Paved with Good Intentions
Sometimes we have the best intentions and end up with terrible results. That is the lesson I find in Joshua 22. The three Transjordan tribes (Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh) are sent home to their families after the wars having followed through to fight with Israel for the land on the Western side of the Jordan. This is what happens next: Joshua 22:10–11 (ESV) And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, 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. 11 And the people of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh 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.” The built an enormous altar! This action was forbidden repeatedly by God. Thre was to be one altar, one temple, one place for God...