Most movies that you go to see in theatres share a similar framework. Something bad happens, or has happened, at the start of the movie, that leads to tension and conflict. Eventually, there's a big climactic scene near the end of the movie where everything gets resolved. At this point, the story is very nearly done. There's no more tension; there's no more conflict. But the movie writer can't simply shut off the lights, and send you home. Why? There's usually loose ends that need to be tied up. And if the writer doesn't tie those loose ends up, the audience might go home unhappy-- audiences want everything neat, and tidy, and happy.
The book of Joshua began with 3 open questions. (1) Would Yahweh prove faithful? (2) Would Joshua be strong and brave? And the third was this: (3) Would the tribes obey Yahweh and Joshua? And, specifically, and I can't explain why Joshua does this, the focus is on the 2 1/2 tribes that lived on the wrong side of the Jordan River-- on the side that originally wasn't going to be part of the land given to Israel.
At the start of the book of Joshua, these 2 1/2 tribes already controlled their land-- Israel had already defeated their enemies living there-- but the 2 1/2 tribes were told that they had a responsibility to their brothers. The women and children were allowed to settle in the land, but Joshua told the men from these 2 1/2 tribes that they would be the tip of the spear in invading the land.
It would've been easy for these 2 1/2 tribes to shirk their duty to Yahweh, to Joshua, and to the other tribes, but they courageously obeyed. They took the point (Joshua 1:12-18).
And now that Israel has killed off all of their enemies-- the Nephilim kings are all dead, with a few exceptions-- Joshua gives them permission to return to their wives, children, land, and possessions. The only thing he asks, at this point, is that they continue loving, and serving Yahweh with their whole being. Their obligation to Yahweh is not something that ends after the conquest. He then blesses them, and they go home:
(22:1) At that same time, Joshua was calling to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half tribe of Menasheh,
(2) and he said to them,
"You kept all that he commanded you-- Moses, the servant of Yahweh,
and you heeded my voice in all that I commanded you.
(3) You didn't forsake your brothers these many days, up to this day,
and you kept the obligation of the command of Yahweh your Elohim/God,
(4) and now, Yahweh has given rest to your brothers just as he spoke to them,
and so then, turn and walk to your tents-- to the land of your possession
that Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to you beyond the Jordan.
(5) Only, very much keep to do the command(ment) and the Torah
that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you
by loving Yahweh your Elohim/God,
by walking in all his ways/roads,
and by keeping his command(ment)s,
and by clinging to him,
and by serving him with all your mind and with all your inner being,
(6) And Joshua blessed them,
and he sent them away,
and they went to their tents,
(7) while to the half tribe of Menashah, Moses gave in the Bashan,
while to the other half Joshua gave with their brothers from beyond the Jordan to the west,
and, what's more , when Joshua sent them away to their tents and he blessed them, (8) he said to them, saying,
"With much wealth return to your tents, and with very much livestock, with silver and gold, and with bronze and with iron and with very much clothing.
Divide the loot of your enemies with your brothers,"
(9) and they returned,
and the sons of Reuben and the sons of God and the half tribe of Menashah walked from with the sons of Israel from Shiloh that [was] in the land of Canaan to walk to the land of the Gilead-- to the land of their possession that they acquired of it by the mouth of Yahweh through the hand of Moses.
So at this point, we expect that we are done hearing about the 2 1/2 tribes. We assume that AJ has very kindly, and neatly, wrapped up the details for us so we can finish the book happy. But real life is messier than Hollywood, and we find ourselves still reading about them in verse 10:
(10) And they [the 2 1/2 tribes] went to the region of the Jordan,
that is in the land of Canaan,
and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Menasha built there an altar on the Jordan-- a large altar in appearance--
(11) and the sons of Israel heard, saying,
"LOOK! The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Menasha built the altar opposite of the land of Canaan, at the region of the Jordan on the other side of the sons of Israel,"
(12) and the sons of Israel heard,
and all the community of the sons of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go up against them for the battle,
Yahweh is really particular about how, and when, and where, people offer sacrifices. Yahweh placed his Name in the tabernacle; his throne is on the ark of the covenant. So if you want to offer sacrifices, that's where you go.
You can't offer sacrifices anywhere you want. You go to Yahweh.
The VERY first thing the 2 1/2 tribes do, after being obedient for decades, after being reminded to stay obedient, and after being blessed by Joshua and sent home, is build an altar by the Jordan.
Seriously? Why?
Are they immediately turning to worship other Elohim? Do they not care about how Yahweh wants to be worshipped?
We don't know. All we know is, this is unacceptable. This is apostasy. And so the Israelites gather at Shiloh to attack their own brothers.
But before they actually begin the fighting, they send delegates to the 2 1/2 tribes, wanting an explanation. I mean, there has to be a reason why they would do this, right? So they prepare for the worst, but hope there's an explanation. The story continues in verse 13:
(13) and the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Menasha, to the land of the Gilead, Phineas the son of Eleazor the priest,
(14) with ten leaders with him,
one leader from each family of all the tribes of Israel,
with each one the head of the house of their fathers-- they of the clans of Israel,
(15) and they went to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Menasha, to the land of the Gilead,
and they spoke with them, saying,
"Thus all the community of Yahweh has spoken:
"What is this disloyalty,
that you acted disloyally against the Elohim of Israel,
by turning today from after Yahweh by building for yourselves an altar,
by your rebelling today against Yahweh.
Was it too little for us, the sin of Peor,
which we have not cleansed ourselves from it even up to today,
and the plague came against the community of Yahweh?,
(18) and you, you are turning today from after Yahweh,
and then, you are rebelling today against Yahweh,
while tomorrow toward all the community of Israel He will be angry.
(19) However, if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over to the land of the possession of
Yahweh,
where the tabernacle of Yahweh stands there,
and acquire a possession in the midst of us,
while against Yahweh may you not rebel,
while with us you shall not rebel by building for yourselves an altar, apart from the altar of Yahweh our
Elohim/God.
(20) Didn't Achan son of Zerah act disloyally a disloyalty with the kherem,
and on all the community of Israel it was anger,
and one man alone didn't die by his sin?
Yahweh expects total loyalty from his people. You can't rebel against him. You have to serve him the way he wants. And part of what He wants, is to be worshipped through sacrifices at the tabernacle. The idea here isn't that they are worshipping the wrong Elohim. The idea is that God demands worship be done correctly, and they are turning from that. And when they turn from worshipping him correctly, they are rebelling. They are being disloyal. They aren't actually worshipping Yahweh at that point.
And the Israelites know that they can't simply live and let live about this. We know that God doesn't act only with individual Christians, apart from the larger church (1 Corinthians 11:30-34). And the same is true in the OT: God doesn't act simply with individual Israelites, in isolation from the larger nation. When the 2 1/2 tribes rebelled against Yahweh, they put the rest of Israel in a terrible position. Israel has to attack them. They have no choice in this. This is their responsibility. We saw this with Achan-- Achan's sin didn't just affect him and his family. Yahweh's wrath burned against the nation as a whole, until the entire nation stoned them. And the same is true of Peor-- we won't read it, but you can look at it later (Numbers 25).
The tribes in all of this don't really seem angry. They seem confused. Why did the tribes build the altar? Is the tabernacle too far? Is it too inconvenient? Do they worry that their land is unclean-- that it isn't really part of God's promised land, because it's on the wrong side of the Jordan River?
Whatever the issue is, the other tribes are happy to help them. If they want to be on the same side of the Jordan, the other tribes will give them land, and they can make their homes there. The tabernacle of Yahweh is there, so they can worship him there the way Yahweh wants to be worshipped.
But if they aren't willing to do this, they are leaving the rest of Israel no choice. It's terrifying falling into the hands of the living God when He is angry with you, and they know that his anger is coming quickly. And it's not just coming against the 2 1/2 tribes-- God's anger is coming against them. They have to deal with this now-- today.
In verse 21, we get the reply of the 2 1/2 tribes:
(21) And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Menasha answered,
and they spoke with the heads of the clans of Israel,
(22)"The El/God of Elohim/gods, Yahweh the El/God of Elohim/gods. Yahweh-- He knows,
and Israel, It, may it know,
if [this was] in rebellion and if in disloyalty against Yahweh, may you not save us today,
(23) [if] by building for ourselves an altar to turn from after Yahweh,
or if to offer on it burnt offerings and grain offerings,
or if to make on it fellowship offerings,
Yahweh, He, may he seek vengeance,
The 2 1/2 tribes start by declaring that Yahweh is their Elohim. They stress this as emphatically as they can.
"The God of gods, Yahweh the God of gods." He is their Elohim. There is nothing wrong with their theology. There is nothing wrong with their singular devotion to him. And Yahweh knows in all of this that what they are saying is the truth.
Their hope, now, is that they can persuade Israel, what Yahweh already knows. And if they are lying, they invite Yahweh to seek vengeance on them. A terrible thing to do, if you are lying. No one would dare.
So why did they build an altar, if not to sacrifice? What other possible reason could there be?
Verse 24:
(24) and, surely, out of anxiety for a reason we have done this, saying,
"In the future, your sons (children) may say to our sons, saying,
"What is your relationship with Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel?
(25) and a boundary Yahweh has made between us and between you-- the sons of Reuben and the
sons of Gad-- the Jordan.
There isn't for you a portion in Yahweh,"
So your sons may put an end to our sons fearing Yahweh,
(26) and we said,
"Let us make, please, for ourselves to build the altar not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice
(27) but a witness it is between us and between you, and our generations after us,
to serve the service of Yahweh before his face with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices
and with our fellowship offerings,
so that your sons may not say in the future to our sons,
"There isn't for you a portion in Yahweh,"
(28) and we said,
"And then, if they say to us and to our generations in the future, we would say,
"See the replica of the altar of Yahweh which our fathers made,
not for burnt offering and not for sacrifice,
but a witness it is between us and between you.
(29) May it not be for us from us to us to rebel against Yahweh to turn today from after Yahweh
by building an altar for a burnt offering, for a grain offering, and for sacrifice
apart from the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle,
The tribes built the altar as a replica of the altar at the tabernacle. Not to offer sacrifices, but as a way of proving they are part of God's people. As a way of proving that their land, is part of Israel. The Jordan River is a natural boundary; their fear is that in the future, the descendants of the Israelites would reject their own children, saying they aren't part of Yahweh's people. And the 2 1/2 tribes are determined not to let that happen. They built the altar, so that their descendants could point to it and say, "This proves that Yahweh is our Elohim. This proves we are part of Yahweh's people." Because otherwise, their own children may turn from following after Yahweh-- and the last thing they want, is their kids to serve other Elohim. This is the last thing any parent wants-- to see their kids walk away from serving our God.
In verse 30, we get the response of the Israelites:
(30) and Phinehas the priest heard, with the leaders of the community and the heads of the clan of Israel who were with him, the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Menasha spoke,
and it was good in their eyes,
(31) and Phinehas the son of Eleazor the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and the sons of Menasha,
"Today we know that in our midst is Yahweh,
that you didn't act disloyally against Yahweh this disloyalty.
Therefore, you have saved the sons of Israel from the hand of Yahweh,
The Israelites had gathered to fight the 2 1/2 tribes because they were worried about Yahweh's anger. They knew he doesn't tolerate disloyalty. But, ironically, they were the ones who almost brought Yahweh's hand against his people.
Let's reread Phinehas's first line:
"Today we know that in our midst is Yahweh."
When Phinehas looks at how this all played out, he sees, through faith, that Yahweh is in our midst. He protected his people from making a terrible mistake. And so he gives Yahweh credit, and praise, for his help.
The story continues, in verse 32:
(32) and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest returned, with the leaders from with the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad from the land of the Gilead to the land of Canaan to the sons of Israel,
(33) and the word/report was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel,
and they blessed Elohim-- the sons of Israel--
and they didn't say to go up against them for the battle to destroy the land that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living in it,
(34) and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called to the altar,
for a witness it is between us,
that Yahweh is the Elohim.
At the beginning of the book, Yahweh made a promise to Joshua. He promised that He would be with him, if Joshua was strong and brave, and kept Yahweh's instructions.
What we see in this story is Yahweh keeping his promise. Not in a flashy way, by stopping the sun, or throwing hailstones, or sending an earthquake to destroy the walls of Jericho-- but by saving his people from accidentally bringing bloodguilt down on themselves.
Yahweh here reveals his presence, by working behind the scenes, by making sure his people didn't act out of false assumptions and misunderstanding.
No one here does anything wrong. The 2 1/2 tribes are determined that their children will revere Yahweh as their Elohim. They are determined that they will be accepted as part of Yahweh's people. The other tribes are determined to give their loyalty to Yahweh, and to make sure that everyone else does as well. They, together, have a responsibility to live loyally toward Yahweh, so that He will continue to live with them and bless them. And they take that responsibility seriously.
No one does anything wrong. Everyone has good motives. But this could've ended badly-- worse than anything else in the book.
The fact that it didn't shows God's not-so-invisible hand at work. Yahweh proves his faithfulness. He proves that He is keeping his promise--He is living with his people, blessing them, when they are committed to him.
Yahweh is our Elohim. And it is a privilege to serve a God who is good, and who cares for his people. It's a privilege to serve a God who lives with his people, and who protects them from themselves.
God is good.
