Time for Rest

Joshua 22

It is nice when you have worked hard and did all the chores that your parents ask and when you are finally done you have rest. Maybe they said, “If you get your chores done then we can do this or you get this.” When you are done with chores and your parents are faithful to their end of the bargain, it is sweet because there is reward and rest.  

In this chapter of Joshua , all the 2 1/2 Eastern tribes: Rueben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh were told by Moses to stay and help the rest of Israel out in battle so they could conquer the land. That time has come and now they can go to the land that they wanted, Gilead. It is on the eastern side of the Jordan (more info read Numbers 32). Their time has come, they have been faithful to their end of the bargain and now Joshua is telling them to go home and rest. 

Before they go into the land, Joshua gives them a warning to not depart from the Lord. They need to follow after his commandments, to love him with all their hearts, and to walk in all of his ways. Joshua blessed them and they were off to their homes and to start growing and to multiply.

A Little Confusion

Some time went by and the 2 1/2 tribes that lived on the eastern side of the Jordan built an altar. The western tribes heard about this and panicked because they did not know why they built this altar. There was almost civil war that broke out in Israel because the western tribes thought the eastern tribes have abandoned the Lord and followed after idols. When the elders and leaders went to the eastern tribes to find out why they rebelled, they found out that they did not rebel, but actually wanted to have a reminder for their children and their children’s children of how awesome and mighty the Lord is and because they had the Jordan River separating them from the other tribes. Their motives were pure, there was no civil war, Israel had rest.

It is so easy to get worked up over something that you may not understand and you can assume that someone did something to hurt you. We can see through this chapter that the western tribes were jumping to conclusions but needed to find out what was going on before they started to fight with their fellow countrymen. Do you jump to conclusions with your friends? Do you talk to them before you start accusing them of something they did wrong? Hebrews 12:14 tells us to make every effort to live in peace with your fellow brothers and sister in the Lord. I am learning that it is best to talk about things before I jump in with accusations and assume that someone did something intentionally against me. I encourage you to learn this as well and to always go to God first when confronting a problem.