Swords to Plowshares—and Visa Versa
Joshua 22:10b-12
… the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. And the people of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the people … have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” And … the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.
Someone once quipped that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the same can be said of the road to civil war among the body of believers.
Marvel at this scene, friend. Learn from it. The tribes of Reuben and Gad have just arrived back to their pasturelands on the other side of the Jordan, draped in the manifold riches earned by their travail. No doubt they were showered with bearhugs from their comrades, and tears of joy from grateful women and children, and the sound of their names being sung and lauded as they caravanned back across the horizon. What river can divide the twelve tribes now? They’ve fought in the trenches and on the hillsides, in the ridges and in the valleys together, as one body, as equal partakers of the Promised Land. No more could this commonwealth ever again be spoiled by the sounds of galloping cavalries and crumbling fortresses and wailing women and clashing steel—could it?
Oh, but listen closely. Past the comforting brays of cattle grazing in the valleys, past the choir of afternoon songbirds, past the sounds of children running and playing, past the sounds of men building new homes, there’s the clamor of an altar being raised in the distance, followed by a rumor that spreads like wildfire, and the clamor of swords that had just been turned into plowshares being forged into swords once again! Why? Because two and a half godly tribes decided to build a memorial to Heaven without notifying their brothers first. And because the remaining nine and a half godly tribes immediately assumed the worst.
Friend, if you’re engaged in something ministerial today that could be perceived as controversial, give clarification up front. And likewise, if you catch wind of a brother’s controversial action, pick up a phone and ask him before picking up a sword.