Reconciliation Through Faith

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Joshua 22, 10 through 34. There's an altar that almost causes a civil war. So, let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into this pretty tense moment in Israel's history. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You so much for this day. We thank You for the blessing it is to get to read Your Word. We pray that You would please help us as we read it, that we would understand. We pray that as we read, Your Holy Spirit would not just let us understand these things, but apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, here we go. Joshua 22, beginning at verse 10.
And when they came to the region of the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, built an altar by the Jordan, a great impressive altar. Now the children of Israel heard someone say, But behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the children of Israel's side. And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them. Then the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead. And with him ten rulers, one ruler each from the chief house of every tribe of Israel. And each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel. Then they came to the children of Reuben, to the children 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 treachery is this, that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord? and that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against Jehovah?
Is the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed this day? Although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, but that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it shall be if you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over the land of the possession of the Lord. where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.
Then the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel, The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knows. And let Israel itself know, if it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against the Lord, do not save us this day.
If we have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings on it, let the Lord himself require an account. But if in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, In time to come your descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, your children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord. So your descendants would make our descendants cease from fearing the Lord.
Therefore we said, let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar. not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but that it may be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings, that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, you have no part in the Lord. Therefore, We said that it will be when they say this to us or to our generations in times to come, that we may say, here is the replica of the altar of Jehovah, which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but it is a witness between you and us. For before it, far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following Jehovah this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God, which is before his tabernacle.
Now when Phineas the priest, and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel, who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. Then Phineas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because we have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of the Lord. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the rulers returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan to the children of Israel and brought back word to them. So the thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God. They spoke no more going against them in battle to destroy the land where the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt. The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar witness, for it is a witness between us that the Lord is God. Well, we need to ask ourselves our ABCs. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So A, what's this about? Well, we get the story that unfolded before us, right?
The two and a half tribes are headed out to the east side beyond the Jordan. They're going back to their lands. They've done a good job. Joshua sent them home. And then there's a rumor that spreads. What's the rumor? that Gad and Reuben had built an altar on the other side of the Jordan.
It's as if they are committing treason against God himself, right? That's what the charge was. Verse 16, thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, what treachery is this that you have committed against the God of Israel to turn away this day from following the Lord? In that you have built for yourselves an altar that you might rebel against the Lord this day." I have that double underlined and starred, right? That's the charge, that's the accusation. They come, they're ready for war, they send a delegation. It's Eleazar and one of Aaron's sons. Aaron's dead now, so it's just Eleazar and Phineas. These are the two sons that are alive. Eleazar is the one who goes here first.
He's not the High Priest, it's Phineas. he comes as this emissary with the other 10 heads of the tribes and they make this accusation. This is treason. This is rebellion. We don't understand how can you leave from this battle, go over the Jordan, and it's like the second your feet got out of the Jordan River, they got dry and you built an altar. You've broken the confederacy. We were a federation and you've destroyed it by going against us. If your land is unclean, if there's something with your land, come over to our side, but don't do this to God. Don't commit this treason.
That's what they're saying to him. But why did they do this? Why did they build this altar? The altar is real. It's there. It's got the horns, it's got the bass, it's got everything necessary to actually make sacrifices. But what do the leaders say? They say, no, no, no, no, hold on. We didn't do this, right? That's what verses 21 through 29 were about. Say, no, no, no, hold on.
We're going to call God as our witness here. This was an oath statement, verse 22. The Lord, this is the divine name, Yehovah, Yahweh, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, say it two times. The Lord God of Gods. The Lord God of Gods. He knows. And let Israel itself know. It's like when people put their hand on the Bible and they swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God. They're invoking God's name. saying, the Lord, the God of gods, the Lord, the God of gods, the one who rules Israel, let him, he knows the truth and let you know the truth.
We did not do this to rebel. So why did they do this? Why did they build this altar? Right? It seems like they're supplanting the altar of God that he himself commanded and that's in Shiloh right now. So what's going on here? Well, they say, no, no, no. They were worried. They were worried about being disinherited from the Lord Himself. And so they had built a memorial to remind their children and the ten and a half tribes or the ten tribes on the other side as well. One reason why, hold on, why not Manasseh? Why wasn't he involved in this, right? There was East Manasseh and West Manasseh. Why wasn't East Manasseh involved in this?
Well, because his tribe crosses over the Jordan, right? It's the one tribe that goes on both sides of the Jordan. And they're not worried about being disinherited. But these two, Reuben and Gad, really are. And so it was meant to be a memorial. It was meant to look like the one in Israel on the other side of the Jordan River. So that way, when the next generations would come up, right, it's kind of a security plan. Plan B is a memorial, but yet it's also a memorial made out of fear. It's a memorial that's made out of somewhat of a speculation of the future that what could happen.
So they don't want their tribes to ever be removed from The inheritance of the Lord, the tabernacle, and the worship of God there. They don't want to be treated like outcasts and enemies. So they build this altar not to make incense on, not to burn incense on, not to make sacrifices on, not to make whole grain offerings on, right? They say it's not for any of that, right?
That's what happens where the tabernacle is. But here, here's a memorial that we have a part in that. We helped fight for that land. We're two of your brothers. We're your kinsmen and we have a share in the inheritance of what happens in that tabernacle.
So this is one of those people all the time in life do things and they have intentions for them and the intentions for them may not have been necessarily the best, but yet then they're interpreted in lack of of communication and information they're interpreted in the worst light and that's what almost happens here there's almost a civil war there's almost a wiping out of Reuben and Gad because this is idolatrous this is treasonous what's going on here they're rebelling thankfully there's an ambassador who goes and emissaries who are sent there's an answer given And it's acceptable.
That's what happens. That's what Phineas the high priest says in verse 30. So here we learn that it's both brothers who go. And so Phineas and the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him, heard the words of the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh spoke, and it pleased them. So it pleases them.
It says, now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of the Lord. They say, we realized that we were wrong. You didn't mean to do this. That takes a lot of humility, right? They were just ready for war. It's really easy, right? This could have been the Hatfields and McCoys situation, right? This could have been really bad.
But people actually stop and they listen. They hear each other out. and there's some reconciliation given. And so Phinehas and Eleazar and their rulers, they go home. And they take all the children of Israel back home and they bring word with them and tell everybody what happened. That's what verse 32 says. And it pleased the children of Israel and the children of Israel blessed God. Bless God, because people were grieved. They were worried. They didn't like the idea of going to war against their own brothers. Civil war is never a good thing. So what do they name this altar?
Witness. Testimony. It's a stela. It's a stele. It's a memorial to remember. Now there's higher critic people, like I remember I was listening to actually in my state there's a scholar who runs a big magazine, archaeological magazine, and he was talking about how, oh this is one of those idolatrous sites and that Israel definitely made this and it's one of those sites that shows the idolatry of Israel. It's just a memorial. It's just a witness. There's all sorts of witnesses like this. It's not meant to be idolatrous by any means. It's the same way with the 12 stones that come up out of the Jordan River, right? That wasn't meant to be idolatry.
That's just a memorial. people forget things and it's set up to be a remembrance, right? I've gone to see my great uncle's name in the Vietnam Memorial, not because I go and I worship my dead ancestor or something like that, but because that's a memorial to remember the sacrifice paid by our family. and the memorials there to remember. I like going to D.C. for those memorials to remember. I don't like going to D.C. for other reasons, but it's pretty impressive when you do go. But there's memorials all over the place. We have memorials in our lives for special events and special people and special occasions.
Not for worship. Could it turn that way? Certainly. But does it have to start that way or go that way? No. So what's the best verse to summarize all of this? Well, in my Bible, I have verse 16 underlined. I also have verse 22 underlined, as well as verse 26 underlined. There's just a lot here because it's a big story. But also in my Bible, I have verse 30 and 31 underlined as the response back. So that's why I have... Let's talk about see-calling. What are we called to do? What impact does this have in our lives?
This is a perfect example of what it looks like to have godly communication. If this was real idolatry, that's a real big problem. And they don't just sweep it under the rug, pass it off, minimize it, nothing like that. They actually are going to do something about it. God had told them to do this and so they go and they take their role seriously but before they just wage into civil war right they talk clarify things what's actually going on here and I'm sure there were some people like maybe they actually did still set that up but then they just never used it maybe it was like it just in case we're cut off then we'll use that altar type thing but they don't they believe the best of them. Why? Because they're brothers and they love the Lord.
And so that's one of these things that happens in reconciliation. There's a lot here in this passage that we can learn about interpersonal communication, right? About going to your brother, about confronting him with his sin, and then hearing your brother out.
And if he's seriously in the Lord and he's even willing to take it under oath, taking him seriously at his word, okay, I know this guy, right? I know that he fears the Lord. I've seen that in his life. And he says that this was his true intention. I have to trust him. I'm gonna choose to trust him.
And so I think that's one of the things that's going on here, right? Is both parties are zealous for God's worship. But in their zealousies, they end up at loggerheads with each other. But they're willing to be reasonable. And I think this is one of the blessings that the Holy Spirit gives us, right? As we are living with each other, to let our reasonableness be known to all men. That we take sin seriously. But at the same time, we listen. We listen and we're reasonable and we work with each other for His glory. Because God is glorified even in this story to show us the zeal that people had for the Lord's worship. So, are you zealous for the Lord's worship? Do you long to go to his tabernacle? Do you love the congregation, the assembly of God's people? Do you want to go to him, to worship him, to sing his praises?
It's a wonderful thing that the people are both longing for here. Praise God, this disaster was averted. I hope that we're willing to talk with each other even in tense situations, for the glory of God and the furthering of His kingdom. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is to know that you indeed are the Lord God of gods. There's none like you, and you know all truth. Father, we confess to you that there are times where we are not excited for worship. But Father, we long, we long to be your people who truly do seek after you, who want you, who love you. So Father, please stir up in our hearts more and more a desire for your glory, for your kingdom.
Lord, we pray that we would be led by your Holy Spirit in confrontation and in reconciliation. Lord, we pray that you would please keep your people from divisive sins. Lord, we pray that we would be able to understand you and that we would long to be with you and have a united testimony for your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace that comes from worshiping the Lord, God of gods, because Jesus indeed is Lord of lords and King of kings and worthy of all praise. I'll see you next time. Bye.