Then Joshua addressed the
Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh: Remember the words that Yahweh’s servant
Moses commanded you: ‘Yahweh your God is
giving you this land on the east side of the Jordan as your homeland. Therefore, your wives, your little ones, and
your livestock may remain here, but all your valiant warriors must cross over
with us armed. They will take the lead
and help their brothers until they take possession of the land that Yahweh your
God is giving them as their homeland.” (Joshua 1:12-15a)
Even though they now had
their own land, they were to leave it, putting themselves aside so that they
could help their brothers inherit their land.
They were to put the purposes of God before their own and even their family. They were to grab hold of the overall goal of
establishing the people of God in the land while putting themselves and their personal
and family concerns aside. As Joshua
led the people, there was such unity among them. He was able to admonish them to come
together as one, putting themselves
aside and looking to the greater work that God was doing among them. So how was he able to do this?
Moses had admonished him to
be strong and courageous in stepping forward in their purpose of taking the
land. He was to turn what he knew in his
heart into actions and stay focused on the vision that Moses carried before him
and passed down to him to inherit the promised land. Moses had passed not only the vision to him
but the way to accomplish it.
Joshua was to be faithful to
obey all the teaching and not deviate to the right or left. He was to recite and proclaim (profess out
loud) the scroll of law constantly, contemplating it day and night and being
careful to follow every word it contains.
It was through this, he was told that he would have overwhelming success
and be prosperous. It brings me back to
the white horse that went ahead with the rider wearing a crown in revelation. It is through His Word (reading, proclaiming,
and contemplating) that we become victorious.
As commentary notes, to be
prosperous is to push forward or break out [1]… i.e. he would get the
breakthrough.
Through holding steadfast to
the Words of God, Joshua would stay on track as He knew the will of the Lord
and God’s presence would not only guide them but break out among them in
power. As they went to take the land in
obedience and entering into all God had for them, there was literally an
outpouring of the Spirit among them. We
see miraculous feats at every turn.
It says in Joshua 10:11-14 that
Yahweh rained down hailstones from the sky as He gave the Israelites the
victory over the Amorites. Joshua stood
before the people and prayed: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon! Moon, stay where you are over the valley of
Aijalon!” And it says, “so the sun stood
still in the middle of the sky and was in no hurry to set until day one became
day two. And the moon halted while the
nation triumphed over its enemies—as it is also recorded in the Scroll of the
Upright One.”
Joshua continually exhorted
the tribes to step out in faith, be brave and put God’s purposes first. He tells his officers as he had them stand
on the neck of their enemy in Joshua 10:25,
“Never be afraid of your enemies or let them discourage you. Be strong and filled with courage! Yahweh is going to do to all your enemies
what he’s done to these kings!” Then he
executed the kings and had them hanged on trees until evening.
Over and over, “By the power
of Yahweh,” they captured cities and
conquered enemy forces. Even at a ripe
old age, God was calling him to step up and step forward. Joshua continued to battle, take the land,
and speak words of faith to admonish the tribes to completely conquer the
land. To those who lagged behind he asked,
“How much more time will you waste until you go out and possess the land the
Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has given you?”
At the end of it all, Joshua
sends the three tribes of Reuben, Gad and East Manasseh back to their land.
Before he does, Joshua tells them that they have done well and obeyed in
everything commanded. He went on to
admonish them, “Through it all, you’ve never deserted your fellow Israelites
and were always there to help them.
You’ve completed every task given to you by Yahweh your God.” (Joshua
22:3, TPT)
These tribes were faithful to
serve God by putting themselves aside and helping their brothers get
ahead. Often, we see ministries with an
individual vision to advance their own ministry but a lack of genuine support
of other ministries. This is because
there is a lack of overall shared vision.
To move into the overall
purposes of God, it requires an overall shared vision that brings people
together. Like the battle for the Promised
Land, they have to see it as bigger than what they can accomplish on their own.
The troops need to rally together towards this goal in a unified flow of the
Spirit. And in doing so, each member
contributes to the success of the others that are fighting the battle alongside
them. They all succeed or fail
together.
Yet, when we move into
Judges, we see a different picture. The
people, as they live in the land, were not overflowing with this same energy to
serve the Lord. Rather, the people
continually were getting stuck, divided, distracted and off course until the
Lord raised up judges (revivalists) who would lead the people back to God and
deliver them from the enemies around them through their passionate committed
faith and zealous actions that were counter to the world. This would last as long as the
“champion-deliverer” was with them. Then
they would fall back into living according to the world.
Perhaps the best description
of the people in Judges is, “the people did whatever they wanted to do” (Judges
17:6). They were sucked into the ways
of the world around them. It left them
distracted and distanced from God. Commentary compares it to today and notes,
“today, wrong is celebrated, and that which is right is ridiculed. God’s people were divided and fighting among
themselves; today, divisions are rampant in our culture and in the church. God’s people were conquered by many evil
enemies; today, spiritual strongholds of hatred, sexual confusion, pride, and
prejudice need to be overcome.” [2]
In the story in Judges with
Deborah, the revivalist, as she sought the Lord, she prophetically called forth
Barak, a lead commander experienced in battle, to go into battle and take the
land of Sisera. Barak agreed as long as
Deborah accompanied him into battle. They
rallied the troops and were successful by God’s power in taking this land. We see a miraculous move as “Even the stars
in the sky joined in the fight, moving across the sky, shining as they fought
against Sisera” and “The flooding Kishon swept them away” (Judges
5:20-21).
Where they lacked was in full
unity. In their victory song, they sing
that the men of Ephraim and Benjamin came out.
Also, Manasseh, Naphtali and Zebulun came out. It
says that also Issachar, knowing the times and the seasons, stood fast
alongside them. Yet, this is only six of
the twelve tribes. This is not in any
way the full unified Israelite body.
Many of them stood back, hesitated and decided to play it safe rather
than join their brothers.
Rather than coming together
to fight for their brothers and serve the cause of Yahweh, half of the tribes
held back because they did not long for the same peace as their brothers. They were satisfied with living half in the world
and being safe. They decided to play it
safe rather than sacrifice themselves for their brothers or the overall purpose
of having peace in the land.
While there were those who “risked
it all on the heights of the battlefield” (Judges 5:18), there were also those
who “played it safe and stayed” behind where they felt “safe and secure”
(Judges 5:17). They missed their
moment! Commentary notes that the “men
of Reuben loved their flocks (possessions) more than fighting for their
brothers” and that “Zebulun and Naphtali ‘triumphed because they did not love and
cling to their own lives, even when faced with death’ (Rev 12.11). [3]
Half of the tribes united in
heart, seeing the vision and pulling down all that God had for them. As a result, they experienced great rewards
of God’s pleasure and provision. By
stepping out of the boat, they stepped into making history and saw God so close
that He was face to face fighting with them as they battled. They were right in the midst of the
outpouring of God.
And the other half of the
tribes, let their hearts be dulled and played it safe. They closed their eyes to the purposes of
the Lord and held tight to the world, clinging to their lives rather than God. They also put looking out for themselves as
a higher priority than looking out for others even though they knew it was
right (to disregard themselves and step up to care for others). Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 10:24, “No one should seek their own good, but the good
of others.”
Their brothers, rather than
fighting with them about it, just went out without them. They left these tribes behind. As some tribes stood back in safety, they saw
their brothers reaping from entering into battle and pulling down the promises
of God. The prophetic song ends in
Judges 5:31 ends with, “But may those who love you shine like the sun, bright
in its strength as it crosses the sky!”
Daniel 12:3 says something similar, “ Those who are wise will shine like
the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like
the stars for ever and ever.”
The result of those who were
willing to do battle, was that the whole land had peace for forty years. All of the tribes benefited. They experienced the peace and genuine prosperity
of God in their lives and the lives of their children. They had fought for themselves and their brothers
and reaped abundantly as a result from pulling down the promises of God for the
season.
Imagine if they closed their
eyes and had played it safe too. There
would have been no peace or outpouring. Rather than turning to God, they would have
turned to the gods of the world around them instead. Later, in Judges 6, it says that all the Israelites did evil in Yahweh’s sight and were
overwhelmed by the crushing power of the Midianites. It was a power stronger than before that led
to their destitution. Judges 6:6 says, “Israel
was impoverished and helpless against them.
Then the Israelites, with shattered hearts, cried out to Yahweh for
mercy.”
We are not meant to fight the
battles alone. Just as the Israelites
longed for their brothers to come along side them and fight with them for the
victory, there is a power and encouragement with having our brothers and
sisters by our side. It is not always that
God will not give us the victory without them, but with them it could be so
much better. When we become discouraged,
it is the one who is alongside us the helps us to get back up.
Family is small picture of what
God has for the greater body of Christ.
We are knit together as family through Christ who adopted us—making us
brothers and sisters. In the way that we
put family first, above our other priorities and support each other, we are to
support others in the body of Christ. We
come into alignment through Christ. And
through Him, God gives us an overall vision that we press forward to accomplish
together. We fight side by side as one
to take the ground, not only for ourselves but for them.
In Psalm 116 the psalmist cries out to the Lord as their life is in the balance and only God can deliver them. The rejoiced because God met them and delivered their soul from death and their feet from falling. Then later it goes on to say, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones." Interesting that they use two different words for death. In the first "death," their life is spared from falling into ruin and in the second part, they are cared for as they leave the world. The Lord watches over every aspect of our lives and helps us in both life and death. Nothing is out of His sight or great care.
Commentary notes, "Their death, which is great value to him, is the occasion when they ae set free from all evil, taken from this life in victory and brought into heaven to see Jesus face to face." [4]
The Psalmist then identifies in verse 11 some of what got them into trouble in the first place, "I said in my haste, "All men are liars." We were never meant to walk alone and just look out for only ourselves and our own gain. Like Haman in the Book of Esther, it will eventually lead to our ruin. Through the Holy Spirit, we are one. This is so important that Paul spends much of Romans 14 talking about care for ones brother, not judging, and pursuing those things that build up others for their good and edification.
Paul starts by noting that we do not live for ourselves but for the Lord. Whether we live or die, it is for the Lord (Romans 14:8). Since we all give an account for our lives, we are not to judge our brother (Romans 14:9). But rather, "pursue the things which produce peace and the things that build up one another" (Romans 14:19). He goes on to say, "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification" (Romans 15:2).
We need each other to be encouraged. Some months ago, I was staying shut up in my home for a period of time even though I heard the Lord speak to step up and step forward, not failing to meet together. Even though God
had spoken to me to step up and step forward, it took a friend inviting me out
into the battle of the day that gave me the courage to move more into what I felt
God was speaking. It was a pivotal point of change for me. Like Barak who
refused to go into battle without Deborah at his side even though he could have
taken the victory alone, those God places in our lives matter and encourage us.
"Now may the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5)
Lord, when difficulty,
division and oppression grow, we are reminded that You are the source of peace.
As we enter the battle of the day to
push back the darkness, an outpouring of Your Spirit can bring peace to our
entire land. Thank You for those You have placed in our
lives to encourage us and invite us into more.
Help us to listen, hear Your words to us for this hour and step into
them courageously – together. And where
our brothers or sisters are missing, let our hearts long for them to join us
and come along side us for the powerful Kingdom work that You are doing in this
season.
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