Are borders Biblical? Do borders imply that we hate everyone except our citizens? Here’s what God has to say.
President Trump has been under attack these days and a lightning rod of one such area is the wall. Building a wall between the United States and Mexico was the foundation of his campaign during 2016/2017 and it hit home with a lot of people. While it is understandable that most on the left will have a problem with President Trump, no matter what he says or does, the wall is of particular concern to Liberals that see the building of such a border as hateful, xenophobic, racist, and a slew of other terms that permeate our media. Adding to the ever-growing voices railing against the wall are a great number of Christians that see this structure in the same way as the Left (and many on the Right).
But what does the Bible have to say about borders? Would God approve of such a wall? The answer is yes if it is to protect, the citizens of a nation from those that would do them harm. Consider these passages:
“You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess.” ~Deuteronomy 19:14
“I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River Euphrates; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.” ~Exodus 23:31
As you can read, God not only fixed the boundaries of Israel, He also stated that boundaries are not to be moved. These scriptures apply not only to the nation but to the individual as well.
The clearest instance of scripture comes from the book of Nehemiah 3, where he was directed by God Himself to repair and rebuild the wall around Jerusalem after it had been destroyed many years ago. There are a number of parallels to what Nehemiah and President Trump had to endure in completing this task, and while this country hasn’t been overrun by foreign armies as Israel had been, the parallels are startling.
While Nehemiah 3 goes over the repair/rebuilding process, we have but to look at the next chapter to see the growing opposition to the God-given task. Nehemiah 6 continues with opponents trying to meet with Nehemiah, to persuade him to stop, even to threaten him if he did not.
The President wants to have military involvement in building the wall, and that is also in keeping with Nehemiah, as found in Nehemiah 4:12-13, which states:
“The Jews who lived near the enemy came and told us again and again, “They will come from all directions and attack us!” So I placed armed guards behind the lowest parts of the wall in the exposed areas. I stationed the people to stand guard by families, armed with swords, spears, and bows.”
Nehemiah, like our current President, is acting in the best interests of this countries citizens, to protect and sure up our defenses. There is nothing wrong with having a wall, so long as there are gates for people to legally enter our country. Jerusalem had gates as well and we are following suit.
A wise man once said, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”. I believe that we are seeing this happening in the area of the wall. While President Trump has been legally elected, our hopes and prayers should be with him as he does the job that God has assigned him. Our main prayer for him should be that he follows in the same path as Nehemiah in that he (Nehemiah) always followed God and not the people. When anyone does that, all interests will be satisfied (Matthew 6:33)
