A Caution Against Rushing to a Conclusion...

Yesterday we looked at a story in the book of Joshua where three tribes of the Jewish people were praised for keeping a commitment that that had made to their fellow countrymen. Joshua then dismissed these three tribes with a prayer asking for God’s enabling power and blessing to be upon them as they began this new chapter in their lives.However, before crossing the Jordan, these three tribes made a decision that had the potential for devastating and destructive consequences, which we read about in the verses that follow:

When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance. And the sons of Israel heard it said, "Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel." When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves at Shiloh to go up against them in war.

Here we see these three tribes, before crossing the Jordan River into the land that they had been given to occupy and settle in, decide to build an altar at the edge of the Jordan River. Now when we read that this altar was large in appearance, this altar was large enough that it could be seen from a great distance from both sides of the Jordan River. This altar was something that could not be missed by anyone who traveled in that region.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why even build an altar? And why build an altar that was that big?” To understand why these tribes would have built such an altar, we first need to understand the Jordan River and its surrounding terrain. The Jordan River runs through a deep gorge which may be called the earth’s deepest valley that contained step and sudden slopes. This natural boundary, then, could easily serve to separate these tribes and divide these tribes from the rest of the Jewish nation. These tribes were afraid that the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” would end up applying to them.

We quickly discover, however, that these tribes were not out of sight out of mind because word quickly reached the rest of the Jewish people that this altar had been erected. And as the Jewish people began to hear the stories about this altar, they responded by gathering together at Shiloh, which functioned like their capital city, and voted to go to war. But, this morning, why would the rest of the Jewish people respond to the building of an altar in such a way? I mean why go to war against your countrymen because of an altar?

There were two reasons why the Jewish people west of the Jordan River responded the way that they did to the building of this altar. First, this altar would violate God’s command that is recorded for us in Deuteronomy 12:10-11. This command required that all sacrificial worship was to be conducted at Shiloh, where the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was located. Second, the Jewish people had already learned the hard way that compromise is extremely costly when it came to the truth about God and the worship of God. The Jewish people did not want to repeat the pain of past mistakes and zealously wanted to protect against compromise when it came to following God’s word. And as the Jewish people prepared to go to war against this act of compromise and rebellion against God’s word, they made a very wise decision, which we see in verses 13-14:

Then the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten chiefs, one chief for each father's household from each of the tribes of Israel; and each one of them was the head of his father's household among the thousands of Israel.

The tribes that lived west of the Jordan River made a decision to send a delegation across the Jordan River to meet with the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and the ½ tribe of Manasseh. This delegation was led by Phinehas, who represented the religious leadership of the Jewish people. In addition, ten representatives were chosen from each of the tribes that lived west of the Jordan River in the Promised Land to represent the political leadership of the Jewish people. This delegation was sent across the Jordan River to meet with and confront the tribes who had built this altar on their rebellious actions.

Instead of rushing to judgment based on hearsay, the Jewish people decided to send ambassadors on a fact finding mission as to the true motives behind their seemingly selfish and sinful behavior. You see, when we rush to judgment based on a conclusion formed on partial information, we risk the danger of coming to a wrong conclusion, don’t we? How many of us have learned this lesson the hard way. And here we see that this danger is not a new danger, but a human nature danger. We then see this delegation confront the tribes that lived east of the Jordan River, beginning in Joshua 22:15:

They came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them saying, "Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, 'What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following the LORD this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the LORD this day? 'Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of the LORD, that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? If you rebel against the LORD today, He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.

After arriving across the Jordan River, the delegation begins to question the actions of these tribes in a very clear and direct manner in an attempt to understand the motives behind their actions. The delegation then reminded these tribes of a devastating story from the history of the Jewish people, which is found in another letter in our Bibles called the book of Numbers. In Numbers 25:1-9, we read a story of how the Jewish people were invited by another culture and society, called the Moabites, to worship their false God, who was named Baal, their way instead or worshipping the true God His way. The Jewish people not only accepting the invitation to worship their false god; the Jewish people committed sexual sin by sleeping with the Moabites, which was also against God’s commands.

And this generation of Jewish people was very familiar with this story because it was their parents who participated in this false worship. And Phinehas, the leader of this delegation, was very familiar with this story because he was there. Phinehas was a young associate pastor at the time who was so offended and the selfish rebellion of the Jewish people that he stepped into action in order to stop the selfish rebellion and sin of the Jewish people.

Now when the delegation asks “is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day”, they are referring to guilt or punishment that comes from selfish sin and rebellion. You see, the delegations point was that the root cause of that selfish rebellion had not been eradicated from the people; there was still the temptation to follow the example of the previous and rebellious generation into idolatry and immorality that resulted in the Jewish people wandering in the desert for 40 years.

And as the Jewish people had become all too aware of, there is no such sin as personal and private sin; our selfish rebellion and sin impacts all who are in our sphere of influence. And because of that reality, the delegation reminds these tribes that their rebellion today would result in consequences for the whole nation tomorrow. The delegation then provides these tribes with an incredible offer in verses 19-20:

'If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross into the land of the possession of the LORD, where the LORD'S tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. Only do not rebel against the LORD, or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the LORD our God. 'Did not Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.'"

When the delegation asks if the land is unclean, this phrase refers to something or someone being not right in God’s sight and therefore not appropriate to either worship or reside. Here we see the 9 ½ tribes generously offered to share their land if the issue was that the land east of the Jordan was not right with God and not appropriate for them to worship or reside. These tribes were willing to sacrifice and share what God had given them in order to ensure that the entire Jewish people would be in right relationship with God and one another.

The delegation then reminds these tribes of some recent history with the story of Achan. As we discovered earlier in this series, after the battle of Jericho, Achan decided to pass by God’s commands to do what he desired to do instead of what God commanded him to do. And Achan’s selfish rebellion and sin resulted in his entire family, who assisted in hiding the banned items under his tent, along with all of His possessions were destroyed. Here we see the delegation pointing to a recent example to reinforce the timeless reality that our selfish rebellion and sin causes damage and destruction to all of those who are in our sphere of influence. After questioning the actions of these tribes in a very clear and direct manner, it was now time to hear their response. How would they respond?

Tomorrow, We will look at the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and ½ tribe of Manasseh’s response. And it is in their response that we see another timeless principle that is necessary when it comes to restarting our lives. Do you have a tendency to rush to a conclusion based on partial information? And what consequences have you experienced as a result?