Welcome to Joshua study number 22 in chapter 22 covering 34 verses and We only have a couple more chapters after this Studying the book of Joshua named after the main character Joshua who Took Moses place after Moses died and just as God was leading the children of Israel into the promised land. Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation. We're gonna go into that, I think, next time a little deeper. But we're gonna begin with the send-off of sorts of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had laid claim and put down their stake and land to the east of the river Jordan. On a map, you look at it, you see the Jordan River with Sea of Galilee or Sea of Tiberias, different maps call it different things, Gennesaret, and then down below is the Dead Sea at the bottom, and in between is a river called Jordan. Now today, to the east of that river is a country called Jordan, created out of thin air by Winston Churchill and a bunch of globalists after telling Israel that they would have that land. They cut it on the Jordan River and set up a king out of nothing. Just put a guy on a throne and called him king. And so that's a story interesting story to get into study your ancient and modern history of Israel find out all that stuff but in that area is where Reuben Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh set up camp and We're going to go into that and they're going to build an altar and a scandal breaks out So we'll get into all that after a word of prayer father. We thank you Lord. I for this time in your word. Thank you for everything you're teaching us as we see the world just topsy-turvy. Things are better in the United States right now than they have been a long time, but people watching this, if you tarry, especially in watching this in the future, we know things are gonna be dark before the dawn. and the darkest days of the great tribulation come before the bright return of Jesus Christ in glory. So we just ask you help us to be wise, help us to learn the truth, and help us to grow in our knowledge of this book in Jesus' name, amen. Verses 1 through 3 begin, saying, Then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, verse 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. Verse three, you have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. So that's a commendation, words of compliment paid by Joshua. Then verse four says, 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." So these two and a half tribes have kept their part of the bargain. They have gone into the promised land west of Jordan. They have helped the tribes get settled in their inheritance. As we've pointed out, it's not been a complete success for Israel. God is keeping his part. Israel still hasn't quite done her part, but each tribe is secure in their inheritance. And so now Joshua is saying, you've earned it. Now you get to go back home. And by the way, this was about seven years after Joshua led the children of Israel across the Jordan. and sacked the city of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down and all that. We're about seven years out. Finally then These guys are all going to be able to go home, and I said this before I believe that they allowed men to go back and forth to see their families see their wives You know and that sort of thing But still seven years you take a guy who does two four-year tours After eight years if he spent a lot of that time overseas and only came home for short leaves and that sort of thing It takes its toll on most men but especially family men, men with families. And now comes a solemn exhortation with a warning here in verse five, 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. Now, that's a very positive thing, a wonderful statement, although it's an exhortation, but you can't do any better than to tell people the truth. We have a big sign at our church, we love you enough to tell you the truth and to encourage people to obey the Lord. And with that in mind, keep in mind that every sect cult, religion, and every individual claiming to be keeping the law and the feasts of Israel is guilty of violating this commandment. Whether it's a Jew in a reformed or conservative or orthodox or even ultra-orthodox synagogue, a Seventh-day Adventist, Hebrew roots, certain other messianic groups, they're not all bad, but some of them are. The various Armstrong cults from Herbert W. and Garner Ted and that corrupt family of teachers. None of these groups have a legit tabernacle. None of them have a temple. None of them have a legit Aaronic priesthood qualified to offer sacrifices, even if they did have a temple or tabernacle that was legit. Those sacrifices are required daily. They're required on Sabbaths. There's others required during the feasts. None of them do that. And so what we're about to read shows that it's a serious sin that these groups are committing when they keep counterfeit versions of the law and the Sabbath and the feast days. Continue here, verses six through eight. So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went unto their tents. Verse 7, now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given possession in Bashan, but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side, Jordan, westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them. As we said, two and a half of that way, east of Jordan, the other nine and a half are west of the Jordan River. Verse eight, and he spake unto them saying, return with much riches unto your tents and with very much cattle, with silver and with gold and with brass and with iron and with very much raiment. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. So the nation of Israel was a prosperous new nation on the face of the earth in this land that was once filled with Canaanites. Still has Canaanites in it, but now it's filled with Hebrews. And Joshua blesses Reuben Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh as they return east with their own portion of that prosperity. Verse nine, 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. Of course, the word Gilead brings to mind the balm in Gilead. That's actually only referenced, as far as I could find, once in Jeremiah 8.22. I was just curious. I found more than 120 sermons on sermon audio alone. A lot of those are just topical kind of silly things, but there's a particular hymn titled, There is a Balm in Gilead. It's known as an African American spiritual, but they used to just call black gospel spirituals. But be aware that anyone trying to sell you balm from Gilead, on the internet or in Israel, wherever you're at, it's not. They don't have any idea what the ancient balm was actually made of. It's unknown, so don't get ripped off. So now we come to the crossing back to the east side of Jordan by those two and a half tribes. Verse 10 says, 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. This was a big altar, and here comes trouble. Verse 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. Verse 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. There's gonna be a civil war over this thing. So you might ask, well, what's all the fuss? Well, it's a big deal. If this was an altar where they intended or attempted actual sacrifice, it would have been on. God commanded that only a simple, unchiseled, undecorated altar made of stone be made, and only where he said so. The way he put it is where I put my name. Exodus 20, 24 to 25 says, an altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and shalt sacrifice there on thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thy oxen. In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Now, these two and a half tribes building this altar, they followed the pattern that was set out, as we'll see in verse 28, there's reference to that, but they were building it in a place where God never prescribed, not to mention that they had no priesthood assigned to them to offer sacrifice on it. And we'll see this, Jehoshaphat will do this later on, when the tribes split again, this time it's a, this split is cordial, but the split that comes under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, is not cordial, and there'll be false altars set up in the north, and it leads to rank idolatry and sin, and that's why God brings Assyria down to wipe out the northern tribes. That's how serious this is. if they were building an altar for sacrifices. So you can't blame the other tribes for getting all up in arms about this. But the two and a half tribes will explain it all in their own words. Verse 13 says, 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 Eliezer the priest, verse 14, and with him 10 princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel, and each one was in head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. Verse 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, verse 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 builted you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord? And to their credit, These nine-and-a-half tribes coming across the Jordan from the east didn't kick, tell, and ask names later. They gathered for war, but they gave Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh the opportunity to explain. But they'll give them a piece of their mind before they allow them to explain. But this is a good lesson for us. You should always get both sides of the story. Verse 17, is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord? Verse 18, but that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord. And it will be, seeing ye rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Now a couple of points here. Peor is the mountain peak where the prophet Balaam counseled Balak to seduce Israelite men with Moabite whores into fornication and idolatry. And we studied that back in the book of Numbers. And the nine and a half Western tribes are basically saying, if you do this, we will end up paying the price as much as you. And now they reason with Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, basically saying, come on, fellas. If you changed your mind, you don't like that land, just say so. Come back over here, we'll parcel out some land and give you a place to live, but let's put an end to this wicked rebellion on your part. And verse 19, notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us. But rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God. And by the way, you know, they're gonna say, don't you remember what Achan did? And what happened as a result of that? Y'all done gone and got mass amnesia or something? Verse 20, did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing? And wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? And that man perished not alone in his iniquity. Took the whole family with him. And verse 20, you know, makes that point. And now, The Western tribes that got this off their chest then the two and a half tribes now respond beginning verse 21 then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel Verse 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. In other words, if we're lying, may God strike us dead. And then they provide their explanation under oath. By the way, they didn't have their hand on a Bible, but it's still counted. Some of you know that's in reference to the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2025. But look at what it says there in verse 24. Verse 23, we'll pick up there. That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it. It's basically we put ourselves in his hands. We're not gonna offer offerings on this. We continue, verse 24, and if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, in time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, what have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel? Verse 25, for the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad, ye have no part in the Lord, so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord. And you know, human sinful nature being what it is, you can see that their act is, you know... legit. Their response here is legit. I grew up on the Ohio River, I've told you that, and in school we had rivalries with schools on this side of the Ohio, the Ohio side of the Ohio River, but we thought of the Kentucky kids like foreigners because we hardly ever saw them. There's a green-up dam bridge, and I mean dam as in water, not cussing, You can go across and get over there pretty easy now. There's two bridges in Portsmouth now. But back when I was a kid, there was one bridge, the U.S. Grant Bridge, and it was closed half the time for different reasons. So we didn't get over there much and didn't get over there and play the other schools in sports or anything much. But once we got older and got to know some of those kids, we found out they were pretty much just like us. But this does demonstrate how unwise it was for Reuben Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh not to communicate their intentions before they did this with the other nine and a half tribes west of Jordan. It would have saved a lot of wasted energy and hubbub. But with that, their explanation continues. Verse 26, therefore we said, let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice. Now someone might say, well, that's a likely story. Well, the text never gives us any indication that that wasn't really what their intentions were, so we give them the benefit of the doubt. Verse 27, 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. In other words, when Reuben and Gad and Haftar and Manasseh come across Jordan to bring their sacrifices to the temple in Jerusalem, they won't be stopped at the border and refused entry. And if anyone says anything about it, then verse 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 verse 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. I See, they know. They know better than to pretend to be keeping the law, like modern Jews and Judaizers and Seventh-day Sabbatarian groups and, you know, the Messianic groups that do so and the Hebrew roots and all that. Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh knew better. And so, that pretty much put the whole matter to rest. So what did we learn? Well, number one, as I said, all modern forms of Judaism or religions and cults claiming to follow Torah, keeping the feast, keeping the Sabbath, et cetera, are not only frauds, but they're in wicked rebellion against the word of God. Jesus didn't destroy the law, but he fulfilled it. Come to the New Testament and the epistles of Paul and grow. Most of them need to be born again to begin with. And we also learned don't assume people understand what you're doing even when your intentions are good, true, and biblical. Take some responsibility to communicate with people. And you might save someone's neck and it may even be your own neck that you save. But another thing we'll learn is that this altar has a very cool name given to it. Verse 30, 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. So if you like happy endings, there you go. And Phinehas, speaking for Eleazar the priest, brings closure with his comments, verse 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. Now that phrase, the Lord is among us, it simply means we're all still right with God. Y'all haven't backslidden and brought sin into the camp. If God is not among us in our homes, our churches, and in our daily lives in general, it's our fault. If you're distant from God, he didn't move, you did. I've told this joke before. The woman is sitting across the way and she looks over at her husband and says, Do you remember the days when we used to sit real close to each other and you'd put your arm around me while you drove? Boy, those were the days. The husband looks over and says, I didn't move. And with that, the Nine-and-a-Half Tribes return west of Jordan with good news to report, and they lead the Two-and-a-Half Tribes east of Jordan to get on with life. Verse 32, and Phinehas, Did I read 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. Yes, I read that. Because you have not committed this trespass against the Lord, now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. Verse 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. So they come back with good news. The war is called off. Verse 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. Ruckman used to like to repeat the line, in case of inclement weather, the war will be held in the gymnasium. That's funny if you think about it. And his quote was something to that effect. That's close anyway. But in this case, the war is canceled. And this chapter ends now with all 12 tribes of Israel getting along like good boys and girls for at least a little while. But we close with my favorite part of the story. the name that they gave to this controversial altar. Verse 34, and the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed. For it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God. Ed is Hebrew for witness. So instead of, can I get a witness? You could say, can I get an Ed? All right, see you next time, Lord willing.