Accountability

Passage: Joshua 22

When the Israelites first entered the Promised Land, a couple of the tribes (Reuben and Gad) decided they wanted to settle West of the Jordan. The people had not yet reached the destination God had mapped out for them, which lay East of the Jordan, so the Reubenites and Gadites were jumping the gun a little. When these two tribes appealed to Moses to allow them to bail out early, Moses was concerned. His primary objection was that if these two tribes settled West of the Jordan, they wouldn’t help the other ten tribes take the land God had promised. In return for permission to settle West of the Jordan, Reuben and Gad promised to participate in the conquest of the rest of the Promised Land.

Joshua 22 bears witness to the fact that the two “Transjordan Tribes” followed through on their commitment. After the land is conquered, the armies of Reuben and Gad travel West to settle the homesteads they claimed before the Israelites crossed the Jordan.

But trouble arises shortly thereafter when word gets back to the other ten tribes of an altar the Transjordan Tribes have erected in their territory. The ten tribes muster their fighting forces, and march to their fellow tribes’ doorstep. A heated confrontation occurs. In it the Israelites recount two occasions in which their whole nation suffered because of the sins of a few members. The first occasion was the time a group of Israelite men hooked up with some Moabite women, and sacrificed to their Baal at a place called Peor. In response God sent a plague that killed tens of thousands of the people. The second occasion was Achan’s sin following the conquest of Jericho. God had commanded his people to destroy everything from Jericho except articles made of precious metal, which were to be placed in the tabernacle treasury. Achan’s eye was drawn to a few treasures that he just couldn’t live without. He absconded with them, believing that no one had seen his indiscretion. But of course, God sees everything. To draw the people’s attention to Achan’s infraction, God allowed the Israelite army to suffer a crushing military defeat.

The Israelites are painfully aware that they are all intimately connected. God has shown them clearly that one person’s failure is a failure for them all. God has demonstrated that when one member of the nation suffers, they all suffer. They are like a body, in which the parts are inextricably linked and interdependent. The health of the body is contingent on the health of its parts.

Fearing another blow to their health as a nation, the ten tribes confront the two. A homegrown, private altar is against the rules. God has given strict instructions and parameters for worship. Sacrifices offered away from the tabernacle and away from the rest of God’s people are idolatrous – intended to manipulate God and serve the interests of the offerers. In a bid to save themselves as a whole, the ten tribes are prepared to go to war to hold the wayward tribes accountable. They don’t end up going to war. And the Transjordan tribes end up offering an explanation that is satisfactory to the other ten and, presumably, to God. But the ten eastern tribes have diligently followed up with the two western ones to ensure that they're all still functioning as one body.

The principle at play in Joshua 22 is a principle that should always be effective in the life of God’s people. Down to the individual member, the Israelites are trained to see that their actions have corporate (even national) consequences. In the New Testament, the church is given this message repeatedly, too. Accountability is an essential aspect of the life of faith. We are commanded to hold our fellow members of the Body of Christ to account. And we are commanded to submit ourselves to accountability, too. Our spiritual health depends on it. And the spiritual health of the rest of the Body is contingent on the spiritual health of each member. When one part’s broken, it’s all broken. When one part hurts, it all hurts. When it comes to the life of faith, accountability is life.