host, strange(-r)

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(without). One away from his country (Gen. 23:4). One not a Jew (Ex. 20:10). One not of Aaron’s family (Num. 3:10). One not of royal blood ({vi 23726-23727}Matt. 17:25-26). One alienated or neglected (Psa. 49:8). But, in general, any naturalized foreigner in the Jewish State (Deut. 17:15). Strangers, in Hebrew acceptation, were numerous in Israel, owing to the mixed multitudes which were permitted to follow the wanderers in the wilderness, to the fact that very many Canaanites remained in the land, and to the liberal regulations respecting captives taken in war.

Concise Bible Dictionary:

1. This term was applied to any sojourning among the Israelites, who were not descendants of Israel. The law gave injunctions against the oppression of such ({vi 4168-4184}Num. 15:14-30).

2. Gentiles are also called “strangers” from the covenants of promise (Eph. 2:12), showing that the covenants made with Israel did in no wise embrace the Gentiles, though God’s grace at all times extended to them.

3. Those called strangers in 1 Peter 1:1 were Jews away from their own land: sojourners of the dispersion.

4. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament saints were and are strangers upon earth. David said, “I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were” (Psa. 39:12). They “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). The same is true of the saints now (1 Pet. 2:11). Their citizenship is in heaven, and this earth is no longer their home or their rest.

Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:

Number:

3581 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)

Greek:

ξένος

Transliteration:

xenos

Phonic:

xen’-os

Meaning:

apparently a primary word; foreign (literally, alien, or figuratively, novel); by implication, a guest or (vice-versa) entertainer

KJV Usage:

host, strange(-r)