War, No More
Joshua 22:32-33
Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel. … And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled.
Before we move on from the controversial events of Joshua 22, we need to make a special mention of Phinehas’ mediatorial role during the exchange.
First, go back in your mind to that gruesome sequence of events recorded in Numbers 25, beginning in verses 1-5, for a refresher on who Phinehas is: “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. … And Moses said to the judges of Israel, ‘Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.’” What unfolds next is even more grueling: “And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them. … Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped” (vs 6-8).
Phinehas has been an uncompromising priest for a generation, zealous for the holiness of the God he serves from day to day, and unwilling to let a little idolatry poison the spiritual well. And although more than forty years have passed since that calamity of Numbers 25, he isn’t sitting idly by as word of new idolatry reaches his ear. Oh no—he leads the charge ahead of these ten tribes and I guarantee he’s got that flashing spear with him.
Ah, but praise the LORD! There’s no blood on it this time when he comes back home.