Joshua 22:11 says, And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel. The rest of the people of Israel noticed that the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh had built an altar on the other side of the Jordan. When we do something to worship God, other people should notice, especially other Christians. Verse twelve states, And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. The rest of the nation of Israel were ready to go to war against these two and a half tribes. It might have been that they felt that God could only be worshipped and sacrificed to on their side of the Jordan and at a particular place. We can never feel that the worship of God is limited physically to a particular group of people and a particular place. Of course, in order to worship God, we must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, but when we do, we are simply a part of the family of God throughout the world and are no better or worse than any believer anywhere else. Verse thirteen says, And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, At least they sent someone, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to get the facts about what was going on. Before we go to war with other Christians about worship practices, we need to first seek God's guidance and then go to those that we may think there is a problem with and discuss it with them under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I don't believe that we should ever just condemn their worship practices simply because they don't agree with ours. Verse fourteen adds, And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. Phinehas took with him the heads of the nine and a half tribes of Israel. This represented everyone on this side of the Jordan. They were united in their stand against the other two and a half tribes. Verse fifteen says, And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, Then verse sixteen adds, Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD? Phinehas and those with him represented themselves as the spokesmen for the LORD and asked why the people of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had turned away from following the LORD and built their own altar. We cannot assume that we are the only ones who are worshipping God in the right place or in the right way. There might be a need to question others if they are doing things in the name of worshipping God that are contrary to the word of God, but that was not the case at this time. They had simply built an altar at which they were worshipping God. Verse seventeen continues, Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD, Phinehas and his group referred to a past sin of one of the people of God that they still had not been cleansed from. We cannot allow what someone else did in the past to influence how we view those worshipping God today, but we should be certain that we nor they are allowing things to go on in the name of worshipping God that are not in agreement with God's word. Verse eighteen declares, But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Phinehas and those with him were worried that God would punish them because of this altar built on the other side of the Jordan. We are not told that they consulted God about their actions, but they seem to have simply acted because of what they feared that He would do. If we have doubts about the worship practices of others, we should first pray about it and ask God what we should do. Gathering facts and making accusations is never enough without seeking God's guidance first. Verse nineteen says, Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over onto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD'S tabernacle leith, and take possession among us, but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God. Phinehas and those with him told the two and a half tribes that if the land they had claimed was unclean, then come back over the Jordan with them to where the tabernacle was. We need to remember that this land was given to them by Moses under the leadership of God, so it could not be unclean land anymore than the land on the other side if the Jordan was. Phinehas was attempting to limit the worship of God to a particular place, and we can never afford to do that. Verse twenty concludes, Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity. They were still basing their concerns not on what was happening now, but on what had happened in the past. We cannot afford to judge people today based on what someone else did in the past, but must judge the acts of others based on God's word. Even then, if we are to judge at all, it must be because what is being done brings dishonor to God and not simply because it does not agree with how we worship God.
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