Joshua 22 No... It was RESPECT

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Joshua 22:21 Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: 22 “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. 23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.

24 “No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord.

26 “That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ 27 On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’

28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

29 “Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle.”

30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. 31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.”

32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. 33 They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

34 And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the Lord is God.​

RESPECT for the Power and Glory of God.... that's why they built the alter.

I have to admit.... I have always been a little leery about wearing a cross. I was afraid it would be like a little idol and cause me harm. Now, after reading about this alter built by the Transjordanians [the Israelites who settled on the east side of the Jordan], I am not afraid. I would wear that cross out of respect. I would wear that cross so others will notice and maybe make a remark that would open a conversation about Salvation.

I found this in the blueletterbible.org commentary.

The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, He knows: 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.

If it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against the LORD, do not save us this day: 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.

RESPECT for the reasoning of others.

This is quite a story.... I noticed though, it doesn't have a direct quote from God, Himself, on the topic of the correctness of building an altar so far from the Tabernacle. One might think "People think it's ok to build the altar, but God didn't say it was ok". Not so quick there bucko.... the response to "God didn't say" is in verse 23. If God hadn't been ok with it.... God would have wiped them out, just as He did with those who worshiped those shiny little idols in Peor. The fact that God didn't say anything.... well the people said something... they were ready to go to war.... but it's ok.... God was good with the altar because it was built with RESPECT.

:coffee:
 
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