No Sin Is Victimless — Joshua 22:17-34 (Session 16)

In this verse-by-verse study of Joshua 22, Reasoning Through the Bible continues the account of the altar built by the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan. When the rest of Israel hears about the altar, they fear that these tribes are turning away from the Lord and repeating the sins of the past.

This session looks back at two serious examples: the sin at Peor and Achan’s sin at Ai. Both remind Israel that sin does not remain isolated. One person, one group, or one act of rebellion can bring consequences on the larger body. The discussion also distinguishes between the guilt of sin and the consequences of sin. God truly forgives those who repent, but the consequences of sinful choices may still remain.

A major theme in this episode is the danger of spiritual drift. The eastern tribes intended the altar to be a witness for future generations, but their separation from the main body of Israel still created long-term danger. Their concern for their children was right, but the solution showed how easy it is for worship to begin shifting away from God’s revealed pattern.

Topics in this episode include:

• Joshua 22 study
• sin at Peor
• Achan’s sin
• guilt and consequences of sin
• no victimless sin
• the remnant in Israel
• the witness altar
• passing faith to children
• teaching the next generation
• blood sacrifice and atonement
• spiritual drift
• staying close to God’s people

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

 Questions from this Session: 

• What happens when we do not ask God’s guidance?
• Is a bloodless sacrifice a good thing or not? 
• What happens when we settle away from other believers? 
• Is there a difference in the guilt of sin and the consequences of sin? 

Transcript

Sin Consequences, Remnant in Israel

Speaker 2 0:22

Welcome back to another session of Reasoning through the Bible . As we go through here , we're picking up again in chapter 22 of Joshua . We got about halfway through with it before and now we're going to continue there . Starting , I think it's about verse 17, . Right , Lynn ?

Speaker 1 0:37

In this part of Joshua , there's two and a half tribes that had settled on the east side of the Jordan River and the bulk of Israel were on the west side . As soon as they go back over to the east side , these two and a half tribes , one of the first things they do is they build this large , impressive structure , this altar . The bulk of Israel finds out about it and they go over to find out what happened . Joshua has come in and asked them why are you doing this ? We sent a delegation . We sent a delegation .

Speaker 1 1:12

In Joshua 22 , 17 , joshua is speaking and he says is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us , from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day , although a plague came upon 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 . And then , in verse 20 , he talks about Achan . Did not Achan , the son of Zara , act in a similar way ? And so Joshua reminds them of these two people and these two acts . One was this Peor and the other was Achan . It's beneficial at this point to mention what those were , because Joshua is bringing up something that's very important .

Speaker 2 2:01

I think another thing real quick is that a lot of times when we go through and we read here , israel continues to wander away from God and they do different things . They play the harlot and sometimes it's overshadowed . I think that there are people that are still there that do call them into accountability and are still stay faithful to God . They're overshadowed by the bulk of the ones who do evil , but they're still always a remnant within Israel that is whole , true to God , remember the things of God and remember the things that happened in the past , and this is an example of there's always a remnant .

Speaker 1 2:43

Book of Ezekiel talks about a remnant . Romans , chapter 11 talks about a remnant . There's always a remnant that stays faithful and that's what we should always strive to be as part of the remnant . So who is this guy ? Peor , and remind us of that story , because Joshua was reminding these two and a half tribes . Don't forget what happened to Peor . So what was the story ?

Speaker 2 3:06

So this comes out of Numbers , chapter 25 , 1-9 . And it's basically where they were at a particular area . They were in Shittum , an area called Shittum or Shittum , and they began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab . So they weren't staying within their context of Israel , the nation of Israel themselves . They were going out and they were intermingling and intermarrying with other daughters from Moab . They were basically pagan , a pagan group of people , and they invited those people in . It's where the sacrifices to their gods , pagan gods and the people , meaning the Israelites . They bowed down to their gods and they joined themselves to Baal of Peor , and the Lord was angry with them there . And so the Lord gives them instruction you need to go out and basically purge all of these people , and what it actually said is they played the harlot with the daughters of Baol of Peor .

Speaker 2 4:14

Well , god gives Moses an instruction you need to go out and purge all of these people . What does it happens ? And again , you can read that in Numbers 25 , 1-9 . But at the end of that it says that there were 24,000 people of the nation of Israel that were basically killed because they had gone off and done these things and angered God .

Speaker 1 4:36

So back in Joshua 22 , verse 17 , Joshua is reminding them is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us , from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day , although a plague came upon the congregation . So I think it's very telling . Here we can kind of read between the lines and it's not even really between the lines . He's telling them that there was a plague came upon them and I think it's a fairly strong case here that there was some sort of disease , very possibly a venereal disease , because of a sex worship with these pagan peoples . And Joshua is saying look , you played after these other gods and look what happened . And notice here in verse 17 , from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day . So from that we can conclude there's only two or three options here Either there was a physical plague , like a venereal disease , that they got from this sex worship with these pagan idols and these pagan peoples , of which they had not yet gotten rid of the disease , or the actual practice of worshiping these idols was still going on in the camp and they hadn't yet gotten rid of the idol worship yet .

Speaker 1 6:02

Or possibly Joshua was still feeling a guilt of this , that he felt they had not been forgiven yet and I think the answer to those three is the plague part I think they still had venereal disease from the sex worship which , all the way back to the beginning of Joshua , we talked about why God wanted to utterly destroy these people . Well , the venereal disease alone was enough justification . And yet here , before they're even finished , this is when they had the height of the victory they still had . It says we have not yet cleansed ourselves and , as we're going to find , Israel very quickly goes back to worshiping idols . So , but this brings us a question about forgiveness of guilt . When we have guilt and we go to God in forgiveness , is he faithful and just to forgive us of our sins ? Yes , yes .

Speaker 1 7:03

If we truly repent and we go to God , he will always forgive us . He's a loving God . He has promised to forgive us and he will forgive us . However , just because we are forgiven of the guilt of sin and again one of my three options it's possible , at least logically possible , that Israel was still feeling guilty . Well , if that's all it was . If they go to the Lord , god , and truly repent , he will forgive them and they shouldn't have a cloud of guilt hanging over them . However , we can be forgiven of the guilt of sin , but we are not necessarily gotten rid of the consequences of sin . I'm reminded of Samson . Remember the story of Samson ? Samson played the harlot with the pagan peoples and what was the result ? He ultimately lost his strength and lost his eyesight Eyesight , yeah . Well , later he goes and asks forgiveness of God and God can forgive him , but he never got his eyesight back .

Speaker 2 8:07

And he actually ended up dying in that final act of bringing the temple down of where he was .

Speaker 1 8:14

So , forgiveness of the guilt of sin , if we truly come to God , he can forgive us of the guilt , but if we sin , we still may have to live with the consequences of sin . And that's something we should take very seriously , very soberly , that even though God can forgive us of our guilt , we always may have to live with the consequences of our sin .

Speaker 2 8:37

And in both of these examples the first one earlier in the verses before , when the delegation referenced back to Achan that happened at AI where they took secretly part of the contraband that was under the band and they took it and hit it and that was a little bit that affected the whole congregation . Joshua's illustration here of how a subset of the people were affecting the whole congregation .

Speaker 1 9:04

Yes , and that's what Joshua was rightly worried about was he was worried about this subset of the people , causing them trouble .

Speaker 2 9:10

So sometimes your sin doesn't just affect you , or the consequences of your sin aren't always just affecting you . It can also have a greater effect .

Speaker 1 9:21

There is no victimless crime , in the sense there's no victimless sin . Our sin always affects those that are around us . And then in the following verse in Joshua 2219 , joshua is speaking to these two and a half tribes and he says something here very , very interesting . He says if the land of your possession we're talking about the land on the east side of the Jordan right , if it's unclean , then cross into the land of the possession on the west side where the Lord's Tabernacle stands . So it's very interesting . Even at this late date , he's giving them one last chance . He's saying look , you can still come over into God's promise land , into God's best , and there's plenty of land over here , you can still come into the congregation and still be near us and still into God's best , but they don't do it .

Speaker 1 10:17

And , as we've said more than once , what happens when we're separated from the main body of God's people , just like these people here , by the time they get to the New Testament , there were , there were large problems and you get influenced .

Speaker 2 10:29

You get influenced

Building an Altar as a Witness

Speaker 2 10:30

.

Speaker 1 10:30

So the next section is in starting at verse 21 . Let me read Joshua , chapter 22 , and we'll starting at verse 21 . And we'll find out the response from these two and a half tribes . Then the sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the families of Israel . The mighty one God , the Lord , the mighty one , god , the Lord . He knows , and may Israel itself know , if it was in rebellion or if an unfaithful act against the Lord . Do not save us this day , if we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord or if to offer a burnt offering or a grain offering on it , or if other sacrifices of peace offerings on it made the Lord himself require it . But truly , we have done this out of concern , for a reason saying in time to come , your sons may say to our sons what have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel ? For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you , your sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad , you have no portion in the Lord . So your sons may make our sons stop fearing the Lord . Therefore we said let us build an altar not for burnt offering or for sacrifice . Rather , it shall be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us , that we are to perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings , so that your sons will not say to our sons in time to come , you have no portion in the Lord . Therefore we said it shall also come about , that if they say to us or to our generations in time to come , then we shall say see the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made , not for burnt offering or for sacrifice . Rather , it is a witness between us and you . Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from following the Lord this day by building an offer for burnt offering , for grain offering or for sacrifice besides the altar of the Lord , our God , which is before his tabernacle .

Speaker 1 12:38

So when Phineas , the priest and the leaders of the congregation , even the heads of the families of Israel who were with him , heard these words , which the sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke and pleased him , and Phineas , the son of Eleazar , the priest , said to the sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad , to the sons of Manasseh today we know that the Lord is in our midst because you have not committed this unfaithful act against the Lord .

Speaker 1 13:05

Now you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of the Lord . Then Phineas , the son of Eleazar , and the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Rubin and from the sons of Gad , from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan , to the sons of Israel , and brought back word to them . The word pleased the sons of Israel and the sons of Israel blessed God , and they did not speak of going up against them in war to destroy the land . What's ? The sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad were living . The sons of Rubin and the sons of Gad called the altar witness , for they said it is a witness between us that the Lord is God .

The Importance of Passing on Christianity

Speaker 1 13:43

So back at the beginning of that section , did they ask whether God wanted them to build an altar ?

Speaker 2 13:50

No , there's no indication that they did .

Speaker 1 13:53

There's no indication that they went to God and said what should we do to try to make sure that our children stay in fellowship ? So what reason did they give in ?

Speaker 2 14:01

verse 24? . Well , so they said , hey , we're building this so that sometime in the future , because we're over here on the east side of the Jordan , that all of you over on the west side of the Jordan , in the land of Israel proper , might say we don't have anything to do with them , they're over on the other side .

Speaker 1 14:22

So this river was a true separation . It was a physical separation . The answer that people the two and a half tribes on the east side gave was we didn't want over time for your children to say to our children , hey , you don't have anything to do with this . This is ironic because what ultimately happened , who ended up deviating , it was the two and a half tribes on the east side . They were the ones . So their excuse here their reasoning anyways was so that the people in the main body wouldn't exclude them . But what ultimately happened was the two and a half tribes , because of the physical separation , they were the ones that ended up deviating . Their motivation was , I think , a good motivation , which was we want our children to follow the Lord . So how important is it to pass on Christianity to the next ?

Speaker 2 15:15

generation . It's essential to do it because as those go out and they operate in the world , there's gonna be plenty of opportunity for them to be led astray . That separation that once they leave the home whether it be go off to get married , whether it be go off to college , whatever it might be they're entering into an area of the world where they're separate and separated from you on a daily basis . But if you don't pass that down to that next generation , you're essentially just leaving them out there to be influenced by the world without any type of a more or anchor or anything else .

Speaker 1 16:03

What do you say to these people that say you know , I don't wanna force religion on my children . I want them to make their own decisions . What do you say to somebody like that ? I want them to grow up and make their own choice about religion .

Speaker 2 16:14

But why would you wanna do that If Christianity and following Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation ? Why would you wanna even take a chance that they would choose something else ? That doesn't really make sense to me , Nothing else in life ?

Speaker 1 16:30

do we really ? I mean nothing , that's really true . I don't say you know , I want my child to decide whether or not he wants to be successful or a failure . I don't want my child to decide whether he wants to go to prison or not . I want my child to decide whether or not he wants to be addicted to some horrible chemical .

Speaker 1 16:48

Get it that we want the decision to be theirs . But at the same time , the real question is is it true or is it not true ? And I can tell you , if you're not imposing some teaching on your children , you are imposing something on your children . If you're not strongly telling them that what is the right path , you're telling them a path . It's not like you can't impose a viewpoint on them . Any way you go , you are imposing something . The something you impose may be that Christianity is not important . That might be that it's not worth thinking about . That might be the message you're imposing on them . But the real question is what's true and what's false ?

Speaker 2 17:32

Yeah , you're giving them a foundation upon which to stand . They're still gonna make their own choice . But if you haven't given them that foundation , if you haven't given them a reason to follow Christ or to choose Jesus and follow God as their savior , then it just falls flat of saying I want them to make their own choice . They are making their own choice by you telling them and giving them instructions to your point with the other areas .

Speaker 2 18:07

You tell them how bad the drugs are . You tell them how bad and when the things that can happen to them . You tell them in regards to being successful or not . You tell them look , if you don't work hard and things like that , this is where you might end up . They're still making their choices in those things , but you've given them reasons in order to not go the wrong path or the wrong direction . So this idea of I'm just not gonna say anything at all so that they can make up their own choices . They are making up their own choices and you passing it down from your generation doesn't doesn't guarantee that they're going to believe , but for sure , if you don't tell them anything , they're not going to have . They're going to be more prone to accepting other people because you can believe there's other people out there trying to convince them to go their way ?

Speaker 1 18:54

Most definitely , yeah , most definitely . So , moving on verse 25 , these people give an answer for what the Jordan River is between them . Who do they say in verse 25 , put the Jordan River between them . The Lord has made the Jordan abordable . Who actually made the Jordan a separation ? They decided to stay on that side . It was them . Don't don't blame this problem on God . It's not God that made the separation . God wanted them to cross over and be on the other side .

Speaker 1 19:24

They're the ones that made the separation . Then , in the next verse , verse 26 , they say they'll not be making a blood sacrifice on it . This is not for burnt offering or for sacrifice . What's the purpose of a burnt offering or blood sacrifice ? What does the blood do ? What's the purpose of the blood ?

Speaker 2 19:43

Well , ultimately it's for the atonement of sin , that's that sacrifice once a year where you have the high priest that goes in and takes that blood and sprinkles it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant , which we've talked about in other sessions .

Speaker 1 19:59

So the burnt offering was a symbol of Jesus' ultimate true sacrifice . The book of Hebrews , chapter 922 , says without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins . So what happens in our faith , if you get rid of the blood , there's no remission of sins . We're still lost .

Speaker 1 20:17

So here we are , these people on the other side of the Jordan . They settle for less than God's best . They immediately create an altar with no sacrifice . It's just a little deviation . Now we've got an altar , that's another one . That's just a slight deviation . But now we've got a bloodless sacrifice , less altar . What purpose is an altar with no sacrifice ? Well , their excuse was it's a remembrance . But I submit to you once you take away the sacrifice , you've taken away the purpose for the altar , and now all you have is a beautiful stack of wood and stones , and it's now it's a structure that our focus gets on the structure and not the sacrifice , because now there's no sacrifice . So can they really claim that they're still worshiping the true God , or is it really the first step in a long path of deviation away from God ?

Speaker 2 21:21

Yeah , I mean , as we continue to dig into this , and of course we know from what you read that that appeases the nation on the other side , on the west side of the Jordan River , that they're happy and it appeases them that , oh , this was a good intention . But really it kind of hints that the reason they're giving them is one that they kind of thought of on the spur of the moment , because they were caught , you know , and where the reasoning sound good and logical . If you just kind of start putting a little bit more thought into it and again to your point , we can see later on what happens , that whether or not that's actually the valid reason of what they have or whether they're just giving something in order to appease their kinsmen .

Speaker 1 22:08

So they have here . The first step is to build this impressive religious object . That's sacrifice less , and it's the first step . And by the time we get over to the New Testament , now we have them raising pigs . They've got demons around , and when Jesus shows up and cleans everything up in about 10 minutes , what do they do ? They ask Jesus to leave . They'd gotten so far away from God because they were physically separated from the main body of believers . So that's what happens .

Speaker 1 22:41

So a slight deviation in our worship or a teaching can ultimately result in a large problem later . I think that's clear . The difficult part is when do you have the discernment between , okay , we're going to make an issue over the slight deviation ? It's like , okay , joshua could have said no , you've already started deviating from it . I'm going to tear down this altar and we're going to get our swords out and we're going to force you back over on the other side of the Jordan River . But he doesn't do that . It seems to be the Joshua relatively minor thing , and so he's going to let it go for now

Difficult Decisions and Unity in Worship

Speaker 1 23:19

. Difficult decisions sometimes , and I think the real questions should have been in the two and a half tribes . They're the ones that should have realized wait a minute , our brethren are already concerned here that we've started to deviate .

Speaker 2 23:33

Maybe we should reconsider and tear this thing down and go back and fellowship with the rest of the believers again and the argument from the Israel tribes on the west side of the Jordan where they had said come over here and stay with us and don't build an altar that replaces the one that's at the Tabernacle . In other words , they were saying this is the one altar that represents all of us , that represents all of our nation . We shouldn't have two altars . There shouldn't be two areas that we sacrifice and worship God . There's one main area in the Tabernacle , that that's where we have the main sacrifices for God .

Speaker 1 24:20

So that's a good stopping point for today . We'll wrap up there at the end of Joshua , chapter 22 , and we'll get to chapter 23 , next time here on reasoning through the Bible .