Odyssey, where the god Zeus protects those in need and expects hosts to offer food and shelter under threat of punishment, treating hospitality as a basic duty.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Homer, Odyssey 9.266-271
Classical
265 so great a city did he sack, and slew many people; but we on our part, thus visiting you, have come as suppliants to your knees, in the hope that you will give us entertainment, or otherwise make some present, as is the due of strangers. No, mightiest one, reverence the gods; we are your suppliants; 270 and Zeus is the avenger of suppliants and strangers—Zeus, the strangers' god—who ever attends upon revered strangers.’ “So I spoke, and he at once made answer with pitiless heart: ‘You are a fool, stranger, or have come from afar, seeing that you tell me either to fear or to shun the gods.
Deuteronomy 23:4
Hebrew Bible
2 A person of illegitimate birth may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. 3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so, 4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves you.
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Notes and References
"... Deuteronomy legislates that no ammonite or Moabite shall enter the lord’s assembly as a punishment for their inhospitality to the exodus generation: “because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 23:4). the reasoning here is not unlike what we discovered in homer’s Odyssey where Zeus’ role as the patron god of strangers functions as the religious sanction for humans to welcome strangers ..."
Jipp, Joshua W.
Divine Visitations and Hospitality to Strangers in Luke-Acts: An Interpretation of the Malta Episode in Acts 28:1-10
(p. 155) Brill, 2013
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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