May the mumbling commence!
It’s hard to maintain long-distance relationships. Maintaining them takes lots of work… lots of
communication to avoid a breakdown of understanding. Read an extended passage from Joshua chapter
twenty-two when the Eastern tribes were returning to their allotted land:
When they arrived in the land
of Gilead, they said to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of
Manasseh, "The whole community of the Lord demands to know why you are
betraying the God of Israel. How could you turn away from the Lord and build an altar in rebellion
against him? Was our sin at
Peor not enough? We are not yet fully cleansed of it, even after the plague
that struck the entire assembly of the Lord. And yet today
you are turning away from following the Lord.
If you rebel against the Lord
today, he will be angry with all of us tomorrow. If you need the altar because your land is
defiled, then join us on our side of the river, where the Lord lives among us in his Tabernacle,
and we will share our land with you. But do not rebel against the Lord or draw us into your rebellion by
building another altar for yourselves. There
is only one true altar of the Lord
our God. Didn't God
punish all the people of Israel when Achan, a member of the clan of Zerah,
sinned by stealing the things set apart for the Lord?
He was not the only one who died because of that sin."
Then the people of Reuben, Gad,
and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered these high officials: "The Lord alone is God! The Lord alone is God! We have not
built the altar in rebellion against the Lord.
If we have done so, do not spare our lives this day. But the Lord knows, and let all Israel know,
too, that we have not built an altar for ourselves to turn away from the Lord. Nor will we use it for our burnt
offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings. If we have built it for this
purpose, may the Lord himself
punish us.
We have built this altar because we fear that in the future your
descendants will say to ours, 'What right do you have to worship the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord
has placed the Jordan River as a barrier between our people and your people.
You have no claim to the Lord.'
And your descendants may make our descendants stop worshiping the Lord.
So we decided to build the altar,
not for burnt sacrifices, but as a memorial. It will remind our
descendants and your descendants that we, too, have the right to worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt
offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings. Then your descendants will not be
able to say to ours, 'You have no claim to the Lord.' If they say this, our descendants can reply,
'Look at this copy of the Lord's
altar that our ancestors made. It is not for burnt offerings or sacrifices; it
is a reminder of the relationship both of us have with the Lord.'
Far be it from us to rebel
against the Lord or turn away from
him by building our own altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or
sacrifices. Only the altar of the Lord
our God that stands in front of the Tabernacle may be used for that purpose."
When Phinehas the priest and
the high officials heard this from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh, they were satisfied.
Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, replied to them, "Today we know the Lord
is among us because you have not sinned against the Lord as we thought. Instead, you have rescued Israel from
being destroyed by the Lord."
(Verses 15-31)
Sometimes what we first thought was an unbridgeable gap
between us is actually a manifestation of our unity. Israel was ready to kill their brothers over
what they saw as wandering from the Word of the Lord. They knew what the wandering of a few would
cause for everyone.
Thank God that they
took the time to talk before the fought.
The altar that was built was only a memorial to remind future
generations the connection between the peoples on either side of the river. We are brothers! The Lord, indeed, would have been displeased
with unneeded death between brothers.
The explanation saved Israel from being destroyed through
misunderstanding. Praise God! Indeed, it is not only physical distance that
drives a wedge between people. Sometimes
the wedge is formed by perceived knowledge or socio-economic status. Read from John chapter seven:
The Temple guards who had been
sent to arrest him returned to the leading priests and Pharisees. "Why
didn't you bring him in?" they demanded.
"We have never heard
anyone talk like this!" the guards responded.
"Have you been led astray,
too?" the Pharisees mocked. "Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who
believes in him? These ignorant
crowds do, but what do they know about it? A curse on them anyway!"
Nicodemus, the leader who had
met with Jesus earlier, then spoke up. "Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a
hearing?" he asked.
They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the
Scriptures and see for yourself – no prophet ever comes from Galilee!" (Verses
45-52)
There were the Pharisees and the ignorant crowds and the
bumbling Temple guards and the Galileans.
The Pharisees knew everything… the rest of them were know-nothings.
May we never allow geography or perceived
knowledge drive a wedge between us. We
are one in Christ.
Enough mumbling for
now…
Peace Out
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