Joshua 22 The Great Misunderstanding

Intro

The Jordan has been crossed

The battles have been fought

The land has been divided

Now it’s time to get down to normal life

Before that happens Joshua needs to release and bless the 2.5 tribes who live on the other side of the jordan

This goes really well till there is a big misunderstanding

Before the nation even gets going there is almost a civil war

Have you ever been misunderstood?

Has it escalated to the point where people take sides and people don’t speak to each other?

No matter how much explaining you do it doesn’t do anything to help

People have made up their minds and nothing is going to change it

How do you rectify the situation?

Josh 22 gives us some keys

Read Joshua 22:1-6

vs. 1-9 Honorable Discharge

2.5 tribes wanted their inheritance east of the Jordan

The land was good for grazing

So the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and 1/2 tribe of Manasseh asked Moses for the Land

Moses made them swear that their men of war would enter the promised when they crossed over the Jordan

These tribes were faithful in their promise and now they were itching to get home to their loved ones

Joshua gives them an Honorable discharge

In the seven years they had been with Joshua, helping the tribes west of the Jordan to conquer their enemies, they had been completely obedient and helpful to Joshua.

They had gone out and fought on behalf of their brethren, even though they already had their own inheritance - even as God commanded them to do.

Vs. 5 He tells them to take diligent heed to the word of God, probably here mostly in the sense of carefully hearing it and knowing it.

He tells them to obey God with all they have, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him in a personal sense, and to serve Him with all your heart and soul.

We should not miss the order here.

First, we should take care to hear God.

Then we give Him our love.

Next comes a walk of obedience.

To mix this order up is to get off into heresy (loving without hearing) or legalism (obeying before loving).

Vs. 6 Joshua will not send them away without a blessing; he knew that they could not do or be what God wanted them to be without His blessing among them.

Vs. 7-8 Their obedience to God and faithfulness to their brethren has been rewarded.

God has allowed them to gain much plunder that they can take back home with them.

Vs. 9 We might imagine that this was a somewhat emotional departure of brothers who had known the closeness of fighting side-by-side. These were true veterans of the army of Israel.

Vs. 10-20 The Misunderstanding

They travel from Shiloh to the Jordan, probably not too far from Gilgal

Before crossing over the Jordan, the soldiers from the two and a half tribes build a great, impressive altar near the Jordan River.

A great, impressive altar:

This was significant not only because of its size, but because of the meaning of an altar.

An altar was a place of sacrifice, and both the Israelites and pagans had altars they used for sacrifice.

The Canaanites lived nearby so it would be easy to see this as a pagan altar

Vs. 11 When the news comes to the rest of Israel, there was no discussion, there was a simple reaction.

They gathered to make war against their own brothers who built this altar.

Notice that Joshua does not need to gather them, Phineas did.

Why did they do this? Because they feared that this altar was a sign of allegiance to the pagan gods of the region.

Vs. 12 To go to war against them:

Their readiness to fight this battle shows great courage to confront on behalf of God’s truth and holiness.

This was a healthy “body,” able to purge itself of poisons.

Phinehas led the group, because he had the authority.

He was High Priest over the whole nation, including the two and one-half tribes on the east side of the Jordan.

He not only had the authority, he also had the heart of a wise shepherd.

He wanted to correct the erring, to protect the nation, and to drive out the dangerous.

Vs. 13-15 And they spoke with them:

Israel reacted according to God’s character.

Their assembling for war demonstrated God’s holiness, but their personal confrontation demonstrated God’s love.

Vs. 17 Phinehas reminds the eastern tribes that Israel has been punished for rebellion against God before, using the rebellion at Peor as an example.

This incident would be especially meaningful to Phinehas, because he was the one who stopped the plague by making a dramatic stand for righteousness in the midst of gross sin.

Phinehas also knew that the sin of these tribes would reflect on the whole nation. He knew that no one really sins unto himself.

To Phinehas, anything was better than seeing these tribes go off in rebellion against God.

If there was something unclean in their land, he invited them to come and live with the tribes on the western side of the Jordan.

Vs. 19-20 Do not rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar:

This was an invitation made at great cost.

It would have meant a much smaller area of land for the western tribes. But it didn’t matter, because they were willing to sacrifice to see their brothers free from this sin.

Vs. 21-29 The Argument

The 2.5 tribes answer the delegation

It is important to understand that what they say is the difference between war and peace

This is important to remember

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

They first appeal to God, because He knows for certain their hearts, and they believe that their brothers in the western tribes have misunderstood them.

When we are misunderstood, our first refuge is God.

He knows our heart, and we must be satisfied with being right before God even if it means we are wrong in the eyes of some others.

They also recognized the rightness of what the others were doing in coming against them.

The eastern tribes do what we should all do when we are misunderstood: put ourselves in the shoes of the other person and try to see what they see.

If we saw what they saw, we might respond in the same way.

The eastern tribes recognized their distance from the center of worship in Israel, and that there was a natural barrier (the Jordan River) between them and the rest of the nation. So they built the altar a memorial to link the two segments of the nation.

That your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come:

They built it so big and impressive so that it would last.

They wanted it to stand as a memorial to future generations that the tribes on both sides of the Jordan worshipped the same God.

Here is the replica of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices:

The eastern tribes again agree with the concern of the western tribes; but they explain that the western tribes have misunderstood the meaning of the great, impressive altar.

Vs. 30-34 The Agreement

Now when Phinehas the priest... heard the words... it pleased them:

Obviously, Phinehas is pleased by this explanation; yet he deserves credit for being willing to believe his brothers.

Phinehas puts himself in the shoes of the eastern tribes now, and so the explanation makes sense.

This day we perceive that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the LORD:

Phinehas could see that the LORD was among us, because unity had been restored among the people of Israel.

This fulfilled the passage from

Psalm 133:1: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God: Everyone is glad, and everyone enjoys the blessing of having peace among the people of God.

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar, Witness:

The altar is given the name Witness, because it was a witness to the tribes on both the eastern side and the western side of the Jordan that the LORD is God.

We should respond to misunderstanding in the same manner, according to these same principles.

Respond with a concern for God’s holiness.

Respond with the courage to confront in love.

Respond with an attempt to reconcile before you fight.

Determine that you are willing to sacrifice to help them; don’t confront unless you are willing to help.

Determine that you will see the situation from the perspective of the other person.

Determine that you will believe the best of one another.