7.8.26 – Unity, Not Conformity

When the Israelites were preparing for entry into the Promised Land, the tribes (matot) of Reuben and Gad made their request to Moses to stay on the east side of the Jordan River for the sake of their businesses. Moses' immediate response, which caused him to relive the painful reality of the spies' debacle (Num. 13), at first blush, said NO! Like a father or husband who overrides a poorly thought-out vow or oath (Num. 30:3–8), Moses did not want His child (Israel) and God's wife, for whom he spoke, to suffer unnecessarily.

Unity, not conformity, was Moses' high priority. He knew that a separation of the tribes would have a devastating effect on the nation as a whole. This was a reality that he was not willing to experience... again.

When there is division—not diversity—within the body, it affects the whole body. Our connection to one another is vital! And that connection can only be growing and producing fruit to the proportion that we are abiding in the vine (John 15:1–7).

Jealousy, envy, bitterness, misunderstanding, and poorly placed judgments can create the split within the family and the vineyard.

I am fairly certain Moses' mind was recollecting more than a previous event that took place thirty-eight years earlier. Based on the patterns of the story, he did not want to relive Joseph and his brothers' story (Gen. 37).

Do you remember the story? One day, Joseph's brothers were out taking care of their sheep, and when they saw Joseph approaching, they plotted against him. But instead of murdering him, they decided to throw him in a pit and let him die slowly. Twenty years later, the brothers were forced to come down to Egypt because of a famine. By this time, Joseph was in a position of power and was threatening to take Benjamin captive. Judah came close to Joseph and said, "I will take full responsibility for Benjamin." That was the moment when healing between brothers took place.

Like Joseph's brothers, the tribes of Reuben and Gad were occupied with their sheep. Moses abruptly says, "Do not betray your brothers. If you do that, God will allow the people to die in the wilderness"—not murder, just abandonment.

Just like Judah did all those years ago in Egypt, these two tribes come close to Moses and proclaim their loyalty to their brothers: "We will take full responsibility for them."

This is not a story about forty years in the wilderness. It is a story about Israel's enslavement for over two hundred years. When did the Israelites start to live as a landless people? It began with the sale of Joseph, the first Israelite slave in Egypt.

You see, before the brothers conspired against Joseph, there was a brief moment when the children of Jacob were all living together in their ancestral homeland of Canaan. But the sale of Joseph hurled them into an extended period of landless wandering. And now, finally, they are about to put an end to that ugly chapter.

The entire nation—all twelve tribes—are about to return to their homeland. It is the moment they have been waiting for all these years. And Reuben and Gad are threatening to ruin it all. They are going to set the clock all the way back to the very first time that brothers betrayed their brother.

Every decision we make is based on our past. Most everyone, except for a few, is fearful of repeating the same mistakes. I know I am!

With Shabbat approaching and the day of entering into the Land of our Inheritance drawing closer by the day, my prayer for each of us is that we will celebrate diversity, move forward as a body, and most of all, take care of our own personal relationship of abiding in the vine. There is a Land to take and a family to enjoy it with. Abide.

Shalom,
Alan