Ask Why before Actions

 

November 14, 2020

 

Joshua 22:24-29

 

 

The question was why are you building this altar, is it to go after the gods of the people our God drove out before us?

 

^“No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?   For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So, your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord.   Therefore, we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’   And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”’   Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

 

I would be the first to tell you set boundaries for yourself and your children is a good thing, even a must if you hope to live in victory.  But not the type of boundary like a river, but that is what drove this fear of at a later time, after the death of Joshua,  the people would forget what their brothers had done for them on the East side of the Jordan River.  The altar was a reminder to both the East and the West that they were one people with one God, and both sides of the Jordan had been blessed and we're one people.

 

“When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes.   And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

 

The Lord is in our midst, and it was very clear these three tribes were faithful to the God of Israel and had the best of intentions in building the Altar.

 

When the leaders went back and gave a good report, the people were I’m sure very happy, have you noticed Joshua is not in the picture, he had no part in this.

And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled.  The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

 

Maybe it is time to once more build some altars, not to burn animals on but as reminders of what God has done and is doing in our life, as a reminder to those who follow little gods, like self, or children, or wealth, or government, or even a building called a Church.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice