Joshua 22:1-5 - The Great Commandment

When we come to Joshua 22, the conquest of the Promise Land by the twelve tribes of Israel is complete. The battles have been fought and won. The inheritance of the land has been successfully distributed to all the tribes. It is at this point, after seven years of battles, in Joshua 22:1-4, that Joshua gives a honorable discharge to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh and the first thing he did was to commend them (Josh. 22:1-3). Then in Joshua 22:4, Joshua released them from the army. Having fulfilled their mission and kept their promise, the tribes were now free to go home; for God had given His people rest.

 

Now in verse 5, Joshua admonished them (Josh. 22:5). Like any good leader, Joshua was more concerned about the spiritual walk of his people than anything else. The army had experienced victory in Canaan because Joshua loved the Lord and obeyed His Word (1:7-8), and that would be the "open secret" of Israel's continued peace and prosperity. Just as they had been diligent in battle, obeying. their commander, so they must be diligent in worship, obeying the Lord their God. This was the promise each of the tribes made to the Lord at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal.

 

The motive for their obedience had to be love for the Lord their God. If they loved Him, then they would delight in walking in all His ways and obeying all His commandments. Instead of trying to serve two masters, they would cling to the Lord and serve Him alone, with all their heart and soul. Jesus in His first recorded message in Matthew 6:24 reminds us that, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

 

In Matthew 22:36-38, Jesus said that to love the Lord and keep His commandments was the first and greatest commandment; therefore, to disobey it would mean to commit the greatest sin. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments". You might remember in John 21, after His resurrection Jesus was with His disciples at the Sea of Galilee. When He was restoring Peter to fellowship because of his miserable failure in the garden where he denied his Lord, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17). All of our failures in obeying the Lord are “love failures”.

 

With each answer that Peter gave affirming his love, Jesus responded by telling Peter to feed and care for His lambs and sheep. In other words, we give proof of our love to the Lord by loving and caring for others. Remember the second part of the great commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:38-39).

 

Paul makes this very clear in Romans 13:8-10; “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

 

Since the two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh were on the border of Israel, they were the very first people of God that the visitors to Israel would encounter. For them to be the testimony and witness that God intended them to be it was very important that they were loving one another. The same is true of us today!

 

God bless!