A Word about Interdependence

Today I want to share a word about interdependence, as I comment on Joshua 1:10-18. This passage reads:

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it. And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage. 

One of my favorite memories from raising our children was the season of life when they were learning to dress themselves. Often, as they struggled to tie their shoes or button their shirts, we would reach out to help them. Invariably, they would pull away from us, protesting vigorously, “I can do it myself!” Whenever I think of that it makes me smile, but it also causes me pause. 

One of the deeply ingrained values in America is the idea of rugged individualism. This is the same idea expressed by the Frank Sinatra song which proudly proclaimed that “I did it my way!” It is also echoed by the final words to the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley which famously, or maybe infamously declared, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” Even our doctrine of salvation has often been used to promote the idea of the autonomy of the individual, like in the folk song which said, “Me and Jesus, we got our own thing going, me and Jesus, we got it all worked out. Me and Jesus, we got our own thing going, we don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about!”

We often pursue this value of rugged individualism to the point of it becoming a hinderance rather than a help. If we would consider the Biblical record, however, it will give us a different perspective.

THE REQUEST:

When the Children of Israel were delivered from slavery in Egypt, God had Moses lead them to the east bank of the Jordan River. This took far longer than it should have, because of the sin of the people and of Moses, but the day came when they were assembled at the Jordan and Moses and Joshua were preparing them to enter and possess Canaan, the land that they were promised by God. The specter of individualism arose, however.

The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh looked around themselves and thought, “Hey, this place is great. We are already here, we like it, and we want to stay. We are tired of all this wandering around. We want to stay right where we are.” And so, they petitioned Moses to grant them their inheritance in that fertile piece of land east of the Jordan River.

God, being a loving and benevolent God, allowed the two-and-a-half tribes to settle in their chosen land. They were allowed to build houses for their families, corrals for their animals, and to make a life for themselves there. There was, however, one requirement.

THE REQUIREMENT:

When the leaders of Rueben and Gad made their petitions known to Moses, this was his immediate reply:

And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? Numbers 32:6-7

Moses quickly reminded these two-and-a-half tribes that it was not right for them to sit in their homes, fat and sassy, while their brothers were having to fight for their inheritance. Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh didn’t have to even break a fingernail to gain their portion of the land. Moses (and God) would not stand idly by and allow them to take a knee while the rest of the Children of Israel were fighting. Not only was this morally and spiritually wrong, it also would wound the hearts and the morale of the rest of the tribes.

To their credit, the leaders of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh readily agreed to these terms. But there was a twist that might have been unexpected. You see, not only were these two-and-a-half tribes expected to fight alongside the rest of Israel, but they were also assigned to lead the charge. 

As we read in our Scripture passage for today, the two-and-a-half tribes were told to cross the river first, leading the way into the Promised Land. They did so, and to their credit, they marched and fought across the Promised Land until released by Joshua to return to their homes across the river. 

THE RECORD:

Our passage for today is not the only place in Scripture that supports the value of interdependence among God’s people. For example:

In Nehemiah we find that all of God’s people in Jerusalem were expected to help rebuild the walls. Each family was given their portion of the wall to repair, so everyone had to do their own work so that the city as a whole could be safe.

In Acts 15, we see that the missionary enterprise had gotten ahead of their doctrine. Paul had caught some fish (Gentiles) they had not anticipated!  Did Paul (an apostle himself) decide what to do?  No! His church sent Paul and Barnabas to inquire from other churches how to properly handle this situation.

In Romans 15:25-27 we can see the churches in Asia working together to send benevolence to the mother church in Jerusalem which was under persecution, and which had great needs. We can also see how, in 1 Corinthians 16:19-20, that the churches of Asia were concerned about, and expressed their care to, the churches in Europe.

Finally, in 2 Corinthians 11:5-10, we see evidence of churches cooperating to send out missionaries. If the Biblical record is any indication, and of course it is, God expects His people to work together to build His Kingdom.

CONCLUSION:

A man once had a dream about the afterlife. He appeared in a room where sickly and emaciated people were sitting around a kettle full of delicious smelling food. Although the people were desperately hungry, they could not feed themselves because their arms and legs were in casts and their only utensils were four-foot-long spoons. Try as they might, they could not get any food into their mouths. As the man stared, horrified, one of the pitiful creatures fell over, apparently lifeless.

Next, the man was translated into another, seemingly identical space, with the same kettle, the same spoons, and the same casts on arms and legs. He immediately saw a difference, however, because all the people gathered around the kettle were hale and hearty, with more than one of them approaching portliness. What made the difference in this scene was that instead of trying to feed themselves, the people used the four-foot-long spoons to feed the person across the kettle from themselves. Everyone was well fed and sitting tall and strong.

When the man awoke, he realized that the first room was a vision of hell, and the second room was a vision of heaven. The moral of this dream is clear: when we forget that we need each other we can make our existence a hell on earth. Conversely, when we are interdependent and work with one another, we can make our time on earth more like the heaven we all look forward to enjoying. 

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt