Battles We Need Not Fight

By John Stallings


Perception isn’t the same thing as reality.

You know this if you’ve ever jumped to a conclusion that simply wasn’t right.

First impressions are often right, but they are also sometimes totally wrong. At times we think we know what’s going on only to discover later that we weren’t even in the ball park when it came to seeing what was happening or why someone was behaving the way they did. As a rule things are more multi-layered than we suspect. The story in Joshua chapter 22 is a case in point.

After the Jews conquered the east side of the Jordan River, Moses was going to abandon the old land, because the Promised Land was on the other side of the river. But the leaders of Gad, Reuben and half of the tribe of Manasseh had asked if they could stay in the land they had already conquered, because it was just what they needed for their flocks.

The land was rich and fertile and there were large valleys for grazing their flocks and plenty of water. It seemed perfect. Moses agreed on the condition that they had to go across the river with their fellow Jews and help conquer the land of Canaan. After that task was completed they would be allowed to return to their own homes once more.

Canaan is finally subdued after over five years. The soldiers from the 2½ tribes had been faithful in their service and were given permission to return to their homes and families. Joshua, now their leader admonished them to love God and continue in His ways and to serve Him with all their hearts.

In that respect, things haven’t really changed much in the day in which we live. God still wants our faithful service. When He knows He has our hearts he will pour out His best on us.

The separation was an occasion of mixed emotions for everyone. The soldiers from all the other tribes had said their good-byes and there were probably numerous hugs and slaps on the back. Then the 2½ tribes left to cross the Jordan River and return to their families on other side. The soldiers could probably barely wait to get home. Their kids had now grown up and they had many stories to tell them of all the great things God had done.

THE PLOT TAKES A TWIST

As the men of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh backtracked east, they passed landmarks that must have brought back memories of what God had done. Happy as they were to be going home, it hadn’t been easy to say good-bye to their brothers. They were leaving behind the nearness of the Priesthood and the Tabernacle containing the Ark of the Covenant. They were leaving the land God had promised to bless. They were going home but somehow already missed the others tribes and began to feel isolated from the nation of Israel.

That’s probably what prompted the 2½ tribes to do what at first glance didn’t make much sense. Not only did it not make sense, it could have cost them their lives.

A MASSIVE MISCONCEPTION

Canaan is now under the control of God’s people. The tribes have each received their allotted portion of land and now they must begin, in the settled environment of Canaan, to live as the people of God; as a nation committed to be obedient to His Law. Under the new arrangements, the 9½ tribes will live on the western side of the Jordan in the land of Canaan itself, while the other 2½ tribes, Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh would live on the eastern side of the Jordan.

Things were going swimmingly. The Promised Land and peace were both finally theirs. It seemed nothing could go wrong with the new set-up and then, at that very moment- it did. It wasn’t a small thing either, it was major. The tribes on the western side of the Jordan didn’t see it coming, but there it was. The 2½ tribes on the eastern side of the Jordan River did it. They’re responsible. On the eastern side of the Jordan River, they built a massive altar.

What’s wrong with that? Well God had made it clear in Deuteronomy 12 that everyone in any city that built an extra altar for sacrifice was to be put to death. It didn’t take long of course for word to filter through to the western tribes that the eastern tribes had set up a new altar.

While an altar may not seem all that significant to us, it raised an alarm with the Israelites because it was clearly forbidden. In the aforementioned passage they were told to have only one altar for sacrifices, lest multiple altars lead to a falling away from God’s perfect plan for worship. Having only one altar and one place of sacrifice was a way to preserve the purity of the worship of God. It was a preventative measure to ensure that each tribe didn’t do its own thing when it came to worshiping. One altar spoke of one faith and one people. Unity! In fact, again, the penalty for building another altar was that everyone in the city which built the altar was to be put to death. This was serious business.

So, quite logically, when the western tribes heard another altar had been built they immediately thought that the eastern tribes had abandoned God and become apostates before they even got home. It’s interesting that the 2½ tribes were experiencing such joy about the great things God had wrought; the altar was built as they went home, not after they got there.

However-the western tribes were frightened. Remember how 36 people died when Achan took those few items from the tent in Jericho. Though that had been nearly 5 years earlier, they hadn’t forgotten that lesson. They must not disobey clear commands from God or the consequences would be terrible. What should they do? Were the 2½ tribes so quickly becoming “loose cannons?”

The 9½ tribes on the western side of the Jordan River decided that they had no choice but to go to war with their Jewish brothers on the east bank in order to overthrow their “apostasy and disobedience.”

In chapter 22 verse 12 we read the statement, "the whole assembly gathered at Shiloh and prepared to go to war against their brother tribes."

At least on some level the western tribes are to be commended for the zeal to look out for the honor of God and maintain the purity of worship. The fact that they were so stirred up by what they believed was spiritual infidelity shows that they were deeply committed to God. Far too often God’s people gradually accept things that God doesn’t accept.

The western tribes were right to want to stand against sin.However, as proper as it is to stand up against what’s wrong, they were also wrong because they jumped to conclusions that were far off the mark. It appeared that what their brothers were doing was wrong, but they would discover that there was another side to the story. When they heard about the altar being built they immediately assumed it had been set up in opposition to the altar in Shiloh. Were they correct?

THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM.

That’s something all of us must guard against; the danger of judging people by their outward appearance. There’s danger in attributing bad motives to people’s actions when the very same actions could in fact be explained in other honorable ways.

Perhaps you meet a Christian friend walking down the street and wave at them. Although they seemed to be looking your direction they didn’t wave back, in fact, they seem to stare right through you. It’s easy if that happens to immediately jump to the conclusion that they are snubbing you. When in reality it might be that your friend is upset about some personal matter and is thinking about it at that moment. Far from being a deliberate snub that intense countenance could have in fact been the outward evidence of inner turmoil.

One more thing along those lines; when I was younger I had eagle eyes. I could see a person a long distance away and immediately recognize them. I’ve spotted famous people in airports that I’d only seen on T.V maybe once or twice, even when they thought they were incognito.

Because I had good eyesight, it never occurred to me that some people are born, and I say this with all love, about half blind. Out in a crowd, they have to get fairly close to you to recognize you even with their glasses on. Since we tend to judge out of our own hearts, I had to get older and in need of glasses, at least to read, to fully understand that some of those folk who didn’t seem to recognize me, didn’t really even see me. I’m just saying, let’s cut one another some slack.

It’s so easy to do what these western tribes did and jump to the wrong conclusions and pass rash judgments on others.

The Pharisees in the New Testament were often guilty of that. Consider what Jesus said to them about this very subject in John 7:24.

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." (NAS)

All of us have had some occasions in our lives when if people had judged us on the way things appeared we would have been in trouble. Things aren’t always as they seem. It’s far easier for me to recall the times when others have misjudged my motives and talked about me, than it is for me to remember the times when I have misjudged others and talked about them.

THE CONFRONTATION

To show the importance that was put on this situation, the 9½ tribes sent Phinehas the priest and 10 other leaders of the tribes to speak with the leaders of Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh. Phinehas started off with a full head of steam. Instead of listening to the 2½ tribes he began pointing out their failures.

The fact that the priest Phinehas was included in this delegation illustrated that this wasn’t mainly a political matter, the primary issue was spiritual. It was a highly charged moment for Israel. The eastern tribes were accused of breaking faith with God, building an altar in rebellion against God and the rest of the covenant nation.

Phinehas, as their spokesman said, "How could you turn your backs on God and break faith with Him and all the other tribes? You built this altar in rebellion to God. You know how God punished us all when one chose to sin. If the land you’ve chosen is unfit for worship, you can move over to the other side of the river with us. Just don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves."

How many of us would have responded well to Phinehas? Imagine someone walking up to you and saying, "Look here you backslider, what you have done is rebellion and sin.”

The strongest word used in his attack was the word, "rebel" which means to deliberately resist God’s will and disobey His law.

On the surface of the story, there seems to be one group which is very right and another group which is very wrong. At this point it seems like things are going to go sideways but what we’re getting ready to see is a model of skillful/ healthy conflict resolution.

If the 9½ hadn’t taken the time to talk to the 2½ they would have probably wiped out the 2½. The 9½ didn’t realize that the 2½ had built an alter for other reasons than the ones they [the 9½] had in mind. [Microsoft Word didn’t like that last paragraph and wanted it re-written. No way!] I’m just glad that the 2½ didn’t get defensive when confronted by the 9½. A good thing to remember is to do all possible to treat criticism as a friend not an enemy.

Proverbs 27:6 says; faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Back to our story -and Phinehas. Sometimes criticism is necessary but it produces stress for most of us. Yet some folk try to motivate people to do better by constantly criticizing them. It doesn’t work as a rule because people don’t feel they deserve it. When we set out to deal in a corrective manner , unless it’s someone directly under our authority, we’d better know what we’re doing, because as you know the person we’ve chosen to ‘set straight” at some point is going to at least make an effort to turn it around on us.

But the western delegation, showing they were honest brokers of peace, doesn’t only accuse and condemn, it makes a very generous offer. If the eastern tribes don’t think they can worship the Lord on the east side of the river, they can come and live on the western side of the Jordan. This would shrink the territory of all the other tribes. This was a marvelously generous thing to do. How were they able to make such an offer? It had to be because it had been discussed with Joshua and the other leaders before they left. In other words, as harsh as the confrontation seemed to be, there was a desire for restoration.

THE EXPLANATION

To their credit, the 2½ tribes responded in an extremely constructive way. They said; - "God Almighty knows what our motives were. He alone is to be praised. If we have done what you said we have done, then we deserve God’s punishment and more. But we didn’t build this altar to sacrifice here, or worship another God. We built this altar as a witness.” The 2½ tribes began by acknowledging a very important fact concerning the accusations made against them, - God knew the truth.

Stated negatively, they say they have not built an altar as an act of rebellion against God. Worded positively, they have built the altar as a replica of the altar before the Tabernacle at Shiloh, as witness to their commitment to keep worshipping at the tabernacle with all Israel, and as testimony of their continuing right to share in the Lord’s worship despite the river that separated them from one another. The altar stood for covenant unity, not division, for firm devotion to God, not for backsliding. The 2½ tribes had a lot of “splaining” to do and they did it from the heart. The eastern tribes focused their attention on God. They used three separate names for (God) in their response to the accusations. El the Mighty One , Elohim God, Yahweh the Covenant Lord.

The Eastern tribes utterly rejected all the accusations. In their oath of denial, they basically invited God to call them to account and encouraged Israel to put them to death if the charges leveled against them were accurate. We should be willing to listen before we rush to judgment.

What a tragedy it would have been for the 2½ tribes to have said, "We know we haven’t done anything wrong and we know what our motives are, and we don’t have to explain it to you."

When we love each other, we really do have to explain our motives and we have to be willing to accept the motives of others. This is at the heart of communication. If you often find yourself saying, - "I don’t have to explain myself,” there’s a good chance you’re walking outside of the will of God for your life, -and you’re choosing to destroy relationships.

THE RESOLUTION

When Christ is at work in our lives, we think less of ourselves and more of what’s best for everyone concerned

Each time we’re willing to say, "I’m sorry" we’re living out a little bit of the Spirit of Christ. These are words of repentance, and repentance means going in the opposite direction. The 9½ tribes went from being critical of the altar to understanding because they were willing to listen and acknowledge that their fellow Israelites had thought of something they hadn’t considered.

This incident with the 2½ tribes can teach us an important lesson. Sometimes we are inclined to fight battles that do not need to be fought. We just see two different ways of getting to the same place. Don’t take it personally that your plan was not chosen this time. If the goal is the same, and the end product is the same, then flow with the plan of others. - Even if you had the better plan. - It’s called teamwork.

Human nature being what it is there will be times when misunderstanding will occur even among Christians. The spirit and example from this chapter speaks of the proper way to resolve those clashes. You and I must be governed by our love for the Lord and we must be careful that we don’t quickly jump to conclusions about others without giving them the benefit of the doubt. In Israel’s case, a few honest, rational words prevented a civil war.

I’m not suggesting that we gloss over things which really matter, that’s equally wrong. The well-known Bible commentator, Matthew Henry, once put it in wonderful perspective when he said. .

"Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it but truth."

The very fragile situation between these tribes ended happily. It ended well because the two groups were highly invested in truth, love and unity. They were intent on loving, walking, obeying, holding fast and serving God with all their hearts. Their commitment to be conscientious brokers of understanding and unity leaves you and me with a template to follow in our personal lives, our homes, and in our churches.

The 2½ tribes made a statement that blows me away. They told the other tribes;-“If we’re in sin, may God destroy us, because we don’t want to defile His name or hurt you.”

Love isn’t’ the absence of problems or differences. Love is a function of something higher, -our commitment -which is an act of our Will to seek one another’s’ highest good.


Blessings,


John