The history of the nation of Israel is recorded for us that we might learn from it. God chose Israel through His wisdom. He began with two people, Abram and Sarai. Through those two people who were married, God began to build a new nation that never existed before that. God used the normal method of increasing the number of people in this new nation with some special aspects to it. God changed their names from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. God demonstrated His authority over them. He also withheld the ability for them to have a child for a number of years after He revealed His plan to them. God is not like we are. He is not in a hurry. He has a plan and He knows His plan will come together according to His timetable. During the waiting time that God gave to Abraham and Sarah, they grew impatient with God’s plan. Sarah gave bad counsel to Abraham and he was willing to accept that bad counsel. Abraham was the man and he should have known that Sarah’s counsel at that point was wrong. However, he accepted it and he took Hagar, who was not his wife, and he went in unto her and had a child with her. This was a very foolish move and it was also sin. God did not accept this sin.
One of the major differences between God and man is that God never allows Himself to be trapped by humanistic reasons. Man often fails to go back to the beginning in his efforts to resolve a problem. We tend to jump in at the mid point somewhere and then use human reasoning to draw our conclusion. The result of that is never good.
God created all things and He knows the beginning of all things. He knew that Abraham and Sarah would have a child at the appropriate time. He knew what He was doing. He made a promise to Abraham and He proved over and over again that He does not lie. Abraham knew this but he chose not to settle on the truth.
Ishmael was the result of Abraham’s sin with Hagar. Ishmael did not choose to be born. He did choose to reject the true God. His father and his mother helped him to remain distant from God, although he was responsible for his own decisions. He could not blame his parents for his rebellion against God. It is important for us to be careful not to put stumblingblocks before our children. Our children will need to choose to listen to the work of God in their hearts. They cannot hide behind the sins of their parents and thus get away with their rejection of the truth. God’s truth is powerful enough to override the sins of the fathers. This does not excuse the sins of the fathers. The fathers will give account for their sins. The good news is that God provided the only way for fathers and mothers to be forgiven for their sins. That way is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. After salvation that way is through confession of sin to God first of all and then to others that were affected by that sin. The same holds true for children. Children can be forgiven and saved in the same manner.
We can skip forward to the text we have today. The nation of Israel had now developed into many thousands of people. They had been given possession of the land that God promised to Abraham. They had come through the leadership of Moses and were nearing the end of Joshua’s leadership. Two and half tribes had asked Moses’ permission to settle on the opposite shore of the Jordan River from the land promised to Abraham. The major battles necessary to expel and eliminate the previous inhabitants of the land of Canaan was now completed. Joshua gave the two and half tribes permission to go to their land and begin to develop it for their families and their descendants.
These tribes did not reveal their plans to Joshua prior to their actions. However, from the text, we learn that they had pure goals in mind. They knew that their choice to settle on the opposite side of the Jordan could cause difficulties in the future. They understood how quickly we forget our history.
The two and half tribes did not want to see themselves being cut off from the nation of Israel. They did not want to see tensions develop unnecessarily.
The two and a half tribes decided to build a memorial that would look like the altar that Moses was commanded to build for the nation of Israel to sacrifice unto the true God. The two and a half tribes had a good reason for building this replica. As we read in Joshua 22, they had no intention of starting a secondary religion. They were not interested in trying to break away from the other tribes of Israel. In fact their purpose was the exact opposite. They did not want the other tribes to disown them.
The other nine and a half tribes noticed what the two and a half tribes were doing and they immediately assumed that they were choosing apostasy over truth. Thankfully they chose to raise their concern with God’s appointed leaders, rather than take matters into their own hands.
The leaders of the nation also chose not to go off the deep end and immediately act irrationally upon what they assumed was happening.
It is always important to seek godly counsel as we seek to make our decisions. We read in our account that the leadership of the nation, which included the high priest of that time, gathered enough people together to go and speak with the two and a half tribes about what they perceived to be taking place. Godly counsel must include godly people. A major reason why our country is in such a mess is because our politicians are not seeking godly counsel. They have sought counsel from religious groups, but not godly counsel.
I listened to an interview that was conducted with the current president of El Salvador. He is a younger man, and he seems to have some good ideas. He spoke of the crime rates that existed in his country prior to his becoming the president there. He talked of how important it was to create an environment where peace can rule. He was asked how he managed to change the conditions in El Salvador so drastically in a relatively short period of time, just a few years. The president mentioned several things but then he said that what he believed helped the most was that he and his top people held a meeting where they stopped several times to pray as a group. All those at the meeting agreed to this approach. The interviewer was quite amazed at this. He agreed that it was a good thing, but he was surprised that any government officials would actually go that route. Through the interview it became apparent that this president is not a Christian man. He is a Catholic who believes in evolution.
God has been gracious to his country and this man trained and empowered the military to go after and remove the main gang members in his country. He stated that this amounted to finding and arresting some 70,000 people. This was no doubt a big task but he had a group of people supporting him who saw this as an important goal and they followed through on it. He talked of how their country was a much different country today and people who had fled the crime and corruption in the past were now making plans to move back to that country.
This may seem like a success story of sorts, but history will show that it will have been a short term solution because the true God was not trusted and consulted in the need of the nation. It is not enough to have religion. We need to know the true God. (read Matthew 12:43-35).
In our text, the nation of Israel trusted in the true God in this situation. Phinehas was a godly high priest. That position would soon be corrupted but at that time they still honoured God. Phinehas took the lead in this situation. It was a spiritual issue that needed to be addressed by godly spiritual leadership.
The two and a half tribes explained their situation and Phinehas had the discernment needed to draw the right conclusion from what was said and done. Bloodshed was avoided and the nation remained at peace for the time being.
In verse 31 we read that Phinehas declared: “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.” The choice that one part of the nation had made affected the entire nation. A bad choice would have brought about a civil war. A right choice kept that from happening. Three times in that one statement of Phinehas, he brought Jehovah God into the account. The true, self existent God needed to be followed and obeyed. This fairly young nation did not need to be at war with Him. They needed to know Him and follow Him.
We can learn from this of how important it is to have godly leadership. Canada is not a Christian nation. It never was. It is wise for godly men to remind our current politicians that they will be held accountable to God for the decisions they make.
Within the local church, the pastor is responsible for addressing the needs of the local assembly that God has called him to shepherd. He may have deacons to help him, but he needs to be aware of the decisions that are being made and he needs to give his approval to those decisions. If they are not right, he needs to make that clear as well.
Our country is not interested in knowing the true God. They are interested in inviting His wrath upon us. They are very persistent in this goal. God is obliging them as well. Trouble is here and it will continue to increase. Those who are saved need to take the Word of God seriously and not be ashamed to speak the truth wherever God gives us the opportunity to speak.
We are not Israel. However, we are given the history of the nation of Israel as a learning tool. The wise person studies the Scriptures and humbly submits to God’s will. That is the only way of blessing.
Pastor Bartel