This is part 3 of a series. See the other messages for the context.
III. U – Understand (Proverbs 18:13)
Have I taken the time to get an understanding of the matter from every angle, every perspective? Do I fully understand the circumstances?
ILLUS: Television shows have for decades used the dual understanding them as the plot of an episode. I remember an episode of The Andy Griffith Show where Martha saw her husband, Emmett the fix-it man, with a pretty young lady. Martha worried herself silly thinking that Emmett was being unfaithful to her. As the show proceeds, we learn that Emmett has been shopping for a mink coat for his wife’s birthday. As it turned out, the young woman that Emmett was with happened to be the sales person for the mink coat store. While it might make for funny television, harmful assumptions are not very funny when they disrupt our relationships.
• Things are not always as they seem.
• People are not always what they appear to be.
• Situations, once studied, may be far different than our first impression would lead us to believe.
• Before I act, I should try to understand the matter at hand from every angle, every viewpoint.
• Let’s look briefly at four Bible narratives that illustrate the importance of understanding a situation before we do anything about it.
Proverbs 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
A. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATION 1: THE ALTAR OF THE RUEBENITES AND GADITES (JOSHUA 22)
• We all remember that, after the water from the rock incident, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land.
• The responsibility of entering and taking the land falls upon Joshua’s shoulders.
• By the time you come to chapter 22, much of the work (but not all) of displacing the locals to make room for the 12 tribes is coming to an end.
• According to the agreement, the tribes would help one another to take their portion of Canaan.
1. The Dismissal (Joshua 22:1-5)
• The warriors of the “Transjordan” tribes of Rueben, Gad and ½ Manasseh have been away from their wives and children for some 7 years.
• Joshua commends them for their faithfulness to their promise to their fellow Israelites, and sends them home.
Joshua 22:1–5 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you: 3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God. 4 And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan. 5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
2. The Distance (Joshua 22:9 ff.)
• Excitedly, they go home across the Jordan.
• Hear the description of this land from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.
Joshua 22:9 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
QUOTE: Leaving Shiloh, the armies of the Eastern tribes headed excitedly for home. As they approached the Jordan River their minds were probably flooded with memories of the miraculous crossing seven years before, of the remarkable victory over nearby Jericho, and of the other triumphs shared with their brothers from whom they had so recently separated. A sense of isolation from the other tribes began to sweep over them. But this was not simply because an ordinary river would separate the Eastern from the Western tribes, for the Jordan is not an ordinary river. Mountains on each side rise to heights above 2,000 feet and the Jordan Valley nestled in between is in effect a great trench 5 to 13 miles wide. During a part of the year the intense heat greatly discourages travelers. This then was a very pronounced river boundary and may have contributed to the fear of these tribesmen that they and their brethren would permanently drift apart. After all, “out of sight” is often “out of mind.” What then could be done to keep alive the ties of comradeship forged by those long years of united struggles? What could be done to symbolize the unity between the people on both sides of the river, to remind everyone that they were all the children of the promise?
3. The Dispute (Joshua 22:10-12)
• Time for some rest from the toil of war, right?
• But they have barely taken their shoes off when they hear that their brothers across the Jordan are about to attack them.
• They find themselves on the verge of civil war.
• And the reason for all of this has to do with a great big misunderstanding of MOTIVES.
• Look in your Bible as we pick up the story in verse 10.
Joshua 22:10–12 And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to. 11 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel. 12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.
• So brother is about to fight brother in civil war.
• God’s chosen people are about to kill each other.
ILLUS and APPLY: God’s people fighting today instead of fighting the enemy.
4. The Delegation (Joshua 22:13-16)
• I don’t know everything that was said in that war council at Shiloh.
• I’m sure there was much anger, many red faces, lots of shouting.
• But thank God we do know that there were some men there with cooler heads.
APPLY! – Thank God for Gentlemen!
• Someone said, fellows, we need to look into this a little more.
• It never hurts to take the time to get a full understanding.
• When they arrive, they lay the issues on the table and the discussion is frank.
• Look with me in verse Joshua 13 – 16.
Joshua 22:13–16 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, 16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD?
5. The Defense (Joshua 22:22 ff.)
• Then, after a little more preaching from the Western tribes, the “Transjordan” tribes are allowed to speak. (Joshua 22:22)
Joshua 22:22 The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, (save us not this day,)
NOTE: Literally, they shout out twice, “The mighty God, Jehovah God.”
• They then explain that they had never made the altar for sacrifices.
• It was never intended to be a working altar in competition with the true altar at Shiloh.
• It was to serve as a memorial, a sign that though they lived across the Jordan from their brethren, they were true worshippers of Jehovah God and had a right to come to the true altar! (Joshua 22:27-29)
Joshua 22:27–29 But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord. 28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you. 29 God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.
6. The Defusing (Joshua 22:30-34)
• Hearing this, Phinehas and the Western tribal representatives are pleased.
• They report back to Shiloh and all is well.
Joshua 22:30–34 And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased them. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. 32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. 33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt. 34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed [NOTE: Witness]: for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God.
• But oh how close they came to all out war!
• And all because of a misunderstanding.
ILLUS: Misunderstanding Ruins Relationship for Years, Johanna Radelfinger, Sermon Central
There was a merchant who had identical twin sons. The boys worked for their father in the department store he owned and, when he died, they took over the store. Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of the brothers had left the bill on the cash register and walked outside with a customer. When he returned, the money was gone.
He asked his brother, "Did you see that dollar bill on the cash register?"
His brother replied that he had not. But the young man kept probing and questioning. He would not let it alone.
"Dollar bills just don’t get up and walk away! Surely you must have seen it!" There was subtle accusation in his voice. Tempers began to rise. Resentment set in. Before long, a deep and bitter chasm divided the young men. They refused to speak. They finally decided they could no longer work together and a dividing wall was built down the center of the store. For twenty years hostility and bitterness grew, spreading to their families and to the community.
Then one day a man in a car stopped in front of the store.
He walked in and asked the clerk, "How long have you been here?"
The clerk replied that he’d been there all his life.
The customer said, "I must share something with you. Twenty years ago I was ’riding the rails’ and came into this town in a boxcar. I hadn’t eaten for three days. I came into this store from the back door and saw a dollar bill on the cash register. I put it in my pocket and walked out. All these years I haven’t been able to forget that. I know it wasn’t much money, but I had to come back and ask your forgiveness."
The stranger was amazed to see tears well up in the eyes of this middle-aged man. "Would you please go next door and tell that same story to the man in the store?" he said. Then the man was even more amazed to see two middle-aged men, who looked very much alike, embracing each other and weeping together in the front of the store. After twenty years, the brokenness was mended. The wall of resentment that divided them came down.
