The chapter starts off well enough; Joshua calls the Trans-Jordan tribes in, commends them for their faithful service, challenges them to be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave to you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and your soul (22:5), blesses them and sends them home to their families and possessions.
So the Reubenites, the Gaddites, and half the tribe of Manasseh headed home across the Jordan River.
Where they proceed to build an enormous altar.
Now, the law was clear that all the sacrifices were to be made at the tabernacle, on the altar consecrated in the wilderness and carried about by the priests. So, to all appearances, this was flagrant disregard for the Law and all that Moses had instructed them about sacrifices and worship.
Now, the Trans-Jordan tribes had not discussed this altar with anyone on the west side of the Jordan. They just built it. The rest of the Israelites noticed the altar and immediately concluded that the folks across the river were in rebellion.
The whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them. (v. 12).
But someone thought a parlay might be worth a try, before they wiped out a sizeable portion of their nation.
Always good to get the other side of the story before taking action.
So the Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazer, the priest, to the land of Gilead -- to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. With him, they sent ten of the chief men, one for each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans. (v. 13).
When the deputation arrived, they got in the faces of the Trans-Jordan tribes:
How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the LORD and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? (v. 16)
They reviewed the history of rebellion in the people...they reminded them of the judgement that happened after the sin of Peor, of what happened to the whole nation when Achan sinned at Jericho.
The accusation was clear. Judgement was impending. What could those folks say for themselves?
No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, 'What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you - you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.' So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.
That is why we said, 'Let us get ready and build an altar -- but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.'
On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, 'You have no share in the LORD.' (vs. 24-27).
There's more in the following verses, but it basically reiterates the declaration that the massive altar is there as a talisman of their devotion to God, not meant to be any kind of substitution for the actual altar.
The delegation let out a big sigh of relief, I'm sure, after they heard this explanation.
Today, we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not acted unfaithfully toward the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD's hand. (v. 31)
To make it all official, the Trans-Jordan tribes named their altar 'A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.' (v. 34), and everyone went home.
There's a lot to consider in this story.
What strikes me immediately is how quickly both sides of the issue assumed the worst. The Trans-Jordan tribes looked at the Jordan River -- which they had chosen to not cross -- and considered it a barrier between them and the rest of the nation. And they immediately were afraid that one day in the future their kids would be rejected by the rest of the nation because of that barrier. Now, they had had lots of opportunities in dealing with both Moses and Joshua to come up with some sort of insurance that such a thing would not happen, but they did nothing about it until they got home from war. And then they put up this really suspicious looking thing without any kind of explanation to anyone.
They did it because they were afraid of something that might happen in generations to come. They did it because they felt their choice would be held against them in the future. There were probably other ways to address the issue...all involving dialogue with the very folks they were ultimately afraid of. Would that offend them? Better to just do what we need to do, right?
The rest of the country reacted, based on what they observed. They assigned the worst possible motives to the erection of the altar. And they did not consult with the Lord or inquire of Him what should be done about it. Which was part of the reason they had such disastrous outcomes regarding Achan and Baal Peor. They were afraid, too....of the consequences of the sin of part of the nation on the whole body. They were angry and offended anyway.
Wouldn't it have been better to discuss this before anyone took any action?
Fortunately, there was discussion. And the explanation was deemed valid and not what had been anticipated.
The church split...er, war between the tribes...was averted.
We relive this scenario over and over again in modern Christianity. Congregations split, folks get offended, often because no one wants to talk about things in the early stages. Unfortunately, we rarely get the deputation to see what the truth about a dispute may be, and folks become more entrenched in their opinions....one side justifying their actions, incredulous that anyone would think they would be THAT wrong in their intentions, offended because those others really believed they could have such devious motives, whilst the others can't believe their brothers and sisters could do something so...inconsiderate...of the body as a whole, offended that the others considered them so inconsequential that they weren't even worth TALKING to, for goodness sake...and opinions fly and feelings get hurt and ...in the worst cases, the local body collapses and the building goes up for sale. At the very least relationships are severed and people are wounded and the body suffers.
Things are almost never as bad as they seem. How can we all learn to take a breath and LISTEN to concerns and pray with the folks who are seeing things from a different viewpoint so that we ALL can come to an agreement that's based on God's care for His people? If both sides truly fear God and want His will...there will be an explanation and a way through that preserves the integrity...in every sense of the word... of the body.
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