Joshua 22:21-34.  Today’s reading finishes the story of the altar that the 2 ½ tribes built on their side of the Jordan River.  It was a copy of the altar used at the Tabernacle to make sacrifices to God on.  In today’s reading they explained that their altar was never intended to be used for sacrifices.  It was a symbol of unity between the tribes on opposite sides of the river.  In verses 22-23 they actually invoke a curse upon them selves.  If they were guilty of rebellion or unfaithfulness, the very things the rest of the Israelites were worried about (see vv. 17, 20), then they wanted to be killed immediately.  They even asked that God do it personally.

When the other Israelites saw that they were serious about honoring God only at the Tabernacle and that they wanted this altar to just be a reminder to everyone for all generations of the unity of the Israelite people, they were pleased and approved of the situation.  The eastern tribes called the altar, Witness, since it was a witness of the unity of the twelve tribes.  Notice too in the response by the leaders of the ten tribes (v. 13) that they said that the 2 ½ tribes had actually saved them from “the hand of the LORD”.  They could have meant that because the 2 ½ tribes were faithful and not unfaithful (like the Peor or Achan incidents) that a plague or other judgment did not come.  I think there is more, though, I think they recognized that a memorial to the unity of the tribes would help them stay together as a nation.  Remember too that this memorial was to remind all the tribes to only worship at the Tabernacle (v. 29).  Ultimately what made the Israelites different from other people groups was their faithfulness to God and His faithfulness to them.

In Deuteronomy 4:16-18 the Israelites are warned not to make carved images of various creatures.  In Exodus 20:4 they are also warned not to make idols or carved images.  But in both cases the warning also includes warnings about worshipping these images and the things that they represent.  Later in Israel’s history many many altars were constructed and condemned because they were used to worship false gods or sometimes they were even used to worship Yahweh, but not when, where and how God had commanded.

Through out church history there have been many images made to represent things in the Bible, from crosses, to crucifixes, to little plastic Jesus’ to put on your dashboard.  There have also been a lot of images of the apostles and Mary as well as other famous Christians.  There have also been Christians in church history that made a point of entering churches and destroying all of these images.  The thing I think we can learn from this story is that it’s not the image but what you do with it that counts.  In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Solomon describes all sorts of human activities.  He says that they all have a right place and time.  He even says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that they are all appropriate or beautiful in their time.  This comes after 2 chapters of telling us how worthless life is.  The key is in how he puts it though, it’s worthless “under the sun”.  In verse 11 he says that not only has God made the activities of life appropriate but he has “put eternity in the hearts of men”.  These two things “beauty of life” and “sense of eternity” are gifts from God (Ecclesiastes 3:13) and the gifts have a purpose, so we will respect God, honor Him appropriately (Ecclesiastes 3:14).  Even in the original worship of God there were carved images of angles on the top of the Ark of Promise.  The point is worship God, his way, in his place.  According to 1 Corinthians 3:16 tells us that we are the temple of God.  Our lives are where God is to be honored.  Romans 12:1 tells us that we are to give our lives to God as a living sacrifice, that is our reasonable spiritual service to God.  So there is God’s place and God’s way.  Reminders are good we just have to be careful not to make them god in our lives.  We need to be careful not to run around trying to tear down other people’s reminders too.  Maybe they are just trying to remember, if not we need to encourage them to worship the Creator not the creation.  God thank you for allowing us to have reminders in our life.  Thank you for life, which is a reminder in and of it’s self (John 1:4).  Thank you for beauty which speaks of You and those little voices inside of us that make us look for eternity.  Help me look and listen.  Help me see and hear and do.  But most of all thank you for allowing us to know your presence and for allowing us to honor you.