Calling in a Promise

Joshua 1:10-15

¹⁰And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, ¹¹“Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’” ¹²And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, ¹³“Remember the word that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, ¹⁵until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

As we think about the nation of Israel standing on the banks of the Jordan, I think we may hold in our minds a picture of a large group of people who are in no way prepared for the battles that await them. In my mind they are a rag-tag bunch of disorganized people who are unprepared for what await. That really isn’t an accurate picture of who they are. As Joshua prepares the people for the next step in claiming their inheritance, there are some details to cover.

First, he sets the stage for the people. The time has arrived. “… for within three days” is most likely not a literal three days. This was a Semitic idiom that was a nonliteral expression that means “in the near future.” The time was upon them. The wandering was over. As the story unfolds we are reminded that two and a half tribes, however, are already settled east of the river, where the nation is encamped. Joshua now addresses those tribes concerning Moses’ command and their promise about helping their brothers conquer the territory west of the Jordan. We find the story of the settling of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan in Numbers 32 and Deuteronomy 3:12-20.

[The Reubenites, Gadites] together with the whole tribe of Manasseh, according to the census of Numbers 26, these three tribes had a combined army of 136,930 men. We are told in Joshua 4:13 that only about 40,000 warriors from these two and a half tribes crossed the Jordan. The rest, apparently by agreement with the other tribes, must have stayed with their families to guard their homeland in Transjordan. Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh were the first tribes to possess their land. After Israel rebelled at the report of the spies sent into the land from the south (Numbers 14), and after thirty-eight subsequent years of wandering, the nation approached Canaan from the east. While en route to this eastern port of entry into Canaan, Israel conquered a large part of Transjordan—the land east of the river. Transjordan was cattle country with abundant grazing land. Since Reuben and Gad were tribes with large herds and flocks, the ranges of the Transjordan were appealing. So they requested of Moses, “If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not cause us to cross the Jordan” (Numbers 32:5).

Harstad, A. L. (2004). Joshua (p. 95). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

Transjordan (the area east of the Jordan) was not originally considered part of the land of promise proper. This partially explains why Moses was at first incensed at the request. He responded, “Shall your brothers go to war while you stay here? Why do you hinder the heart of the sons of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? … And behold you have arisen in the place of your fathers as a brood of sinful men to stir up yet again the burning anger of the Lord against Israel” (Numbers 32:6, 7, 14). Those sharp words seem to reflect that the tribes did not originally plan to help their brothers conquer Canaan proper, the territory west of the Jordan. Joshua now sets that straight and demands that they keep their promise to help their countrymen claim what God is giving them. They have achieved “the rest” and now it’s time for the other tribes to gain their land as well.

“Rest” is a major theme of our faith. Since The Fall of Adam and Eve into sin, we have been seeking to regain that sense of “rest”; that place of perfect peace and security. The “rest” these 2½ Tribes have already gained is a precursor to the “rest” found in the salvation work of Jesus Christ. This rest in Christ is far greater than Joshua and the land of Canaan could give. Like the OT rest, it is both physical and spiritual, but it is also heavenly and eternal.