The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan

 Joshua 22:1-20

Now that the Lord your God has given them rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”

When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

“The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! And are you now turning away from the Lord?

If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God.

Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh have fulfilled their obligations to help in the conquest. Now they return home, with Joshua's blessing and a share of the spoil.

Why?

At this moment Israelites were faithful to the Lord, and fully obey the word of the Lord, do not allow anyone of Israelite to break faith with the God of Isreal. So when they heard The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar by the Jordan. They were angry and assembled an army to fight their brothers.

Joshua blessed them to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. To love the Lord have to with all my heart and with all my soul and all my mind to against the world.

These two and a half tribes obey the obligation to conquer with other tribes, they have done their job and they brought a lot of plunder to go back to their land in the east of Jordan.

Even the Israelites could share their land with them if their land is defiled. It shows the loving heart in Israelite and obeys the word of the Lord.

How?

----------------

約書亞稱讚他們。

所有的行動都是因為愛主，不是求利益。依靠耶和華，不是倚靠自己。

事奉就是要付出、擺上。

沒有打招呼，沒有事先溝通協調，不可冒然行事，讓人了解我們的動機，以免引起內戰，紛爭。

才不過幾天，以色列人和河東的兩個半支派，已經開始有不同的看法。因此要有客觀的信仰。以我們現在來說，就是以聖經為規範。各人不要單顧自己的事，也要關心別人，彼此相通。

以為自己是對的，因此沒有溝通就去做了，只是錯在沒有事先溝通。

---------------

True love and real Christian is showing the love among the people and all his behavior.