When we come to Joshua 22, the conquest of the Promise Land
by the twelve tribes of Israel is complete. The battles have been fought and won.
The inheritance of the land has been successfully distributed to all the tribes.
It is at this point, after seven years of battles, in Joshua 22:1-4, that Joshua
gives a honorable discharge to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half
tribe of Manasseh and the first thing he did was to commend them (Josh.
22:1-3). Then in Joshua 22:4, Joshua released them from the army. Having
fulfilled their mission and kept their promise, the tribes were now free to go
home; for God had given His people rest.
Now in verse 5, Joshua admonished them (Josh. 22:5). Like
any good leader, Joshua was more concerned about the spiritual walk of his
people than anything else. The army had experienced victory in Canaan because
Joshua loved the Lord and obeyed His Word (1:7-8), and that would be the
"open secret" of Israel's continued peace and prosperity. Just as
they had been diligent in battle, obeying. their commander, so they must be
diligent in worship, obeying the Lord their God. This was the promise each of
the tribes made to the Lord at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal.
The motive for their obedience had to be love for the Lord
their God. If they loved Him, then they would delight in walking in all His
ways and obeying all His commandments. Instead of trying to serve two masters,
they would cling to the Lord and serve Him alone, with all their heart and
soul. Jesus in His first recorded message in Matthew 6:24 reminds us that, "No
one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and mammon.”
In Matthew 22:36-38, Jesus said that to love the Lord and
keep His commandments was the first and greatest commandment; therefore, to
disobey it would mean to commit the greatest sin. Jesus told His disciples in
John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments". You might
remember in John 21, after His resurrection Jesus was with His disciples at the
Sea of Galilee. When He was restoring Peter to fellowship because of his
miserable failure in the garden where he denied his Lord, Jesus asked Peter
three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). All of our failures in
obeying the Lord are “love failures”.
With each answer that Peter gave affirming his love, Jesus responded
by telling Peter to feed and care for His lambs and sheep. In other words, we
give proof of our love to the Lord by loving and caring for others. Remember
the second part of the great commandment is to “love your neighbor as
yourself” (Matthew 22:38-39).
Paul makes this very clear in Romans 13:8-10; “Owe no
one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled
the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery,"
"You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You
shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if
there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a
neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Since the two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe
of Manasseh were on the border of Israel, they were the very first people of
God that the visitors to Israel would encounter. For them to be the testimony
and witness that God intended them to be it was very important that they were
loving one another. The same is true of us today!
God bless!
