Lessons we learn from Joshua 22 ….
Meditate JOSHUA 22 :1 - 34
a) BLESSING TIME
b) TEACHING & WARNING
c) A LARGE ALTAR
d) PEACE
Blessing time
Joshua 22:8” Joshua said to them, "Return to your tents with great riches and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and with very many clothes; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers."
It was REPORT CARD day (I am also a teacher and Principal so such words are bound to come out) for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in order words, they were ready to receive their rewards for their labour as promised by God. On the report card day, some are exhilarated because now they are reaping for the hard work they sowed and few are in deep sorrow because of their negligence and carelessness. If you sow goodness be sure to reap blessings!
The war was over, as promised God through Joshua and Eleazar the High Priest, divided the land to the 12 tribes, now in this chapter we see the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh get their portion. We can see that they are obedient, in no hurry to rush home but waiting to be dutifully dispatched by their leaders. This is spirit of fellowship and Christian camaraderie which is lacking in this era church people who rush away after they hear the ‘last Amen’, where do they rush? A few rush straight away to mutton stall, fish stall, restaurant and others to theatres as well. Ah, don’t panic , I speak the truth!
Well, it was ‘blessing time’ for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua points out why they deserve the blessings, read:
• 2"You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you,
• and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.
• 3 "You have not forsaken your brothers these many days to this day,
• but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.
Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh stood by their brothers in war, fought along with them, were faithful to God and fellow brethren and now they have come to inherit their portion of blessings. Fair! The Bible promises blessings for the obedient children of God: Deuteronomy 28:8 “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Our God not only promises but keeps His word and fulfills it, that is what we see in this chapter. Look at the overflow they get: Return to your tents with great riches and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and with very many clothes; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers."
TEACHING & WARNING
5 "Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."
Wow, what a leader ! What a burden and what a commitment! Joshua did not send them away with hands full of rewards and say, ‘go and enjoy’ no…..but he gave them warning to be careful to observe the law and walk in ALL the ways of God (not few) and keep His commandments and hold fast to God and serve him with ALL their hearts. In other words, he told them, if you don’t obey wholeheartedly, then you will lose all that you got now. Caveat! How true! We need to hear again and again from our leaders.
Keep talking! Keep explaining the ways of God and encourage your family to read the Word and gather together in prayer everyday. I repeat everyday, not when you feel like and when you have the time. Such ‘imperatives’ got to be said everyday!
Again and again and again….
I would like share my experience at our free school that we run for the poor in Hyderabad, Abide School. Bringing about discipline, cleanliness and maintenance of books, became an arduous task in my school, despite repeatedly telling them, children turn up with disheveled dry hair, dirty clothes, incomplete home work and dirty torn books. I decided to do one thing, I typed out all the points that had to be reiterated everyday, took a print out and gave it to the teacher and told her to announce it in the morning and evening ‘everyday’ during the assembly time. When the home work is not done, children are reprimanded and necessary punishment given in the assembly, this instilled fear in them. Now, there is a marked improvement among our children, since the parents themselves are undisciplined and disorderly, the onus fell on me. I do the same thing even with my own family and at church, I keep talking and preaching, until it gets into their system. The big boys are trained in covering and labeling the note books for all the children, pencil boxes are issued to the children and they are taught to bring them to school everyday. Punctuality is strictly not only preached but also adhered to, both in our school and church.
Peter, the disciple of Jesus after preaching and teaching for many years, still during the twilight days of his life, keeps ‘reminding’ the people again and again the ways of God, read: 2 Peter 1:12”For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
• Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you..’
Jesus after preaching day in and day out during His time on earth, came back to His disciples after crucifixion and appeared to two dejected disciples who were on their way to Emmaus and encouraged them again by preaching, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27) This particular scripture pierced my heart like a spear and the burden of Christ has been my inspiration in my ministry, to keep preaching despite disappointments and discouragements.
• The Lord said, Deuteronomy 6:7“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
• You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
• You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
When we are nonchalant about the ways of God and give more importance to work at office and home, that’s when we stagger during times of calamity. We live in an illusion of bubble peace that would be broken at any time. Are you hearing me? I today speak to elderly people as well! Hear me please! There are many out there, spending time with news papers, grandchildren and TV; yet they daringly ignore God. Repent! Spend regular time with God, in order to have the assurance of meeting God after death. Let this message be like sticking needles in your skin, and shaking you from complacency with a false belief that everything is really well around us.
We need more leaders like Joshua to warn the people again and again.
A LARGE ALTAR
10 When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance.
11 And the sons of Israel heard it said, "Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel."
LARGE ALTAR/ Farsighted Vigilance
Joshua 22:16 "Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, 'What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following the LORD this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the LORD this day? 17 'Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of the LORD.”
The war was over, the Israelites got their portion of land promised by God, likewise the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh also got their portion, they went back and did something, they built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance. A Large altar! This altar was not to worship and make it an altar of idol worship but they did as a witness for their children also to worship God, fear God and know all the things that God had done for them. Look at their farsighted Vigilance! I was amazed! They could have taken all the goodies and gone to have a party but instead they built an large altar for God. However, the people of Israel misunderstood them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest was sent to enquire, his words also rings warning for all of us, he said, ‘have we not suffered enough with plagues and death for all our past sins, why take risk again?’ Phinehas specifically mentioned about the iniquity of Peor, which we read in:
Numbers 25: The Sin of Peor:
1 While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.
2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel.
4 The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."
5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor."
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand,
8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.
9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000.
After the multiple wars, fights and problems, we can see everyone being proactive, cautious and not wanting to displease God at any cost….at any cost….. are you listening? The fear of God is very obvious in this chapter, Phinehas himself has seen deaths in his family ( Leviticus 10) death of Nadab and Abihu, his uncles) so he does not want the wrath of God once again.
Dear friends, how is our life during this COVID 19 season? We have seen plethora of dead bodies float in the water, dead bodies lined up for cremation, we have lost our loved ones to covid, so do we have fear of God now? Has our prayer life changed, has our Christian walk changed, have we started living 100 percent for God?
What does the Bible say about pleasing God?
Ephesians 5:8-10: Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:1: Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
GOLDEN SPEECH:
When the the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh were questioned about the altar, they did not aggressively, rebelliously or boisterously answer them but they spoke calmly and clearly read:
23 "If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD, or if to offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the LORD Himself require it.
24 "But truly we have done this out of concern, for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your sons may say to our sons, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?
25 "For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in the LORD." So your sons may make our sons stop fearing the LORD.'
Wow, isn’t their words so wonderful, like smothering the heat? Do not impulsively speak! Think! The Bible says: Proverbs 17:27”He who has knowledge spares his words, And a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. “ The devil loves to provoke us, so that we spill words! Caution! So much is happening around us in India, trying to choke us; however, stay calm. This is the time to pray! Avoid talking or posting information about it on social networks that would stir arguments and debates. Stay away from such disputes. Remain silent and pray for Christians to stay firm and committed to Jesus in the midst of such storm.
With so much of talking, chatting and discussions going on around us in the form of talk-shows, reality shows and what not…..this topic of controlling our mouth sure needs attention, today you can become popular and you can earn a lot of bucks if you have the gift of the gab! Isaiah cried: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5) Mark the words, “I dwell in the midst of unclean lips!” How very true! Recently while I was traveling in the train, a young girl was struggling to get her ticket confirmed, an elderly man who was reading a spiritual book for several hours and murmuring mantras, looked at her and said boisterously, ‘show the ticket collector a hundred rupee note and you can get your ticket confirmed.’ My conundrum is what did he achieve from reading those spiritual books for that many hours!!!!!
Friend, let your speech be ‘golden!’ Avoid offensive jibe, harsh language, coarse language, deceit, hurtful words, bitter words, boastful words and cunning words. Let your words be pleasant ! “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” (Proverbs 16:24) It requires an endless supply of energy, a massive amount of patience and iron will to control our unbridled tongue in this world. Let’s do it anyways!
PEACE:
There is great WEALTH for us in chapter 22 of Joshua, finally Phinehas was pleased with the reply and everybody were happy, read:
32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them.
33 The word pleased the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God; and they did not speak of going up against them in war to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.
34 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; "For," they said, "it is a witness between us that the LORD is God."
We need to resolve misunderstandings with peace, explain clearly and calmly, finally we need to stick to the ways of God who will guide us to still waters. Amen. God bless you!
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