Joshua 13

Chapter 13. The Trans-Jordanic TribesJos_22:1-34Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)The 22nd chapter of Joshua adds a very striking picture to the incidents which preceded in the conquest of the Land of Promise and the division of Israel’s inheritance. We have already referred to the inheritance of the two and a half tribes on the east side of Jordan, and to the mistake that they made in choosing their portion on the world-side of the Land of Promise. In this, undoubtedly, they were types of those who make a similar mistake in the present day, in choosing their portion too near the edge of the world. At the same time, there are such beautiful lessons connected with their example, that we can but rejoice at the compensations which the sacred story has placed over against their error. If they did not have the highest inheritance in the land, they had the spirit of the land in themselves, at least, and in the beautiful disposition of which this chapter is such a fine example. Unselfish Service We see in them an example of the most unselfish service and sacrifice. They had just spent seven years in helping their brethren of the other tribes to pursue their inheritance on the west side of Jordan. Indeed, they had gone before them in the hardest places and the hottest battles, and had been the real pioneers in all these long campaigns. The command had been, “But all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise” (Joshua 1:14-15). They had faithfully obeyed this command, and kept themselves. They had fought the battles of their brethren and won for them their heritages of blessing. They had marched around Jericho, stormed the heights of Beth Horon, pursued in the long day at Gibeon, triumphed by the waters of Merom, and been valiant and true until all the 31 kings had been subdued, and the whole land had been won for the Lord of Israel. It was entirely disinterested; not one stroke had they done for themselves. There is no nobler example in all the book of Joshua then their high and unselfish devotion. This is the noblest quality and the rarest among Christian workers. How pathetically the Apostle Paul exclaims, “I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 2:20-21). The world instinctively does homage to unselfish love. A little fellow was boasting the other day about his wages. “I get two dollars a week,” he said, “and I run errands. My father works in the factory and he gets two dollars a day. My brother works in the office, and he gets five dollars a week, and mother, she gets up in the morning about five o’clock, makes the fire, gets breakfast for father and us, and does the work of the house all day, gets our supper at night, and after we go to bed she does the darning, mends our clothes and fixes up things generally.” “Yes, and what does mother get?” “Oh, mother? Well—why, she does not get anything. She does all the jobs of the house, but you know there is no money in it.” It was a boy’s thoughtless testimony to the noblest heroism of common life. Hundreds of such heroines are suffering and toiling unmarked and un-honored. But this is true of Him who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many, and of whom it has been said that “when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). Recompense The day of recompense comes at last to the unselfish worker. These brave men at length received their rich reward. The long weary marches were over at last, and as they stood before their commander, it repaid them for all, to hear Him say, You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your brothers but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. Now that the Lord your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. (Joshua 22:2-4) And then he added, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great plunder from your enemies” (Joshua 22:8). It was reward enough to have the “Well done” of the captain, but there was much more. There was the rich inheritance, the ample spoil and the glad homecoming to the children, wives and friends so dearly loved. Then when we hear the “Well done” of our faithful Master, we shall not regret one tear or toil, but many would give the whole world for the privilege of going back once more to win the crown by earthly sacrifice and service. But it is not only at the end of life that this glad recompense awaits the faithful servant, but even here God has His compensations and rewards for the self-denying and the pure-hearted. There is a day of toil and sacrifice, and waiting. And there is a day when the harvest is gathered in, and we bring our sheaves with rejoicing and wonder at the full reversions that have followed the years of tearful sowing, and what seemed hopeless waiting. But even in the days of recompense we must not forget the old spirit of self-denying love. As they came to their inheritance, they were to divide the spoil with their brethren. There is to be no selfish hoarding. They are still to live the same life of love, even in their inheritance and home. There are Christian workers who begin in the spirit of self-denial and win their success by sacrifice and noble heroism. Then, later in life, when their work is crowned with success, they fall into the snare of selfishness and ease, and allow the very reward, which God gave them, to benumb their holy energies, and turn aside the edge of their consecration and power. It requires much more grace to know how to abound than to know how to be abased. Even when we reach our millennial glory, it is not to be a selfish life. The highest aspiration of a noble spirit is to rise to a higher service in the life beyond, of unceasing ministries. This is the life of God, and it is the only heaven that God can give. God First We see in these two and a half tribes, a beautiful example of putting God first before their own inheritance. When they reached the fords of the Jordan, they paused awhile before turning to their home, and built a great altar there as a tower of witness and an altar of worship. They feared that in coming days their children would forget the service of the true God, and might let their isolation on the further side of Jordan separate them from the common faith. Therefore, to keep in remembrance, and to bind their children to the same faith and worship, they reared this altar of witness. It would have been natural for them to have hastened home. Long years had passed since they had looked in the faces of those they loved. Throbbing hearts were drawing them to their loved ones, but they paused and remembered God first, and set up this memorial that coming generations might remember His name and maintain His honor and worship. This is, indeed, a bright and beautiful example. This is the true secret of all blessing and happiness. God first, should be the watchword and keynote of every plan and purpose and enterprise, in the consecrated life. Then He will delight in all our service and blessing, and will love to think of us as generously as we have thought of Him. Misunderstanding And now we see a very beautiful act misunderstood and misjudged. We read with astonishment that “when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar… the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them” (Joshua 22:11-12). They seem at once to have begun to think they knew all about it. It was an act of treason and rebellion, and that it must be promptly and severely put down. Very fortunately, they sent a delegation before proceeding to actual hostilities, to charge them with their crime, and at once began to upbraid them for their trespass. The whole assembly of the Lord says: “How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! And are you now turning away from the Lord? “If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things, did not wrath come upon the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.” (Joshua 22:16-20) This is truly very humbling, and very much like the rest of us. How often we have passed these hasty judgments upon our brethren! How many of us have been alienated for years by some rash conclusion, and found at last that we had misunderstood the friend and misjudged the act which, if we had only understood, we would have honored its motives and spirit, and recognized it as worthy of all praise. Therefore, the Master has said: “Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes” (1 Corinthians 4:5), and then He will not only look at the act, but “he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). All that can be recognized He will cherish, and all that He can forget, He will love to leave in oblivion. Meekness We see, at the same time, a beautiful example of meekness on the part of the Reubenites and their brethren. They did not fire up and resent the cruel misjudgment. They did not retaliate with vindictive words and bitter strife, but they meekly and gently assured their brethren of their innocence and honest intent, and their loyal devotion to the common faith and the sacred altar of the Lord, in the tabernacle. How much grace it requires to bear a misunderstanding rightly, and to receive an unkind judgment in holy sweetness! Nothing tests a Christian character more than to have some evil thing said about you. This is the file that soon proves whether we are electroplate or solid gold. If we could only know the blessings that lie hidden in our wrongs, we would say, like David, when Shimei cursed him, “Let him curse,… it may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today” (2 Samuel 16:11-12). Some people get easily turned aside from the grandeur of their life-work by pursuing their own grievances and enemies, until their life gets turned into one little, petty whirl of warfare. It is like a nest of hornets. You may disperse the hornets, but you will probably get terribly stung, and get nothing for your pains, for even their honey is not worth the search. Wiser and happier are they who, like old Nehemiah, say to all the Sanbal-lats, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3). The gentleness and meekness of the Reubenites and their brethren averted a great catastrophe and turned a curse into a blessing. So, “a gentle answer turns away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1), and a spirit of gentleness will avert many a sorrow. May God give us more of His Spirit, who, “when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). Misunderstanding Healed We see a very beautiful example of a misunderstanding healed, and a curse turned into a blessing. Instead of a fratricidal war, there is reconciliation and love, and they joyfully exclaim: “Today we know that the Lord is with us, because you have not acted unfaithfully toward the Lord in this matter” (Joshua 22:31). There is no greater evidence of the presence of the Lord in His people than the spirit of love, and there is no sweeter testimony to God and His glorious grace than the reconciliation of strife and the healing of mutual wrongs. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity” (Psalms 133:1). “For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psalms 133:3). When the Lord wants to make “an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed,” this is the way He does it: “Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow” (Isaiah 55:13). God’s sweetest memorial is the transformed thorn, and the thistle blooming with flowers of peace and sweetness, where once grew recriminations and maledictions. Beloved, God is waiting to make just such memorials in your life, out of the things that are hurting you most today. Take the grievance, the separations, the strained friendships and the broken ties which have been the sorrow and heartbreak of your life, and let God heal them, and give you grace to make you right with all with whom you may be wrong, and you will wonder at the joy and blessing that will come out of the things that have caused you nothing but regret and pain. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). The everlasting employment of our blessed Redeemer is to reconcile the guilty and the estranged from God. And the highest and most Christlike work that we can do, is to be like Him in this regard. Shall we go forth to dry the tears of a sorrowing world, to heal the brokenhearted, to bind up the wounds of human lives and to unite heart to heart and earth to heaven?