Today’s reading: Psalm 106, Joshua 22:10-34
Have you ever heard the phrase, “the eyes see what the mind wants to see”? “Scotomisation” is the psychological tendency in people to see what they want to see, or what they are expecting. Similarly, perception involves seeing and processing information through the filter of our personal intellect and emotions. So, scotomisation sometimes shows up as a false denial or a false affirmation of our own perceptions.
In Joshua 22:10-34, our text for today, scotomisation almost caused a war.
It’s been a few weeks since we studied Joshua, so let me remind you of the setting – a good portion of the book of Joshua details how the Promised Land was divided amongst the nation of Israel. The tribes of Rueben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh were the first to receive their land allotment on the east side of the Jordan River. Before they could get settled, however, they had to help the remainder of the tribes conquer the land on the west side of the Jordan. When they had fulfilled their duty and were finally able to head home, they stopped on the west side of the Jordan to build and altar to the Lord. If you go to Eastview, you should remember this scripture. This is what Witness Rock, on the north side of the building, is modeled after.
When the remainder of the Israelite tribes saw the altar, they automatically assumed the tribes of Rueben, Gad and half of Manasseh had started their own pagan religion. Why did they think this? The altar, combined with their recent experiences in Canaan, led to scotomisation. Remember, while God gave the Israelites the Promised Land, he didn’t just serve it up to them on silver platter. Instead he made them work for it by fighting battles and taking the land city by city. In the course of their battles, the Israelites had seen many altars to pagan gods. So when they came upon the altar Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh had built, they automatically assumed the worst and were ready to take out their unfaithful relatives, just like they had conquered the pagan-worshipping Canaanites.
One man stopped them – Phineas, the Priest. Instead of jumping in to join the eastward-bound march to war, Phineas asked the Israelites to wait while he investigated what was really going on. He assembled a small delegation of representatives from each tribe and went to east side of the Jordan to find out the truth.
“The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now” (Joshua 22:16).
Fortunately, he found out the altar was NOT what they thought…
On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings (Joshua 22.27).
Does this story sound familiar to you? Do you struggle with jumping to conclusions or making incorrect assumptions? How do you overcome this tendency? Slow down. Seek to understand before taking action. Even if done for the right reason, acting on wrong assumptions still brings hurt. Heed the advice of James the brother of Jesus.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20).