“They came to the descendants of Re’uven, the descendants of Gad and the half-tribe of M’nasheh in the land of Gil‘ad and spoke with them; they said, ‘Here is what the whole community of Adonai is saying: ‘What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Isra’el, turning away today from following Adonai, in that you have built yourselves an altar, thus rebelling today against Adonai?‘”-Joshua 22:15-16
The 9 1/2 tribes are burning with anger against Gad, Reuben and 1/2 of Manasseh because of the altar they have built.
At Shilo, Joshua orders Pinchas, the son of Eleazar the High Priest, to assemble a delegation (one leader from each of the 10 tribes currently residing inside the land) and meet with the leadership of the 2 1/2 tribes at Gilead in the Transjordan.
To be clear, the 10 leaders who would be accompanying Pinchas were NOT tribal princes, rather they were clan leaders selected from each tribe.
The big question is why were the 9 1/2 tribes so upset at what Gad, Reuben and 1/2 of Manasseh had done?
The answer is simple.
They were terrified that building this altar would be terribly offensive to Hashem and that as a result ALL of Israel would suffer the consequences.
Based on past experience, they had good reason to be concerned.
For example, when Achan stole some of the war booty from Jericho, it wasn’t just him who suffered.
Everyone paid the price for his wrongdoing.
Or how about the chaos that ensued due to Israel’s idolatry at Ba’al Peor?
In response, the Lord sent a plague that killed 24,000 Israelites at the time.
So, again, the 9 1/2 tribes had good reason to be afraid of what might happen if the Lord took offense at the unauthorized altar the 2 1/2 tribes had built.
It’s a well-known and firmly established Torah principle that there is a sort of community burden that is bore due to the sins of even one person.
Remember, as believers we are all part of one holy body.
So there’s no way, you can hurt one part of the body without the other part being affected.
Remember in Achan’s case, it was NOT just Achan who paid for his sin with his life, his whole family was put to death because of his shenanigans in messing around with God’s holy property.
Think really hard about what I just said now.
Achan’s family hadn’t sinned at all.
But God ordered them put to death along with Achan because they suffered guilt by association.
For Pinchas and the 10 leaders, this was their very own survival they were concerned about when they went up to the east bank of the Jordan River to lodge their complaints with Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh.
My big takeaway here is this is why it’s so darn important to SEPARATE from the unbelievers…even if they be your own biological family members because the collateral damage could be deadly.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
No, what I wrote you was not to associate
with anyone who is supposedly a brother
but who also engages in sexual immorality,
is greedy, worships idols, is abusive, gets
drunk or steals. With such a person you
shouldn’t even eat!For what business is
it of mine to judge outsiders? Isn’t it those
who are part of the community that you
should be judging? God will judge those
who are outside. Just expel the evildoer
from among yourselves.
-1 Corinthians 5:11-13
“If anyone comes to me and does not
hate his own father and mother and wife
and children and brothers and sisters,
yes, and even his own life, he cannot be
my disciple.”
-Luke 14:26
“Do not be bound together with unbelievers;
for what partnership have righteousness and
lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with
darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with
Belial, or what has a believer in common with
an unbeliever?”
-2 Corinthians 6:14-15
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