Yesterday I broached the question of whether or not the 2 1/2 Trans-Jordanian tribes were in the wrong when they built and erected that altar in the West Bank of the Jordan River.
I didn’t really clearly answer that question.
So let me answer it now.
Of course, they were in the wrong.
And here’s why.
It didn’t really matter one darn bit that they were sincere in their desire to worship the Lord.
They wanted to have their cake (live outside of the land) and eat it too (have their own altar inside the land) but the Torah does NOT allow that.
The bottomline is that God chose the Levites to be responsible for public worship matters.
The 2 1/2 tribes also ignored the divine decree that there could only be ONE altar at ONE designated place.
Sure, they built an Altar with zero intentions of worshipping at it or offering sacrifices upon it.
But here’s the real $64,000 question.
How long would it be before the members of the 2 1/2 Trans-Jordan tribes did begin worshipping at that Altar they had built?
That’s the real question man.
Wouldn’t it just be a matter of time before they fell into idolatrous practices?
Well, let me clue you in on what actually happened a mere few years after Joshua and his men conquered Canaan and the Tabernacle together with Altar were set up at Shiloh.
Are you ready to hear this?
Because what happened is actually quite shocking.
What happened was that horned altars patterned after the original Tabernacle Altar began popping up all over the place in Israel.
We know this is true because we’ve discovered them (when I say “we”, I mean archaeologists) inside ancient Hebrew homes and outside in the fields scattered throughout the land of Israel.
And not only that, the prophets in the Bible issued warnings and complained about this very thing.
Make no bones about it, these mini altars that the the Hebrew families built were a great offense to Hashem.
What’s the big lesson to be learned from all of this?
It is this:
The Lord knows best when He gives us commandments about what we can or cannot or what we should or should not do.
We frail human beings are way too arrogant, naive and just plain stupid when it comes to thinking we can control pretty much any aspect of our lives when you think about it.
We all think (especially the younger folk) that we can flirt with sin and come away unharmed.
“I’ll just one watch one internet porn video and that’s it”.
“I’ll just have one cigarette and that’s it”.
“I’ll just attend one ‘new age Hindu gods chakra opening manifest anything I want in the universe’ seminar and then I’ll be done with it.
It’s all a super slippery slope my friend.
Most people who have utterly ruined their lives because of alcohol, drugs or any other addiction for that matter, of course never thought they’d turn into full-blown addicts.
The same goes with idolatry.
Israel never intended to fall into idolatry or offend God when they built their makeshift altars or participated in worship of false gods with their gentile neighbors.
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