Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. --Galatians 6:1
If you work in the corporate world, you are probably familiar with annual reviews. A manager or supervisor will usually have one-on-one conversations with each individual team member, examining strengths and weaknesses. Each employee is held accountable to how well they have achieved the goals of the business, and the steps that he or she needs to take to meet those goals.
It is during these evaluations that decisions are made on whether to reward the employees with pay raises or bonuses. It can also go the other way; during performance reviews, the manager may inform the employee that he or she is not meeting goals or performing up to standard. In some cases, steps can be outlined that, if certain business goals or functions are not met, could result in reprimand or even termination.
In Joshua 22:1-6 we see a kind of evaluation of the tribes of Israel, especially those to whom Moses had promised a possession on the east side of the Jordan River. For context, we can look back to Numbers 22. Before the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River to enter into the promised land, leaders of two of the tribes looked at the fertile plain they were standing on and said to themselves, "I don't know about Canaan, but this land looks pretty good to us." They had a great number of flocks and herds, and the fields on the east side of the river (in present day Jordan) were good for grazing. So they went to Moses and asked to be excused from the rest of the group. "If we have found favor in your sight," they said in Numbers 32:5, "let this land be given to your servants for our possession. Do not take us across the Jordan."
Moses promised that they could settle in and possess this land, but that their men of fighting age must go across the river and help drive out the Canaanites. Only after the whole of Canaan was conquered could they return to their chosen allotment east of the Jordan. It is in this context that, after the conquest of Canaan, Joshua gave this report.
At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. --Joshua 22:1-6
So they were given a good performance review by their leader. They had done all that both Moses and Joshua had asked of them. Future goals were given as well--to continue to observe the Law of Moses, love God, and obey Him. It was like the Company president telling the Eastern Division, "Well done. You have met or exceeded all expectations. Going forward, let's keep these standards in mind."
Further on in the narrative, the two and a half tribes went back toward their homesteads. When they got to the Jordan River, they decided to build a memorial. Joshua 22:10 says, "And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size."
When the other 10 tribes heard about it, they despaired. Why would our brothers build this huge altar on the boundary of our land unless they were going to use it to offer sacrifices? First, God had commanded that sacrifices only be made at the Tabernacle, which is located in Shiloh. Sacrifices made anywhere else are a violation of God's law. Second, if you intend to make sacrifices somewhere else, it stands to reason that you would be sacrificing to other gods and not to the God of Israel. That's even worse than the first sin, like ten times worse. What should we do about it?
The call for civil war
Verse 12 says, "And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them." Remember, they had just finished a military campaign across the whole region where they were directed by Joshua and by God Himself to take no prisoners. They were to totally destroy all the idolaters and people in the region who served other gods. And now they find out that their brothers, their fellow Israelites, may have gone to the other side and started living in idolatry themselves.
God calls us to go to great lengths to keep ourselves pure and to hold our brothers accountable. "Iron sharpens iron," Proverbs 27:17 says, "and one man sharpens another." Jesus said, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him." (Luke 17:1-3).
In Luke 12, Jesus told a parable about staying faithful, because one day you will be held accountable. He said it was important to stay ready, for the master could come at any time. If the master comes in the evening or even in the middle of the night, and finds the servant alert and ready, the servant will be blessed. "You must also be ready," Jesus said, "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Peter then asks if this is a general parable for everyone, or if it was meant especially for the disciples? Jesus then continues the story, saying that if the master finds his servants faithful, then he will bless them. But if the servant stops being faithful because the master is delayed, and becomes violent, and gets fat and lazy or even drunk, then "The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him into pieces and put him with the unfaithful." (Luke 12:46). Jesus goes on to say that the man who knows what to do and disobeys will receive a severe beating, unlike the one who sins but didn't know what was expected.
These are the lengths to which God will go to hold men accountable. These are also lengths that godly men should attend to hold their brothers accountable.
The call to choose good or evil
Although the men were prepared for war, they sent leaders from each of the ten tribes to speak with the people who had built the altar. Their argument is reasoned, and based on wisdom and experience.
Have you left the faith?
"And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, 'What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning this day away from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord?'" (Joshua 22:16)
Examples of unfaithfulness, and the consequences that followed
"Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel." (Joshua 22:17-18)
We recall that in Peor from the story in Numbers 25 was that, even after Balaam refused to curse the people, the Midianites were able to get some of the people of Israel to intermarry with them, and follow after their gods. This resulted in 24,000 Israelites dying by the plague. There was also a rather gruesome account of Phinehas the priest, the grandson of Aaron, driving a spear through an Israelite man and a Midianite worman who were engaging in sexual activity near the altar of God in the Tabernacle. This was the terrible sin that the leaders of Israel were trying to avoid, because the consequences would involve the whole nation, not just the ones that had turned to other gods.
"Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity." (Joshua 22:20). This refers to the time after Jericho fell, and the fighting men of Israel turned their sights on the much smaller village of Ai. In a battle they should have won, they instead were chased away. Not only did they suffer an embarrassing defeat, but 36 men died. Why? Because Achan had taken some booty from the ruins of Jericho, things that God had said to destroy. Achan hid these spoils under his tent, only to confess and suffer capital punishment after the men had been turned back from the first battle of Ai.
Please return to us, even if it requires sacrifice on our part
"But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God." (Joshua 22:19). These leaders pleaded with their brothers to turn their backs on idolatry. Even if it meant losing their land and possessions east of the Jordan, it was worth it if they repented and turned back to the Lord their God. The people of Israel were willing to share--that is, divide their own property and possessions with the tribes that they thought had strayed. This would, of course, mean that their own inheritance would be smaller, but it would be worth it to avoid the greater punishment from the wrath of God.
The call for us today
How many of us would be willing to reach out to a fallen brother, to beg him to repent? More than that, how many of us would be willing to share our own possessions, our own stuff to give a brother or sister a second chance, to entice them to leave all of their stuff and their past behind? Most telling of all, who among us would be willing to go to war to save the souls of those who have gone astray?
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:-10, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" Paul wrote in Galatians 6:1-2 says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all at the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. --1 Corinthians 10: 1-13
Our story in Joshua 22 has a happy ending. The tribes with the possession east of the river said they did not intend to make sacrifices on this altar, but that they had built it as a memorial. They did not want their children to be cut off from Israel, whose own children may someday say, "The promised land is on this side of the river, so you all are cut off." I think there is also a lesson for us to not fall into temptation, and to hold accountable those who may be tempted to sin. We may think we are called to fight a crusade for Christ, but in actuality a little conversation could avoid conflict, if it is done in the name of Christ.
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