Wait, What?? Modern Lessons from a Biblical Communication Breakdown

Finally, God’s people had reached the promised land, and in Joshua 22, Joshua gave a big high-five to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and told them to go home. In Joshua 22:2-5, he said: 

You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. Now that the Lord your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. (NIV)

Scripture says these tribes went to their homes with Joshua’s blessing and great wealth:

When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.” (vv. 7-8)

Everyone loves a happy ending, right? Cue the orchestra, and frame up everyone walking happily into the sunset.

Uh oh. There is more. The chapter continues, and I can’t unsee it.

When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. (v. 10)

Hmmmmm, “an imposing altar,” you say?

And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them. (vv. 11-12)

Wait, what???? Let me go back and see if I understand. Everything is great, 2.5 tribes build an altar, and then BOOM! the remaining tribes gather for war. Really? War???

People, people, what are we doing???? 

You just got there!!! You made it to the promised land!!!! Yet, the tribes are on the very brink of a civil war? Something is very, very wrong. 

What really bothers me about this part of the scripture is, “and when the Israelites heard….” This tells me that no one was talking to each other. We don’t use the word “heard” if we are talking to each other; we only use it when we are talking about each other. I can’t tell what the time frame is here, but an imposing altar has to take a while to build. I’m really scratching my head as to why no one from the other tribes walked over to the construction site to ask, “Hey, what’s going on? What’s the purpose of this imposing altar? Did God tell you to build that?” 

Another thing that bugs me here is that in verse 8, Joshua uses the term “fellow Israelites,” but in verses 11-12, scripture says,  “And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.” It seems that the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh are no longer seen as “Israelites.” Why is there an Israelite side of the Jordan? Aren’t they all Israelites? Aren’t there Israelites on both sides of the Jordan? In verse 8, yes, but two verses later, not so much.

And on the very brink of civil war, the western Israelite side of the Jordan sent a delegation to the other side of the Jordan. I’d like to say they were seeking information, but the language only contains accusations. Yes, there are question marks at the end of these sentences, but they aren’t really questions. Sincere questions don’t begin with “How could you…?” Accusations do. Since there was no apparent Mosaic authorization to build such an altar, the western tribes assumed the eastern tribes were abandoning God and adopting idolatry – hence the absolute outrage and serious fear of what God would do to punish such a deplorable action.

When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: “The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! And are you now turning away from the Lord?

“If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.” (vv. 15-20)

After this, we finally hear directly from the suspect Israelites who adamantly deny the rebellion and idolatry accusations; instead, they declare their loyalty to the Lord and to their fellow tribes. In fact, the imposing altar is a sign of unity and dedication to the Lord:

Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.” (vv. 21-23)

This next part absolutely kills me. I want to weep.

“No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord. That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’

“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

“Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle.” (vv. 24-29)

Some day your descendants MIGHT… Some day your descendants might????!!!!

Clearly, we are missing big chunks of information here. The language and actions are screaming distrust, which didn’t just pop up into existence when Joshua sent two-and-a-half tribes to the other side of the Jordan. Why would the eastern-side Israelites worry about “some day your descendants might?” What has their experience been? 

Why would the eastern Israelites be so quick to believe that the very ones whom Joshua blessed and commended for their absolute loyalty and obedience to God’s commands would be so quick to rebel and worship idols? What has their experience been?

The language strongly suggests that disruptive events had already taken place—significant enough to create dissent and trigger preventative, defensive responses. While we do not know the specific incidents, the evidence surfaces in the lack of direct communication, the emergence of “we versus they” language, the defensiveness, and the rapid escalation toward civil war.

So the civil war was avoided – this time: 

When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.”

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the Lord is God. (vv. 30-34)

It seems that everyone happily went home very pleased with themselves, but the language tells me that this reaction is a complete delusion. The language tells me they don’t have a chance of unity, and unfortunately, history goes on to prove it. There are telling divisions in the language, too many accusations, and flat-out anxious speculation about who is going to do what in the future. I have so many questions about this part of Israelite history, not the least of which is why the half tribe of Manasseh is not even listed alongside the Reubenites and Gadites in the last two verses. Where did they go?

To me, the most painful thing is that both groups are being faithful to the Lord; they just can’t get along with each other. Sound familiar? Yes, civil war was avoided this time, but the very gathering on the Shiloh would never have happened if they had handled the presumably smaller events that went unrecorded. 

Looking in the mirror right now is difficult for us as believers in light of this passage and the critical challenges we face with each other. Why are we still behaving this way when we know it’s a sure dead end at best and at worst, a sure civil war? Lord, have mercy on our souls. This communication evangelist is praying that we can learn how to handle the conflicts that happen with each other so we can fight the real enemy together.