Look Before You Leap
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Joshua 22:10-20. Let’s go!
Joshua 22:10-20 (NIV)
10 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.
11 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,
12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.
13 So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead–to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one for each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans. ……
On verses 10-20: The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh (whom I’ll call collectively, “Team RGM”) are traveling on their way back to Gilead, their lands located east of the Jordan River. On their way to Gilead they stop and build a huge altar on the western or “Israelite” side of the Jordan River (v10). When the rest of the tribes see the huge altar that Team RGM have built, they immediately assume that Team RGM were worshiping another god.