"Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, 'You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. For a long time now---to this very day---you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you.'" (Joshua 22:1-3) To receive such words of commendation from a man like Joshua is a high honor indeed. He praises their dedicated service by saying, "You kept the promise you swore to Moses. You answered the call of the Lord and followed His instructions faithfully. You loyally forged into the battle with your brothers so that they, like you, could receive their inheritance. You followed all my military orders as soldiers in the army of Israel. Well done!"
"Well done!" are the words we want to hear the Lord say someday. Jesus taught a parable in which He compared the kingdom of God to a master bestowing rewards upon a faithful servant. The master said, "Well done, good and faithful servant! Because you have been faithful in small matters, I will put you in charge of large matters. Come and share your master's happiness!" (See Matthew 25:14-30 for the entirety of this parable.) The men who have their share of the land on the eastern side of the Jordan have been good and faithful servants. They have obeyed every order they were given, both big and small. Now Joshua is going to release them from military service so they can go home and rejoice with their families and begin building a new and prosperous life on their own land.
"Now that the Lord your God has given them rest as He promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan." (Joshua 22:4) Before these men accompanied their fellow Israelites across the Jordan River, they made settlements for their wives and children and built pens for their livestock. A happy reunion with their loved ones is soon to take place.
Joshua urges these brave soldiers to continue being brave soldiers for the Lord. Joshua sternly warns them that they must keep on being faithful to the Lord. "But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to keep His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Joshua 22:5) Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength. A person who loves the Lord will find it much easier to obey Him. A person who loves the Lord will find it much easier to obey the second most important commandment, which Jesus said was to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we love our Creator, and if we understand that the Creator loves everyone He created just as much as He loves us, it will come more naturally for us to love our fellow man too.
"Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes. (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.)" (Joshua 22:6-7a) You'll recall from our map of the allotments that there was a region called East Manasseh and there was a region called West Manasseh. The men of East Manasseh had crossed the Jordan with the men of Reuben and Gad to help their brothers fight for the land on the western side of the river.
"When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, saying, 'Return to your homes with your great wealth---with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing---and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.'" (Joshua 22:7b-8) It's not as if these men weren't paid for their military service. The soldiers of Israel were allowed to plunder for themselves every city, town, and village they conquered with the exception of Jericho. The men who helped their brothers take the land on the western side of the river are returning home very wealthy.
Everything is going to be peace and joy now, right? No, because the Israelites on the western side of the Jordan are going to hear a rumor about an altar and will jump to an erroneous conclusion. "So the Reubenites, Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses. When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. And when the Israelites heard that they had built an altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them." (Joshua 22:9-12)
What's going on here? The tribes on the western side of the Jordan assume the tribes on the eastern side of the Jordan have built an altar for sacrifices, which would be a huge sin against God because He's already said that sacrifices and offerings can only be made at the place He has designated. There was to be a center of worship in Israel and that center of worship was where the tabernacle was located (and later where the temple was located). At this point in the Bible the tabernacle sits at Shiloh. Since the main purpose of altars in ancient times was to offer sacrifices, we can see why the Israelites west of the Jordan believe that's the intended use of this altar, which would mean that the Israelites east of the Jordan are either deliberately opposing a direct order from God about where sacrifices are to be made or that they have built an altar to some other god.
That's not what's happening, though. My pastor preached a sermon on this passage not long ago as a warning not to jump to conclusions and not to believe rumors. Join us tomorrow as we learn the heartwarming reason for the construction of the altar.
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