Reuben and Gad were ready to settle. They saw the land on the east side of the Jordan, observed that it fit their needs very well, and were ready to stake a claim. Moses sees it as an act of rebellion: it’s just this refusal to fight that caused the 40 years in the wilderness! A compromise is struck, and the fighting men of Gad and Reuben will fight alongside their brothers, but they will take as their inheritance the land across the Jordan.
Seems to me that there’s a bit of connection to Christians and the Church. Too often, we have a hard time thinking past our own interests. You see it in discussions over worship: I like this style, I like that style, I’ll stake my claim here, and you all do what you want. You see it in a sort of Sunday only attachment: “As long as my spiritual needs are met, I guess I don’t have any responsibilities to the Body beyond that.” You can probably come up with other examples.
Of course, thinking only of one’s own needs undermines the unity with which the Lord has knit us together in the Body of Christ. It’s the kind of misalignment that can really damage what the Lord has in mind for His people. The letter to the Ephesians is a sort of manifesto on Christian unity and in it we are brought to together and called to build each other up in word and deed. Can’t hardly do that if you’re content to have your own needs served!
Israel was called to be a people who all together showed forth the power of the Lord and who all together demonstrated a national life that testified of their oneness in Him. The Church bears a similar call. True, we’re stripped of the national aspects, so we don’t have to conquer lands militarily. Nor are we bound by the Mosaic laws. But we are called to be a people who through our love and our oneness demonstrate what it means to be made in the image of a loving, forgiving God.
Do take note of the fact that Moses let Reuben and Gad settle in the Trans-Jordan. The Lord is sensitive to our needs. But it would be wrong to be so content that our needs are met that we forgot to take into account the needs of others.
--revised from February, 2011
--revised from February, 2011
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