I have a bad habit of saying here that I'll blog next about such-and-such thing the next day; and then, I get distracted by another passage which causes me to break my promise. This occurred yesterday and the day before. Two days ago, in the post "Where's the Beef?" I said I'd follow up with the next "chapter" in the story of the 2 1/2 tribes. That's what we are going to do today, one day late.
We catch up with the tribes of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 Manasseh in Joshua 22. I thought it might be a good idea at this point to provide a map of how the Promised Land was divided after Joshua and the Israelites conquered it.
By this time (ch. 22), the majority of the Promised Land had been conquered and the land assigned to the 12 tribes. You can pretty easily see the Jordan River, running north to south, beginning in the high mountains, passing through the Sea of Galilee and emptying into the Dead Sea. (The river actually flows below sea level!) At any rate, you can see the land to the east of the Jordan - - - that it was claimed by the tribes mentioned above. The tribe of Manasseh was assigned land on both sides of the Jordan.
The people of these tribes may have been great cattlemen, but they were poor communicators. When we catch up with them again in Joshua 22, they have once again become embroiled in a misunderstanding. In verses 1-5, Joshua commended them for their faithful service, their fulfilling of their vow to the Lord, blessed them, and sent them on their way. Before they left, Joshua gave them a stern warning in verse 5:
Be vigilant in keeping the Commandment and The Revelation that Moses the servant of God laid on you: Love God, your God, walk in all his ways, do what he’s commanded, embrace him, serve him with everything you are and have.”
(The Message)
So, home they go, bearing all kinds of riches - - - the spoils of war. As soon as they cross the Jordan, they lay their stuff down and build an altar, a huge one (vs. 10), so that anyone who crossed the Jordan there into the land of Manasseh would immediately see it.
The People of the Western Tribes were horrified (vs. 11-14) and prepared to go to war against them. But, first, sanity prevailed and they sent a representative delegation to Gelioth in Gilead to ask, "What the heck are you doing?! Have you lost your minds?" The People misunderstood the eastern tribes' intent, thinking that this was an altar for worship which, of course would signify the worst kind of rebellion against God - - - a very, very bad (idolatrous) thing. As Ricky Ricardo used to say to Lucy, "You got some 'splainin' to do!"
The eastern tribes were shocked by these accusations! See their response in vs. 24-29:
We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You’re not connected with God, the God of Israel! Godmade the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in God.’ And then your children might cause our children to quit worshiping God.
26 “So we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s do something. Let’s build an altar—but not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices.’
27 “We built this altar as a witness between us and you and our children coming after us, a witness to the Altar where we worship God in his Sacred Dwelling with our Whole-Burnt-Offerings and our sacrifices and our Peace-Offerings.
“This way, your children won’t be able to say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in God.’
28 “We said to ourselves, ‘If anyone speaks disparagingly to us or to our children in the future, we’ll say: Look at this model of God’s Altar which our ancestors made. It’s not for Whole-Burnt-Offerings, not for sacrifices. It’s a witness connecting us with you.’
29 “Rebelling against or turning our backs on God is the last thing on our minds right now.
The Eastern Tribes were thinking ahead, anticipating the worst years down the road. They didn't want a river to come between them and their brethren, did they?
Have you ever been misunderstood? Had good intentions and taken what seemed like right actions? Despite that, you were accused of wrongdoing? It has probably happened to all of us at one time or another. To make matters worse, usually those on the misunderstanding end react emotionally to the situation (which sort of happened here), assume the worst (which definitely happened here) and take wrong actions (which did not happen here, fortunately).
Once the eastern tribes, the Sunrise Tribes (so called because they dwelled in the land of the rising sun, the most eastward regions) explained their motivations - - - - that this was not a worship altar but rather a witness altar - - - - everyone from the West was satisfied and went home (vs. 30-33). "All's well that ends well."
Intentions can make all the difference, and when we "smell a rat" in a situation, we should be careful to not make assumptions. Slinging accusations wildly, like an electric hand mixer out of control, makes a big mess. A lot of relationships can be badly hurt when we react emotionally with incomplete information.
God did not judge the Sunrise Tribes, because He knew their hearts.
God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
Dear Father, we so badly need spiritual discernment, which enables us to see and understand others' motives. So often we jump to conclusions and begin to attack one another, both within the Church and outside it as well. This does not bring You glory at all. Please give us eyes that truly see the needs and intentions of others, ears that truly listen and hands quick to serve. In Jesus' name, amen.
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