Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. The protection of the foreigner returns — the third time this covenant section has addressed it. The grounding this time is experiential and empathetic: you know how it feels. The memory of Egyptian oppression is not merely historical information but the moral foundation of Israel's treatment of outsiders. Leviticus 19:34 and Deuteronomy 10:19 both cite the same experiential grounding. Matthew 25:43 records the judgment against those who did not welcome the stranger — the experiential knowledge of exclusion that Israel carries from Egypt is the very knowledge that should make them unable to exclude others.

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