Sometimes it is important for people of different regions to share “a witness between us.”
A witness is something or someone who states the truth. They are able to state the truth because they KNOW the truth. This “witness” would be someone who has witnessed the truth with their own eyes. The witness would have experienced the whole of the truth, when others were only receiving portions of it. Those other than the witness are only experiencing what happened on a second-hand basis.
This often happens through generations of time.
The witness begins when someone, or some group of people, who have been through an experience decide to put up a monument, or write a story, or compose a song about what they experienced first-hand. Their hope is that those who come after them will witness their truth.
Witnesses are very important.
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
God has promised in the last days that He will send two witnesses. They will stand publicly and give prophecy to His people. What they have to say to the world will reveal important truths. The truth will always change the actions and re-actions of the people who hear it.
In John; Chapter 8, verses 31- 32, Jesus once told us that “the truth will set you free.” His exact words are here:
(John 8:31-32) So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
If we receive anything relevant from this story today; it is that we must always be sure of the truth. We must use truth in any given situation where we decide to act upon the word of someone else.
It is the pure truth of a matter that will always give us true freedom from solid answers.
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A DECEPTION IN THE LAND
Now the divisions of the lands in Israel had been settled.
A new peace swept across the land.
Peace always seems short though, in a world where Satan is allowed to prowl around. Suddenly we hear of a great disturbance in Israel.
It all started with a false witness.
Every generation should be aware and watching for false witnesses. They always bring chaos. False witnesses disturb the rest of God’s people.
There came a time after the settlement of the land of Israel that true witnesses were needed in order to scope out the real truth of a terribly deceptive situation. The deception was so great that Israel, if not for Joshua’s wisdom for seeking the truth, could have destroyed many of their own people.
THOSE PEOPLE EAST OF THE JORDAN
Remember the two and one-half tribes who stayed on the other side of the Jordan? They asked Moses for this land to be their inheritance and Moses agreed. The way he agreed was to insist that these two and one-half tribes of mighty warriors would go to fight the Canaanites with the other tribes. This had to happen before they were able to stake a permanent claim on their lands.
For seven years these brave men had been in battle for the nation of Israel.
The land could not have been conquered without their help.
Now, after the other tribes were beginning to settle into their lands; the tribes of Reuben, Gad and one-half of Mannasseh were returning home to their inheritance east of the Jordan. In the 22nd Chapter of Joshua we hear of Joshua’s warning to these men:
(Joshua 22:5) But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
All of these men agreed with Joshua. Now that all land divisions were made, they were headed home with all the plunder from the wars they had fought. The tribes had become very wealthy in war. They had gold and silver, cattle and sheep. Collectively they had gained many treasures from plunder in battles. Coming home was all about sharing their joy and riches with their families and communities.
HALF-TRUTHS
How strange it must have seemed to hear that someone had spotted these same devoted men camping near the Jordan where they had erected a great altar!
Of course, the first thing the person who saw them thought was that they had turned from God’s ways. They saw a type of worship going on in a land away from the tabernacle at Shiloh. The very next thought was that they were worshipping a false god or idol at a false altar they had constructed.
Quickly this unnamed person carried the news back to the land of Israel and reported it to the people.
This is how chaos begins.
Wars have been started with such rumors.
OVERREACTIONS FROM FALSE WITNESSES
So much harm can come from someone telling “a little” of the whole truth.
Emotions are provoked from such tales; and people begin to overreact.
Just take a look around any American city today and you will be able to witness the very same thing. Some of today’s news is even deliberately planted among the society strictly for political reasons. That wasn’t the case here though; the person who saw something; simply did not find out the whole truth of the matter before reporting it.
The whole nation of Israel was insulted by what they thought was a tyrannical situation.
They assumed that the two and one-half tribes had forgotten who they were and had sinned greatly.
Many of Israel’s oldest remembered the days of another time when this had happened. That time had brought them very bad results. The nation had vowed before God to never let such a thing happen among them again.
Now they thought a part of them had turned away from this promise.
TRUE LEADERS SEEK TRUTH
Eleazer the Priest had a son named Phinehas. As the whole nation gathered for war against these two and one-half tribes of their own people; they decided to send Phinehas to find out the whole story. He was asked to gather information and report back to them. Ten of Israel’s top officials went along with Phinehas.
When they approached the place near the Jordan River Phinehas addressed the leaders of the other tribes. Here are his words:
(Joshua 22:16-20) The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to the very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! And are you now turning away from the Lord?
“If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’“
These ten tribes of Israel were concerned that the whole nation would be judged for the sins of these other tribes.
FALSE ACCUSATIONS
How surprised the warriors of Gad and Reuben and one-half of Manasseh must have been to be accused in such a way!
They had NOT been up to evil.
No false gods or idols were being offered as sacrifices at this altar.
It had been erected for a totally different reason!
IT IS TO BE A WITNESS BETWEEN US
These words were the answer back to Phinehas and the leaders of Israel:
(Joshua 22:22-29) The Mighty One, God, The Lord! The Mighty One, God, The Lord! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.
“No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you-you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord.
“That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar–but not for burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’
“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’
“Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle.”
A REMINDER FOR ALL GENERATIONS
When Phinehas and the leaders of Israel heard this; they were satisfied that the other tribes were not doing a pagan ritual; but they were promising to always remain true to The One True God of Israel forever.
This altar was to be a reminder for the generations to come of their promise to do so.
Satisfied that all was well, these men returned to Israel with a good report.
The people were relieved.
They ceased to speak of the accusations they spoke of before. Now everyone knew that the altar was only erected as a promise to always obey The One True God throughout the generations to come.
Those living east of the Jordan gave the altar a name.
They called it “A Witness Between Us – That The Lord is God.”
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