Alrighty, so we’ve dug really deep into Joshua Chapter 22 and this post is going to be my closing article for this chapter.
Before finishing off, I want to share an interesting model embedded in the chapter that not only accurately reflects the ongoing struggle and division that has existed between Christianity and Judaism for the longest time…
…but also sheds light on a phenomenon that simply didn’t exist when I was a child.
What phenomenon am I talking about?
I’m referring to the whole Hebrew Roots and Messianic movements as well as the movement of many Christian denominations around the world who have suddenly woken up to the fact that their Jesus who they worship was actually a Jew.
To put it simply, Christian churches of all faiths and denominations are now reaching out to the Jewish people.
But not necessarily to convert them.
No, they’re reaching out to them because they have a genuine interest in the Jewish roots of their faith and actually want to learn more about the background of the Jew they worship.
And wouldn’t you know it?
Jews are reaching back!
But it’s a tumultuous relationship.
Simply because of the existing cultural and theological divide, Jews and Christians don’t quite feel so comfortable with each other.
I remember I was having lunch one day with a kind elderly Jewish lady and I mentioned to her that I was blogging through the Torah.
I can’t remember exactly what I said but somehow the word “Yeshua” slipped through my mouth and she just snapped.
She said “I’m Jewish and I don’t want to hear anything about “Jesus”. So don’t try to convert me”.
In my mind, I wasn’t trying to convert her.
I was just talking about one small aspect of my life that I’m passionate about.
This shows you how tense things can get when Yeshua believers mingle with Jewish folks who are not.
Both sides get all antsy and don’t know how to behave around each other.
Anyways, let’s get back to the theological model I said was embedded in this chapter.
So here it is.
I would like to propose that Christians today…
…are just like those 2 1/2 tribes who decided to settle outside of the Promised Land back in Joshua’s day.
They are outside of any formal community of Israel.
Yet deep down inside they want to identify as being a part of God’s Chosen people.
And, to complete the model, I would say the Jewish people today are similar to…
…the 9 1/2 tribes who settled inside the Promised Land.
The 9 1/2 tribes weren’t necessarily against the 2 1/2 tribes living in their community in the land but their lifestyle and worship had to conform to what they considered to be “proper” worship practices.
Obviously, what I’m presenting here is metaphorical, so this is a far cry from reality.
Yet I think this metaphorical model is an accurate reflection in many ways.
We can see that those Christians who are motivated to have a close relationship with the Jewish people will adopt many of their traditional symbols and traditions.
They’ll wear yarmulkes (not really Biblical) and attempt to observe the Biblical feasts like Passover.
Heck, I remember a time when I wanted to be Jewish so bad, I lied about it and told people people my mother was Jewish.
As far as I knew, that was not true and quite embarrassing now that I think about it.
But, again, understand that my behavior even if unethical, offensive or just downright weird was driven by a love for Israel and the Jewish people that the Bible has planted in all of us gentile believers.
And isn’t this kind of what the 2 1/2 tribes did when they built that false altar and planted it inside the Promised Land?
They created a symbol because they wanted to be identified with their brothers and sisters who were living inside the land.
The problem was they built that symbol on the Jewish side of the river so to speak and this raised suspicions if not provoking outright hostility.
And just like the 9 1/2 tribes who sent a delegation to the 2 1/2 tribes to investigate their real intentions, there have been Jewish delegations who have reached out to Christians to kindly let them know that they’re not happy with how they’re misusing Jewish symbols and traditions.
However, they also now realize that like the 2 1/2 tribes, the Christians had the best of intentions when they incorporated Jewish symbols into their worship services.
Yet, in spite of this, the cultural and theological differences remain a source of bitter tension for both sides and until Yeshua returns to establish a one-world Torah government, I imagine the issue won’t be completely resolved.
And so it is on this note that we finally finish our study of Joshua chapter 22.
This chapter concludes with the understanding that all was well between the 2 1/2 and the 9 1/2 tribes of Israel.
The 2 1/2 tribes would be considered just as legit as their brethren living inside the Promised Land and that proper worship would still be possible…
…EVEN IF they weren’t living inside the Land.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN JOSHUA 23
Until dumb gentiles figure out that God is in control of the Jewish people, then they will never get why there is a rift between Jew and gentile.
A good place to start is Deu 29:4, repeated in Romans 11:8, and contrasted in Romans 15:21, but that God has to unblind Jews, as he did in John 9:39-41, just like he did with Lidia.
Jews can’t see Jesus as their messiah until Jesus wants them to see Jesus as their messiah… and for God reason. And it’s not due to anything that they did, or didn’t do. God uses them to tell the story about himself, and Satan, and the spiritual battles between them. The problem is, expository preachers can’t see that, just like the Jews themselves can’t see that. But that’s what Romans 9-11 is exactly explaining.
Jews see a small piece of real estate in the middle east as the promised land, through the promised seed of Isaac. Can you blame them for that? No.
But on the spiritual side of the house, the promised land is heaven through Jesus. They can’t see that, and won’t until Jesus opens their understanding.
But the gentiles don’t understand this, and so they think that all they gotta do is trespass Israeli land, and give ’em the gospel!
Not gonna work! They still have unfulfilled prophesy to fulfill.
But at some point God will save all of them, with MERCY, JUST LIKE JOSEPH DID WITH HIS BROTHERS.