“To the Re’uveni, the Gadi and the half-tribe of M’nasheh Y’hoshua said, “Remember what Moshe the servant of Adonai ordered you: ‘Adonai your God has let you rest and will give you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones and your livestock will stay in the land Moshe gave you on the east side of the Yarden; but you are to cross over armed as a fighting force ahead of your brothers, to help them;”-Joshua 1:12-14
The time has now come for Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh, the 2 and 1/2 tribes who decided to claim land on the eastern bank of the Jordan as their inheritance, to step up and contribute their fair share of soldiers to the cause of taking the Promised Land.
Understand it wasn’t the civilian populations of these 2 1/2 tribes that were to fight.
Only a select portion of able-bodied fighting men were to accompany the other 9 1/2 tribes in the war to take the Promised Land.
However, these troops were to be the most ruthless and cold-blooded.
The best of the best.
Now at this point, here’s where the logistics get a bit tricky.
Take a look at verses 14-15:
“but you are to cross over armed as a fighting force ahead of your brothers, to help them; until Adonai allows your brothers to rest, as he has allowed you; and they too have taken possession of the land Adonai your God is giving them. At that point, you will return to the land which is yours and possess it, the land Moshe the servant of Adonai gave you in ‘Ever-HaYarden to the east, toward the sunrise.”
It doesn’t really say for how long the soldiers from Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh are to fight alongside their brethren from the 9 1/2 tribes?
I mean the statement “until Adonai allows your brothers to rest” is ambiguous as all heck.
How long is this darn thing going to take?
The answer is…
…who in the hell knows?
The second question is…
…who decides that a satisfactory degree of conquest and security has been achieved…
…that will allow the troops from the 2 1/2 tribes to go home?
Do you see how tricky all of this?
Also, on another level, I want you to notice just how useful and practical the Bible can be when it comes to solving our own personal battles and even modern wars.
“Modern wars?”…you ask?
Yeah man.
For example, our war with Iraq is actually quite similar to the war situation being described here in Joshua.
The United States sent troops to fight alongside the indigenous Iraqi army against an entrenched enemy power that had occupied the land.
And the big question in the air was…
…when can American troops come home?
The answer to that question was not an easy one.
Why?
Because several factors involving political interests, differing concerns, and how the war was progressing all played a role.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
Leave a Reply