Day 11 One-Year KJV Bible Reading – Joshua 22:21–23:16; Luke 20:27-47; Psalm 89:14-37; Proverbs 13:17-19
The Blessings of the People that Know the Joyful Sound
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king. – Psalm 89:15-18
The Risk of Making Assumptions
Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: but that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD. Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you. God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle. – Joshua 22:26-29
And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the LORD is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the LORD: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD. – Joshua 22:31
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God. – Joshua 22:34
In March, we read in Numbers 32 that the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh asked Moses for the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River. That piece of land was not the Promised Land but the land right before the Promised Land. They saw that it suited their lifestyle, and Moses allowed them to have it, but with the condition that they go with the other tribes and fight alongside the other tribes, they also might have their land. The Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh agreed.
In our reading in Joshua today, the men of these 2 ½ tribes had fulfilled the obligations as Moses commanded and went back across the Jordan to establish their own homes. The leaders of Israel heard that those tribes had built an altar on the Eastern side of the Jordan River. Only one altar was to be made by the Children of Israel to worship God. So that reporting assumed the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were breaking their covenant with God and with them, and assuming this breach, they gathered to destroy them for it. But before battle, they sent envoys to verify the reports. They found that the truth was those tribes hadn’t built an altar to God but had built an altar that future generations from both sides of the Jordan would remember that though they settled east of the Jordan, they were entitled to worship the same LORD as their brothers and sisters on the western side. So rather than an altar of worship built with a rebellious spirit, it was a memorial and reminder that both sides would never forget that the Jordan River was not a barrier between the Children of Israel but that they were all still one family.
Wouldn’t it have been sad if the Western tribes had not verified what was going on before they went into battle? How often do we jump to conclusions and assign motives? Assumptions and the rumors we spread when making them are dangerous and can destroy relationships. Had the Western tribes jumped into battle based on assumptions, it would have resulted in a civil war for no reason. When we act on rumors, the same things happen, whereas when we stop for a minute to find out the truth, we often find we have created an issue in our minds that wasn’t reality.
What a lesson for today!!! Seek the truth. Reject assumptions. Hear the joyful sound.
A Little Glimpse of Heaven
Then came to him [Jesus] certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. – Luke 20:27-28
The Costs of Refusing Instruction
Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured. – Proverbs 13:18
