OT: The Book of Joshua, Chapter 22

Joshua 22:1-34

22:1-3 Joshua speaks to the Reubenites, Gadites and half of the tribe of Manasseh: they have each followed the command of God to help their kin. Their land inheritance has already been claimed but they continue to help the other tribes claim their own land.

22:4-6 Joshua allows the three tribes to finally return to their newly acquired home. Their moral duty is over; it was fulfilled faithfully. Joshua reminds the tribes to continue to align their lifestyles with God's philosophy.

As children, co-workers and laborers of God, we are at times called out for moral duties. We are called to step out of comfort zones. It would have been easy and likely tempting for the Reubenites, Gadites and tribe of Manasseh to return to their home. After all, who wants to continue fighting a battle when "home" is already secured?

The answer to that question must be understood because it is fundamental to our lives, mortal and immortal. God has already promised us a Home. Jesus is preparing it in this very moment, John 14:2-3. He has been at work on our resting place for thousands of years even though in an instant He can perform miracles. Needless to say, the Home He is building is divine. Well, knowing that, why should we be so hard at work here?

Moral duty. We were entrusted by God with the care of humanity. Atheists, agnostics and even believers struggle with the complex concepts of a Divine Creator: How did He/It make a universe? How did He make the stars? But the most complex concept is the one which asks: How could He trust US with... well, anything at all really?

He trusts us because He is generous and patient. He trusts us because He sees potential in our ability to be compassionate. He trusts us because it is here on earth that we declare ourselves of His DNA. It here, through how we live, that we declare ourselves His child.

Our spiritual home is secured. But earth is not secure. God knows that His true child, would never be able to live apathetically or lethargically in an insecure world. An imbalanced world. God knows that His children would see the need and mold themselves to fill it.

Children of God are unable to rest at Home when outside the doors their kin are suffering. The 3 tribes in the opening of this chapter exemplify that. Until "home" is secure for all people, every home is insecure. Out of balance.

Joshua commends the tribes for living graciously. It is important that the people of these tribes part with this reminder on their ears and hearts because it is what will continually secure their home. If we commit to leaving our place of rest, our home, to dutifully, tirelessly build and secure homes for the figuratively homeless... God always ensures that we will have a home to return to.

22:7-9 The soldiers in the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh return home with abundance. Do not lose the irony here, remember Achan. Joshua 7: Achan could not live and wait on the promise of abundance from God. Instead, he prematurely decided his own inheritance. He ended up with nothing, not even his life.

Yet those who were willing to sacrifice for the cause of others, leave with everything and more of what Achan stole and hoarded. Matthew 7:11  Jesus explains that God gives gifts that are exponentially better than the gifts humans are able to give.

The tribes each return to and settle in fertile, protected, abundant land. There is room enough for the family, friends and spiritual neighbors. Not only do they lack nothing but they also have extra. All. For. Themselves. 

We are vessels of God. When we pour ourselves out on the behalf of others, God pours back in.  Psalm 23:5-6 God overfills our cup. After all, God is our papa and He loves us. He loves to serve us with cookies and milk. Warm, homemade, freshly baked cookies... and a vat of  cool milk. The cookie digression is meant to explain that God loves to bless us not only with comfort but with enjoyment. In heaps He provides. He overwhelms us with His generosity. Second helpings. Third. More than we think we can handle. Our God will expand our lives to fit the grand blessings He has planned before He will ever stunt a gift.

Since I was a little girl, when my grandpa pours a drink into a cup for me, he will say: "Tell me when..." As in, "Tell me when I've poured the amount you think you can handle." And I always giggle as I say "Enough!" because he will keep pouring with an amused smile on his face no matter how many times I cry "Enough!"

That is how God blesses a child of His. He just keeps pouring until the cup is overwhelmed, the life is overwhelmed by the magnitude of His blessings. He just keeps pouring until the whole space is filled and we are swimming in His love. He just keeps pouring until we wonder how we will ever deserve or handle all that He has blessed us with. He keeps pouring and He hopes that we will finally understand that we do not have to earn His love or handle anything. He is the Handler. He handles what He pours.

All we have to do is proclaim ourselves a child of His. To do that, we exemplify the life our Spiritual Father outlined for us. With a bellyful of joy and laughter, we say: "Enough!" And then we start to worry a little bit... "I cannot possibly manage all of this". God replies: "You can manage because I have placed the weight of it on My wings. The burden will never weigh on your life. And God keeps pouring...

The lesson of Achan comes full-circle in this chapter: as children of God, we do not need to gather the spoils of the figurative, mental, emotional, physical battles here on earth. We do not have to live selfishly and hoard things in secret in order to survive. We have a provider whose provisions are complete, abundant, consistent and pure. Gracefully given and gracefully received. 

God never thinks "That's enough" where blessings for His children are concerned. There's no happy enough.  All our faithful lives He endeavors to prove that to us. Each tribe and member of the children of Israel move into this new phase of blessed abundance in their lives. They reached it through the desert. Through the desert they learned obedience, humility and trust. They allowed the Handler to handle every situation which arose in the desert. The students in the desert, in the classroom, may change but the teacher and the lesson never does.

22:10 Being loved in such a way by God makes it tremendously easy and fulfilling to praise Him. Being loved by God is an introduction to love and simultaneously, an advanced course. Love from its purest source cannot be matched by earthly iterations of it. When we realize the depth of His love, we build altars. 

We built altars, figurative platforms from which to exalt Him.  David so beautiful articulates and exemplifies this praise in:

Psalm 145

1 I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
6 Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
7 They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.

10 All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
12 To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

14 The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
16 You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.

Praise is not an expectation of God. It's not a commandment. We do not do it out of duty but out of love. We do it out of the need to express an all-consuming  feeling of having His love, His attention, His protection, His provision, His promise. 

David's words in Psalm 145 are powerful because his love and gratitude toward God is familiar.  We are in that place of awe and reverence because we have felt God's magnificent love.

The problem comes when reverence for God turns into reverence for opulence.  The other tribes suspect that the Gadites, Reubenites and half of the tribe of Manasseh built an altar outside of the Lord's tabernacle because their faith is outside of God. 

22:11-16 The rest of the tribes are absolutely furious. The entire group suffered from Achan's covetousness. The tribes fear that these actions might cause another fracture.

22:17-18  The tribes have not yet full recovered previous transgressions.  Just when they feel they are finally making progress in their faith, one of their own sets them back. We are community here on earth because we are community there in Heaven. To God, community is more beautiful than dutiful. To many humans, community is more dutiful than beautiful. The 3 tribes do not respect the others enough to maintain pure faith. They create an imbalance.

22:19-20 Basically, the other tribes say: Look, if there's a temptation or an issue that's tainting your faith, leave that place. Walk back into the safe and instructive place of the Lord. If there's a problem with the land you have inherited, you're better off the cross the Jordan again and begin the journey anew.

We must not let our faith be destroyed. We must be vigilant against covetousness and greed, vengeance and vanity. The imploration here extends to us, individually: if something is tainting your faith, eliminate it. Return to 101. Square one. There's no shame in a second attempt as long as it is genuine. Mark 9:47 and Matthew 5:29 teach us the same lesson. The symbolic lesson is that we should go to extremes to protect what is pure and faithful inside of us.

22:21-29 The rebuttal: The Gadites, Reubenites and half tribe of Manasseh explain themselves. Contrary to what they are being accused of, they explain that they just wanted God represented on their half of the inheritance. They wanted a place not to break the rules, but to proclaim themselves as children and followers of God.

22:30-33 Once the tribes have properly communicated through Eleazar, they are mollified. They are relieved.

22:34 "The children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar, Witness, “For it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”