Misreading Motives

Joshua 22:11-12 (ESV) – The people of Israel 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.” And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

Someone has wronged you. Someone has hurt you. What did you think when that happened? Most of us immediately assume that other person intended to cause us to suffer. While that may be the case sometimes, more often than not we misinterpret why others have done what they have.

As Israel made its way from slavery in Egypt to occupying the Promised Land that is the Nation of Israel today, they first came to the other side of the Jordan River, to what is now the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Israelites subdued those empires and claimed that land as part of their future territory. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh asked Moses if this could be their land. (See Numbers 32.) Moses agreed if their men would fight to conquer the rest of the Promised Land before they settled there. The two-and-a-half tribes agreed. Many years later in Joshua 22, the Promised Land was conquered, the two-and-a-half tribes returned home across the Jordan River, settled in their homes, started farming their land, and built a large altar right by the river that the Israelites west of the Jordan could see.

Those tribes immediately assumed that the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan had built the altar as a place of worship in direct violation of God’s established law only to worship at the one place God approved (Deuteronomy 12). They were convinced the two-and-a-half tribes wanted to form their own nation with their own system of worship, and they were not about to allow that to happen. They got ready to go to war to make things right.

The problem was their assumptions of the Eastern Tribes’ motives were mistaken. They explained in Joshua 22:22-29 that they did not build the altar to be a place of worship or a symbol of division between the two parts of the Nation of Israel. Instead, their motive was the exact opposite. The altar was to be a witness – a reminder – that they were one nation and that worship was to happen at one place.

Had the two sides not taken time to determine the real motive behind the action, war would have followed with many unnecessary deaths. That probably would have led to the permanent division neither side wanted.

We each will have situations that will lead us to make assumptions about others’ motives. We may be tempted to assume the worst. That can lead to relational destruction and bitterness. Don’t pay that price if you don’t have to. Take time to hear their story before you judge others.