The Sunday School lesson for this Sunday teaches us that God gathers his people into one, if for no other reason but simply because we are stronger as a whole. This can be seen through a very interesting story in the Old Testament.
In his farewell address, Moses admonished the children of Israel, repeatedly, to worship the one true and living God and that they should have no other gods before Him. This farewell constitutes the entire book of Deuteronomy with strong emphasis on dangers of worshipping false gods. Because the inhabitants of Canaan were ripe in iniquity and idol worship (1 Nephi 17:32-35) they presented a very real threat to the covenant people. For this reason Israel was commanded to cleanse the entire land before they took possession, which they failed to do miserably because of their disobedience. As they conquered cities before them, however, lands were appropriated to them for their settlement. The first to receive land were the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Mannesah. They settled in the land of Gilead which divided them from the rest of Israel by river Jordan (Joshua 22:9). After these three tribes assisted in further conquest of the land, Joshua sent them back to Gilead to live peacefully in their newly appointed inheritance. Upon their return home, these tribes built an altar by river Jordan. When the rest of Israel heard of it they were outraged presuming the altar was built for idol worship. They sent Phineas, the son of Eleazor the priest, with the heads of the tribes, to call the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Mannesah to repentance. In their defence, these two and a half tribes explained that the altar was not made for any worship but was meant to stand as a witness to the rest of Israel, for generations to come, that the tribe of Reuben and Gad and Mannesah were united with the rest of Israel in the worship of one true and living God (Joshua 22:34); that even though they were divided geographically from the rest of the House of Israel, they were still a link in the chain and that they would not be the downfall of Israel. They knew that if they turned to the worship of other gods, the ripple effect would be detrimental to the whole House of Israel.
So it is with us. We of modern day Israel are individual links in a great chain which binds the covenant people. How we live our lives and how we worship God has great impact upon not only us personally but upon the body of Christ collectively because "no one sins in isolation. We cannot say that our actions influence only ourselves for even if we do something sinful that is completely personal, our individual loss of spiritual power means a lessening of power for all mankind and contributes to the withdrawal of the Lord's spirit, and that is damaging to all......". (Old Testament Student Manual Genesis-2 Samuel, p 243). We cannot afford to be the downfall of modern day Israel. We bear a grave responsibility for the gathering of God's people. Each link in the chain is important and contributes towards this goal through individual gifts, talents and personal power. When we worship the world instead of God we forfeit that power and cannot accomplish our collective purpose.
May each one of us erect personal altars in our lives as a witness to the rest that we will honour our commitment to the divine destiny of the House of Israel.
- Cathryne Allen
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