In Joshua 1:8, he commanded the people to prepare provisions for themselves because within three days they would be crossing over the Jordan River to take possession of the land that God had given them. The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh reminded Joshua that Moses had promised them that if they led the way and fought with the rest of the people until God had given them rest, they could then return to the east side of the Jordan and have their possession there. (verses 12-15)
In our study of the book of Joshua we have seen that the Promised Land doesn’t represent heaven as some think, but a condition of living by faith in the promises of God and a place of victory and obedience. You’ll have to review some of the previous posts to study this out. If that idea is correct, then even though these tribes were allowed to stay on the other side, it is not the best or ideal place for them to be.
In I Chronicles 5:25, 26 we see one of the results of this choice. They were the first to be taken captive by the king of Assyria. Also in the Song of Deborah in Judges chapter 5, verse 16 tells us that in Reuben there was great searchings of heart. We don’t have time to go through the whole thing here, but basically everybody else was out fighting and they were in their homeland enjoying peace and prosperity. They did some serious soul searching over the situation, but still didn’t go out to face the foe and stand for God. The question we need to ask ourselves as faithful Christian men is, “On which side of the Jordan will we spend our experience?” Will we spend it on victory side or on the side of compromise, laziness and defeat? We can go across and fight some battles, but do we return to the comforts of ease or do we stick with the fight to take possession of the possessions God has promised to us?
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