When Separation Leads to Spiritual Drift - Joshua 22:1-16 (Session 15)

In this verse-by-verse study of Joshua 22, Reasoning Through the Bible looks at the return of the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh after helping the rest of Israel conquer the land. These two-and-a-half tribes had chosen to settle east of the Jordan, but they still kept their promise to Moses and Joshua by helping their brothers fight for the land west of the Jordan.

This session begins with a reminder of God’s promise of the land to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the nation of Israel. The discussion traces how the land promise runs through Genesis, Joshua, the Babylonian captivity, the return from exile, the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and Israel’s return as a modern nation. The land matters because God promised it unconditionally.

A major theme in this episode is the importance of serving with God’s people. The eastern tribes did not abandon their brothers. They participated in the work, and Joshua commended them for their faithfulness. The session applies this to the church today, reminding believers that ministry is not only for a few people while everyone else watches. Christians are called to participate in the work of the body.

The study also addresses Joshua’s warning to remember the Lord, the danger of settling for less than God’s best, whether material wealth is guaranteed to believers, and the large altar built near the Jordan. Israel’s reaction to that altar shows how seriously they understood the danger of rebellion, while the physical separation of the eastern tribes becomes a warning about how distance from God’s people can eventually lead to drift.

Topics in this episode include:

• Joshua 22 study
• Israel’s land promise
• Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh
• serving with God’s people
• rest after the work
• don’t settle for less
• remember the Lord
• wealth and the Christian life
• the controversial altar
• physical separation from believers
• spiritual drift

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Questions in this session:

• How important is it for Christians to do ministry work?
• What about the people who left God’s best? 
• Why do the people need reminding so many times? 
• Can following God’s ways bring great wealth?
• Are there risks with building large religious structures? 
• What happens when we are separated from other people? 

Transcript

The Promise of Israel's Land

Speaker 2 0:17

Welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible . As we've been working our way through the book of Joshua , we're up to chapter 22 . And before we jump into chapter 22 , we thought we'd give just a little bit of an overview of where we've been so far and kind of a big picture of Joshua and the land and kind of what's going on here in the book as a reminder . So way back in Genesis God promised Abraham to give his descendants this land and he mentioned a specific land . Right , it was the land of Israel , the land between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean . This was promised to Abraham in an unconditional covenant that God said I will do this and there was no conditions on it . And so he gave Abraham and his descendants this land . He repeated it to Abraham's descendants , isaac and Jacob . And then towards the end of Genesis , israel leaves the land to go to Egypt and in Joshua 21 , 43 , god gives Joshua the land again .

Speaker 2 1:21

God then later in the Old Testament allows Babylon to take Israel captive and remove them from the land . You'll find that at the end of 2 Kings and the end of Jeremiah . And then later they return to the land after the Babylonian captivity and we find in the New Testament , israel rejects their Messiah and in 70 AD Rome comes in and removes Israel again from the land , disperses them from the land which they stayed dispersed from for 1900 years until approximately 1948 . They come back to the land again . Since then they've been slowly returning to that land . So the land of Israel that's focused on here in Joshua is key . It goes all the way back to Abraham . Even if Israel today were removed from that land once again , what would happen ? They'd come back to it eventually . God would bring it back to him eventually because it was promised to him . It was promised to him all the way back in Genesis , chapters 12 through 15 and later . That particular land was promised to Abraham and the nation of Israel unconditionally . The nation of Israel centers around that land .

Speaker 1 2:40

And I just want to bring out just real quick how we got to Israel , because you mentioned it a while ago . It was also repeated and confirmed to his descendants , specifically to Isaac , and then specifically to Jacob , and then Jacob's name was changed to Israel . Then he had 12 sons . It was those 12 sons that when you talk about the tribes , and here in chapter 22 , when it talks about Reubenites , gadites , half-tribe of Manasseh , that's Israel's sons . Manasseh technically is Joseph , but Joseph was one of Israel's sons . So that's how we get the name Israel and sometimes , as we go through this , you'll be referring to Israel as the person Israel , and the other times will be the nation Israel , and right now we're dealing with the nation of Israel .

Speaker 2 3:33

Right , and one of the things throughout the Old Testament sometimes , when it uses the word Jacob , it's talking about the person Jacob and sometimes , when it uses the word Jacob , it's talking about the nation Israel . That was again . Jacob's name was changed to Israel , so it can get confusing sometimes . So you just have to look at the context of whatever verse you're in , whether it's talking about the person Jacob or the nation of Israel , jacob . The reason we bring that up is because in Joshua there's this large flow of meaning that's part of a very larger picture that centers around the nation of Israel and

The Two-and-a-Half Tribes' Faithfulness

Speaker 2 4:10

this land . As we've seen , as we've gone through Joshua . Joshua brings the nation of Israel back into the land after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and 400 years of being in Egypt . Here we are towards the end of Joshua , in chapter 22 . And , steve , if you could read the first four verses of Joshua , 22 .

Speaker 1 4:28

Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them you have kept all that Moses , the servant of the Lord , commanded you and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you . You have not forsaken your brothers these many days to this day , but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord , your God . And now the Lord , your God , has given rest to your brothers as he spoke to them . Therefore , turn now and go to your tents , to the land of your possession , which Moses , the servant of the Lord , gave to you beyond the Jordan .

Speaker 2 5:06

He mentions in verse 1 these two and a half tribes . And if we remember the story , the two and a half tribes wanted to stay on the east side of the Jordan River instead of crossing over the Jordan River into the west side and into the promised land . In verse 2 here here's the question Were the people obedient or disobedient ? At that point it says you have kept all that Moses , the servant of the Lord , commanded you . That's good . And in verse 3 , it says they've helped the other tribes capture the land .

Speaker 1 5:39

They had promised to go in and help capture the land and then , when they were finished , they were going to go back across the Jordan River to the east side , and I think that's the reference in chapter 2 , that they kept the promises , the word that they had given to Moses , that Moses had said if you want to stay over here , fine , but when we actually go in to conquer the land , you have to come in with your troops and warriors and help us conquer the land .

Speaker 2 6:05

So on the good side , in verse 2 , you have kept all that Moses commanded , and in verse 3 , you've not forsaken your brothers , you helped them . So here's a question how important is it for Christians to help do ministry work People around churches ? How important is it for the average Christian to jump in and help with the other people doing ministry ?

Speaker 1 6:27

Well , what's the old saying ? There's strength in numbers . So there's a lot of things that having help and assistance by fellow Christians bring to it . They're like-minded that you have their prayers . I think it's very important that you have assistance from other Christians .

Speaker 2 6:42

So these two and a half tribes could have stayed on the east side of the Jordan River and said , hey , you guys want to go to the west , knock yourself out , we're going to stay over here . But they didn't . They went in and spent years helping to clear the land of Canaan for the rest of the other tribes . So they jumped in and helped . Do churches in our day need help with ministry ? I've not found a church yet that had more people than they needed in most of their ministry works . I think it's good for everyone in a church . I've heard of some churches that when , as soon as you arrive , they give you a list of places , which one of these places ? Here's where you can help out .

Speaker 1 7:23

But doing nothing shouldn't be an option and you get the benefit of actually being a participant rather than just somebody that's sitting back observing what's going on . Participation really helps to bring about not only a relationship with the fellow Christians of that particular body , but also the relationship with God .

Speaker 2 7:44

So when a person jumps in and helps do ministry , who gets the benefit ?

Speaker 1 7:49

The unlawful or the un-lost , the lost .

Speaker 2 7:53

The people you're ministering to gets the benefit , but also , as you just said , the people that are doing the ministry get a blessing . Oftentimes some of the greatest experiences I've had is when I was out helping other people do things . I get as much out of it as the people I'm out there trying to help . The end of verse 4 , it says God has given you rest . Who in the New Testament says that he'll give us rest ? Jesus ? Jesus says I have given you rest . He said that in Matthew , chapter 11 . At the end of it , verse 28 , says Jesus , I will give you rest . In today's world , do we need more rest or do we need to get busier ? Rest is always good . I think there's some people that need to get up off of their tail and go to work and do some things .

Joshua's Warning to Remember God

Speaker 2 8:39

It's kind of the 80-20 rule 80% of the people do nothing and 20% of the people do all the work .

Speaker 1 8:46

Yeah , but this is the rest after the work . It's not the rest . Instead of the work , I would agree with you In our Western world people need more rest Instead of the work .

Speaker 2 8:52

I would agree with you . In our Western world , people need more rest , and I think that's why Jesus said take my yoke upon you , for my work is easy . And he said come to me and I'll rest you . And also , at the end of verse four , what did Joshua tell the people they were supposed to ?

Speaker 1 9:08

do Go to your tents , to your land of possession , go back over to your land on the east side of the Jordan and now start living over on the east side of the Jordan , where your possession is , where your inheritance is .

Speaker 2 9:22

Now , if we remember , Israel was wandering the wilderness for 40 years and as they got close to the promised land , these two and a half tribes said this is good enough for us , but really God's best was crossing the Jordan River into the promised land , the land flowing with milk and honey . As we've said here in our study , that represented salvation . So these were people that got almost up to God's best and was satisfied for less . Have we ever seen a situation , either in our lives or in the people around us , that people were almost up to the full blessing of God but said I'll stay out here and I'll be satisfied with less than what God had for ?

Speaker 1 10:04

me , yeah , and I think when that happens , a lot of times they don't know what could have been and they get satisfied with what they have . It's good enough for them , but yet they miss out on what could have been .

Speaker 2 10:16

Don't only read the next two verses , verse five and six . And this is Joshua speaking to these two and a half tribes Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses , the servant of the Lord , commanded you to love the Lord , your God , and walk in all his ways and keep his commandments and hold fast to him and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul . So Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went to their tents . So in verse 5 , what is Joshua concerned about in verse 5 ? What does he tell them ? First thing there .

Speaker 1 10:50

Remember the law , remember the commandments of the law , and to keep those .

Speaker 2 10:55

If you look through verse 5 , he mentions a handful of things that he says here that they are to be careful and remember to do . He says be very careful to what . Observe the commandment , what else ?

Speaker 1 11:07

Love Yahweh , your God . Love God , walk in his ways , keep his commandments and hold fast to him and serve him with all your Now there's six or seven things right there in that one sentence .

Speaker 2 11:26

Six or seven things . Why couldn't he just say hey , you guys remember God . Why did he mention it six or seven times ?

Speaker 1 11:35

Because they're all different aspects of loving God . Why did he mention it six or seven times ? Because they're all different aspects of loving God . There are different ways to love him and different things , and it's being more specific . Just love God is a very broad statement . Holding fast to him is something that's very specific , obeying the commandments is something that's very specific , and etc . So it's not just a very broad statement , to your point .

Speaker 2 12:00

Well , and I submit there's another reason too , which is Joshua knew that our hearts are prone to wander . There's an old hymn prone to wander , lord , I feel it . I think Joshua knew these people get out away from the rest of us . They're going to be prone to forget the commandments . So he repeats it six or seven times here Don't forget , love God , follow the commandments , do what you're supposed to do . He then gives them , in verse six , a blessing and sends them away . Now the concept of a formal blessing is something that's mentioned several times . It's done several times in Scripture . There's different people in the Scripture that give blessings . Have we ever seen , is that ever done in our day , where people give a formal blessing ? Sometimes you just , okay , bless you , but there's other times when the concept of giving a formal blessing , I think , is kind of a critical one I think sometimes it's things we miss don't you think ?

Speaker 1 12:56

Yeah , I've rarely seen it . Maybe it'd be more couched as a commissioning if somebody is going off to the mission field or going to another area or something like that and they're leaving the congregation and they get commissioned and through that commissioning they get a blessing from the church . But that's really about the only thing I've seen in regards to my lifetime .

Speaker 2 13:18

I think there's a concept of biblical authority , and I'm not sure how far I want to go with it , but I think there's a concept here of being under the authority of the church and under the authority of God's will and God's blessing . And I think there's a very real thing . It's not just an idea , it's not just a little lightweight , pass it off and say a sentence . I think there's a real thing called God's blessing and we can be under it or we could be not under it , just like an umbrella . If you're not under the umbrella you kind of get wet , but if you're under it you're under the protection . I think fathers , church leaders , parents , friends can give blessings to people , and I think it's a very real thing . Here's another question Can God take back his blessing from Israel ? Does he do that at any point in the Old Testament ?

Speaker 1 14:05

Well , yeah , there are times whenever he does turn them over because they have abandoned him and they've what , in the terminology have played the harlot , they've chased after other gods and other idols and things . So , yeah , he does withdraw them , but it's not so much a withdrawal as it is just a turning over to what their heart's desires are so in verse 6 , he gives them this blessing .

Speaker 2 14:29

Look down at verse 8 . What did they take back with them , says in verse 8 ? Return to your tents with what ?

Speaker 1 14:36

Great riches and very much livestock , with silver , gold , bronze , iron and with very many clothes . Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers .

Speaker 2 14:45

Where did they get all this stuff ?

Speaker 1 14:47

From the conquests that they had .

Speaker 2 14:49

Did they earn all these things or that came with what God basically gave them these things ? God turned all these things over to them because God won all these victories . Is

The Controversial Altar

Speaker 2 15:01

there a concept in the Bible of material wealth ? Can we expect , as God's disciples , to get rich ?

Speaker 1 15:09

You're treading into a tricky area there , glenn . I think God does want to bless us . Of course that's a desire of His , but it's not a guarantee . And I think through the years sometimes it's been turned into a guarantee that if you trust God , that it's something that is guaranteed for Him to bless you . But there's a lot more to it than just trust .

Speaker 2 15:35

Over in the Gospels , matthew , chapter 19, . There's a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and he says what must I do and what did Jesus tell him to do ?

Speaker 1 15:45

He said obey all the law . And Jesus says one last thing go sell everything that you have and come follow me .

Speaker 2 15:54

And the rich young ruler went away , sad yeah . So in that specific case he was already wealthy and God said give up all your wealth and follow me . Why would he say that to this rich young ruler ?

Speaker 1 16:06

Because it was very obvious , based on the ruler's reaction , that his wealth meant a lot to him . His wealth meant more to him than actually his original question what must I do to have salvation ? Jesus knew that , telling him to give it up that was standing between him and God .

Speaker 2 16:28

In another place in the New Testament I think of when I talk about wealth and material things . Jesus feeds a lot of people and then in John chapter 6 , they're still following him because they wanted the food , they wanted the material thing , they wanted their belly full . And Jesus takes them out in the middle of the wilderness , stops feeding them and says some very difficult things and they stopped following him . The reason I bring those up is because these people here in Joshua they walked away with gold and silver and bronze and livestock and a lot of wealth . But this is not a guarantee . We shouldn't follow God because we want to get rich and just like the rich young ruler . If we're following God because we think we can make money here , then we're following him for the wrong reasons and we're not going to get any . I've met people that go to church so they can make sales contacts and so it's a way to make money . This is not the reason to follow God . Now I will say this If you're following God's principles there's a lot of things in scripture tells you how to handle your money .

Speaker 2 17:31

Don't get into heavy debt , don't waste your money on silly things , work hard , be honest and if you do those principles , you're going to have more than if you're out there in what the Bible calls dissipation in drugs and alcohol and wasting your money on things and going into spending your money unwisely . Then you're going to be poorer than if you're following the biblical principles around money and how you spend your time in your life . So there's a general thing that we see in life where people that are following God generally have more things just because they're not being wasteful . But God by no means gives a guarantee that somebody's going to walk away with money . But there are people , are people that do so . We should ask ourselves why am I following God and would I like the rich young ruler , if God took away all of my material wealth , would I still follow him ? That's the question each of us has to ask us . Easy to follow God if he's showering material blessings on us ?

Speaker 1 18:35

In fact , that was Satan's argument in front of God related to Job . So when God asked him , said have you considered my servant Job ? And he goes well , yeah , sure , that's because you've given him everything and he has everything . He said if you take all that away , then we'll see what he's going to do . He's not going to follow you anymore and of course , the whole story revolves around that . That comes to find out that Job actually was serving God . His wealth didn't have anything to do with it .

Speaker 2 19:04

So , steve , if you could read in Joshua 22 , start at verse

The Danger of Physical Separation

Speaker 2 19:07

10 and read down to verse 20 .

Speaker 1 19:08

When they came to the region of the Jordan , which is in the land of Canaan , the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan , a large altar in appearance , and the sons of Israel heard it said Behold , the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan , in the region of the Jordan , on the side belonging to the sons of Israel . When the sons of Israel heard of it , the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves at Shiloh to go up against them in war themselves at Shiloh , to go up against them in war . Then the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben , the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh into the land of Gilead , phinehas , the son of Eleazar , the priest , and with him ten chiefs , one chief for each father's household , from which the tribes of Israel , and each one of them was the head of his father's household among the thousands of Israel . They came to the sons of Reuben , gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh to the land of Gilead and they spoke with them , saying Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord .

Speaker 1 20:16

What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel ? Turning away from following the Lord this day by building yourselves an altar to rebel against the Lord this day ? Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us , from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day , although a plague came on the congregation of the Lord , that you must turn away this day from following the Lord ? If you rebel against the Lord today , he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow . If , however , the land of your possession is unclean , then cross into the land of the possession of the Lord , where the Lord's tabernacle stands , and take possession among us . Only do not rebel against the Lord or rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves besides the altar of the Lord . Our God Did not Achan , the son of Zarah , act unfaithfully in the things under the ban , and wrath fell on the congregation of Israel , and that man did not perish alone in his iniquity .

Speaker 2 21:24

So in verse 10 , it says they build this great , impressive altar , one of imposing size . And later we learn that this was not for sacrifice , which means it was not for worship .

Speaker 1 21:36

It was impressive to look at , and it was so big that they could see it on the other side of the Jordan .

Speaker 2 21:41

Yeah , they could tell from a good ways away . So this was a fairly large construction project , but not for a blood sacrifice . There's this human tendency to want to make a large , impressive place of worship . Is there anything necessarily wrong with making a large religious structure like a church building or a cathedral or even a shrine ? Is there anything wrong with building a nice building ?

Speaker 1 22:09

It depends upon what the motivation is behind it Exactly . Yeah , what would be a good motivation ? Well , a good motivation would be to glorify God . If it's being done to glorify God and not glorify yourselves , meaning mankind , look at what I've done , look at what I've built . That's not glorifying God . That's glorifying yourself and trying to show , falsely , that you're worshiping God .

Speaker 2 22:36

So what's a tendency for people to do ? Is they get so focused on the building , they get so focused on the art or the architecture that we lose sight of God . Nothing wrong with a beautiful building , but if maintaining the structure becomes the focus of our lives and our worship , then we're worshiping an idol . Now , that's the risk .

Speaker 1 22:57

And it also might detour resources that are needed for other things with that great structure . So the question is is this something that they went to the Lord with first and said should we build this big structure , or is it something that they did on their own .

Speaker 2 23:12

I don't see anything in here that says they went to the Lord and asked Lord , should we ? Yeah ? Yeah , there's no indication they did that . It just sounded like a good human thing to do so . Verse 11 , on the west side of the Jordan , Israel hears of it . And in verse 12 , what is Israel ready to do ? At the end of verse 12 ? Go to war . They're ready to go to war . Why would they be ready to go to war ?

Speaker 1 23:35

Because they remembered back what happened at Ai , Exactly that , that little bitty sin that we talked about during that session .

Speaker 2 23:43

It affected all of Israel that we talked about during that session . It affected all of Israel , and they bring that up yeah , exactly . So then , in verses 12 to 14 , israel's ready for war , but before taking action , they send a delegation to find out more information . So I think this is wise Before they just go in with swords drawn , they get ready , but before they go fight , they send in a delegation . Sword's drawn , they get ready , but before they go fight , they send in a delegation . Remember that the tribes on the east side of the Jordan were physically separate from the main body on the west side . What does physical separation do to followers of God ? If we're physically separated from other believers , what happens to us ?

Speaker 1 24:21

You don't have that communication . There's a distance between you and them and you're not there in tune with what's going on and what's happening , and you don't have that relationship . You're kind of out on your own .

Speaker 2 24:32

And I think we talked earlier in one of the earlier sessions that these two and a half tribes one of them was the tribe of Gad . We find later that this tribe had settled on the other side of the Jordan , on the east side , when the main body is on the west , and over time they started to deviate from the true worship so that by the time of the New Testament they were in full-blown disobedience . What happens to us when , on one hand , we stay connected to other Christians versus separating ourselves out from the body of believers ?

Speaker 1 25:08

You miss out on having those other body of believers that hold you accountable . Number one , number two , they also are there in that fellowship with the fellow believers as well . You have a tendency to start having fellowship with non-believers because you're out there on your own , tendency to start having fellowship with non-believers because you're out there on your own . So a little bitty off course at the very beginning can lead to a very great distance , hundreds of thousands of miles down the road .

Speaker 2 25:34

So it's probably a good place to hit the

Preview of Next Episode

Speaker 2 25:37

pause for today . Next time we'll pick up right here along about Joshua , chapter 22 , verse 17 , where it speaks of these past sins and the consequences of that , and we'll talk some about the difference between the guilt of sin and the consequences of sin . And we'll do that next time on Reasoning Through the Bible .