I’m coming Home

Joshua 22: 9 - 34 The Reubenites and the Gadites

Background

Have you ever had a misunderstanding with a friend or family member that escalated into a full-blown argument? Perhaps a simple miscommunication spiraled out of control, leading to hurt feelings and broken relationships. It’s a common human experience, and unfortunately, it’s something that has plagued God’s people throughout history.

Today, we’re going to turn our attention to a specific instance of misunderstanding and division within the Israelite community, found in Joshua 22. MAP SLIDE

Before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh had already made their mark on the eastern side. These tribes, with their herds and flocks, had a special affinity for the fertile lands beyond the river.

Years earlier, during their wandering in the wilderness, these tribes had proven their military might by defeating the formidable Amorites and Bashanites. This victory not only secured their own territory but also demonstrated their commitment to the shared cause of conquering the Promised Land. Moses, knowing about the special abilities with livestock, grants them the land East of the Jordan River and they head home. So Joshua blessed them, warned them to remain faithful to the Lord and sent them on their way.

ALTAR SLIDE

Before they leave they build a big altar to affirm their allegiance to Israel and this and this is where our story picks up today.

The problem in the text

Joshua 22 introduces a misunderstanding and miscommunication between the tribes of Israel. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large altar near the Jordan River. When the other tribes heard about this, they mistakenly assumed that this was an act of rebellion, suggesting that these tribes were setting up a rival place of worship and breaking away from the unified worship of the Lord at the central sanctuary in Shiloh.

The other tribes, fearing a potential division, misinterpreted the intent of the altar. They accused the eastern tribes of rebellion and disloyalty.

11 And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, 12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them. 13 So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans. 15 When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: 16 “The whole assembly of the LORD says: ‘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? 17 Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the LORD! 18 And are you now turning away from the LORD? “ ‘If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. 19 If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the LORD’s land, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the LORD our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’ ”

Wow! Things got hot real quick there, Phinehas is worried, What are you doing? How could you defile this land with an altar to another god? Are you trying to get us killed? There was real fear in these men. They see these actions and they are jumping to conclusions.

WRATH OF GOD SLIDE

“What you are doing over here is going to have consequences for us back home.”

“ Do you care at all what you could be doing to us?”

They were worried about them defiling the land, rebelling against the Lord but more importantly, they know God is not going to let this go unpunished and He is going to collectively punish them for this treasonous act. He is worried they are going to forget their commitment to the Lord. They have seen the wrath of God, they know what it can do.

But wait, there is a huge misunderstanding happening here.

The problem in the world

The incident highlights the potential dangers of misinterpretation and the need for careful consideration and understanding in resolving conflicts.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS SLIDE

I want to take you back to the past for a moment but a much more recent past. Back to October 1962

A series of miscalculations and misunderstandings between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. For 13 days in October 1962, this confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union brought the world perilously close to nuclear war.

The crisis began when U.S. reconnaissance flights revealed Soviet missile sites under construction in Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. These intermediate-range ballistic missiles posed a direct threat to U.S. cities.

President John F. Kennedy responded with a naval "quarantine" to block further Soviet shipments of military equipment to Cuba and demanded the removal of the missiles. The crisis intensified as both nations engaged in a tense diplomatic standoff. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev argued the missiles were defensive, countering U.S. missile deployments in Turkey and Italy.

America was placed at DEFCON 2. The whole US in its entire history has only been at DEFCON 2 - 4 times.

once during the Gulf War.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Yom Kippur War.

9/11

For a lot of Americans there was real fear that this might be the end. The world was fearful of what could be a world-ending event. The stakes were incredibly high.

The Cuban Missile crisis is one of the highest threat level events in recent history, and it all stemmed from a lack of communication. From what we could be seen as a miscommunication, or poorly handled communication. a thorough communication breakdown. Haven’t we all been faced with some communication breakdowns lately? maybe even a disagreement in how things should be handled.

BLANK SLIDE

We have all experienced some disagreements recently, haven’t we? - at the international level, at the national level, at the denominational level. The world is not lacking for disagreements. The world is not lacking for means of communication, we have phones, Facetime, instagram, text message, the ways to communicate are innumerable. The problem is plenty of people are talking, but how many people are listening?

The world is a powder keg, just waiting to blow. Are we going to fan the flames? Or are we going to be counter-cultural? Are we going to stop and listen before acting.

Just like in the Cuban Missile Crisis there is a need for communication. There is a need to stop and think, there is a need to try to get to some understanding before things get worse.

When we fail to try to understand, before we act, we act out of fear, not with compassion or understanding. We condemn, before we even know the intent of the actions.

SLIDE

20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.”

**********Pause and Breath*****

The grace in the text

The Power of Dialogue

Now back to the text, We were right at the precipice of action.

CLIFF HANGER SLIDE

If we were in a movie, the last finger is about to slip from the ledge, the last piece of string is about to break, the fuse is within inches of the bomb.

But cut from the action and here comes the rescuing the hand, the water bucket on the fuse, the green wire is cut (or was it the red one). SLIDE

22 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the LORD, do not spare us this day. 23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the LORD and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD himself call us to account. 24 “No! We did it for fear that someday your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? 25 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. 26 “That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ 27 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. 28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’ 29 “Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle.”

Whew. Clarification Is made. A delegation was sent to investigate the situation. Through dialogue and clarification, the misunderstanding was resolved. MONUMENT SLIDE

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh explained that the altar was not intended for sacrifice, They do not intend to worship another God, but to establish a monument to their unity with the other tribes. Through calm dialogue and a clear explanation, the misunderstanding was resolved.

The altar was not a symbol of defiance but a testament to their unwavering commitment to God and their fellow Israelites.

It was a monument so they wouldn’t forget. Just like the Pur in the time of Esther, they were worried about our proclivity to short term memory loss. They were worried, 2 generations from now, 3 generations are you going to remember we are one people, we are one tribe. Or are you going to attack us? Are we going to remember to fear the lord? Or will we forget his name?

BLANK SLIDE

When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased.

SLIDE

31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD’s hand.” 32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. 33 They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived. 34 And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the LORD is God.

BLANK SLIDE

This incident teaches us the power of dialogue. By talking about things, we can avoid misunderstandings and resolve conflicts peacefully. It’s essential to listen attentively, empathize with others’ perspectives, and seek to understand before being understood. These tribes were just moments before, enemies, ready to fight each other to the death. Enemies because they were lining up their allegiances to what they thought was a different God.

SITTING BY THE RIVER SLIDE

How many of us right now have someone in our life that just 1 month ago made a decision or took a position that made them an enemy in their eyes? Not because they chose a different God, but because they chose a different candidate. Many of these people have already chosen their king, the Lord. but because they chose a different president, we consider them out of our tribe. We all drew lines in the sand and were ready to murder them with our words. but now we are all coming back together and we are going to have to take some time to reconcile those differences. Those differences are never going to get resolved if we remain in silence.

if we don’t sit down by the river and talk, we will never have those relationships restored. They will remain broken.

BLANK SLIDE

The grace in the world

So back to this crisis in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev hold the fate of the world in their hands and something happens. They start talking again

Ultimately, the crisis was resolved through intense negotiations. Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites in exchange for a U.S. public pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret agreement to remove American missiles from Turkey and it led to the establishment of what I think was the most crucial elements of ending the “Cold War” the establishment of a direct "hotline" between Washington and Moscow and the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963​.

RED PHONE SLIDE

That phone right there brought these 2 warring nations back to talking. Back to trying to find some understanding, before acting. Back to trying to have a relationship.

How many of us when we have been in a disagreement have walked to the phone, and then walked away. Picked up the phone and then put it back down. Dialed the number or selected the contact and then clicked cancel. I have been there. I know I can’t be the only one.

Could you imagine for one moment if Kennedy and Khrushchev had not put in that phone? Not made the call, not pick-up the ringing call. I shudder to think.

I thank God they put in that phone. I thank God that cooler heads prevailed in the Cold War. And i thank god that cooler heads prevailed on the west bank of the Jordan. I thank God that Kennedy and Khrushchev made the call. I pray to God that we can begin to live in a world that makes the phone call and picks up the call when the phone is ringing.

We are all going to have to pick up that phone and make that call.

Fortunately for the world, just like in the time of the tribes of Israel, communication was restored.

Imagine if we approached all of our disagreements with this mentality. You fill in the blank

Jesus in the text

The misunderstanding was resolved peacefully through communication and clarification, emphasizing the importance of open dialogue and avoiding hasty judgments. Jesus calls for us to openly talk to each other. To seek understanding before we seek judgment.

SLIDE

15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ d 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

BLANK SLIDE

How much better would it be if we stopped and tried to figure out what was going through the mind of the person we are talking to, before making judgment, condemnation, or a biased decision? if we just talked to each other again. If we made multiple attempts to talk, bringing one or two other into the conversation if needed, but never giving up. We live in a world where if I don’t agree with you, I am not going to talk to you. The idea of agree to disagree and still remain hospitable is gone.

Conclusion

The story of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh is a reminder of the importance of communication, understanding, and unity. Even when misunderstandings arise, it is crucial to seek clarification and resolve conflicts peacefully. By working together and honoring their commitments, these tribes demonstrated the power of unity and the enduring nature of God's promises.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, We come before You, humbled by the story of Your people and the lessons it teaches us. Thank You for being a God of unity, peace, and reconciliation, even when misunderstandings threaten to divide us.

Lord, we confess that too often, we jump to conclusions, act out of fear, and fail to seek understanding in our relationships. We let miscommunications fester into division and allow pride to keep us from reaching out. Forgive us for the times we’ve failed to listen with open hearts and respond with grace.

Teach us, O Lord, to follow the example of the tribes in Joshua’s time. Help us to approach conflicts with humility and seek dialogue instead of judgment. Give us the courage to ask questions before drawing conclusions and to extend compassion even when emotions run high.

Just as the altar built by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh was a witness to their shared faith and unity, may our words and actions testify to our commitment to love one another as You have loved us. Help us to build bridges, not walls, and to see Your image in those with whom we disagree.

Jesus, You call us to seek reconciliation and to treat one another with kindness and understanding. Empower us by Your Spirit to live out this calling, making the effort to pick up the phone, extend a hand, or start the conversation that leads to healing. May we be peacemakers in a world so prone to conflict.

Thank You for the gift of Your Son, who reconciled us to You and one another through the cross. Let His love and grace be the foundation of all our relationships.

In His holy name, we pray, Amen.