JOSEPH'S DOUBLE PORTION - BUT... Joshua 16 Chapters sixteen and seventeen focus on the inheritance of Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Although Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph, he became the dominant one, as Jacob predicted. After Judah, the tribes of Joseph were given priority in the allocation of territory. The portion assigned to Ephraim was directly north of the borders of Judah and Benjamin.
To some who didn't understand their history, it might have seemed unfair that Ephraim and Manasseh received the largest portions of land in the northern part of the country as well as land east of Jordan. However, they would be informed that Joseph's two sons took his place as Jacob's sons, and the Levites became a serving people acting on God's behalf for the people and on the people's behalf before God. Now, four hundred years later, this was the reward of Joseph's descendants because he had preserved the nation's identity. We may not always realize the significance of an event in life or see the future benefits of a particular action we take. But God, who exists in an "eternal now," sees everything through the lens of His divine purpose.
The best we can do in times we don't fully understand is to do what we do "with our might as unto the Lord and not unto men." Then we leave the results to God to accomplish His purposes and rest in faith that His will is being done. It may seem like we have done our best, yet we still leave some things undone due to our weariness or lack of motivation. We need to remember that there are consequences to every action, or lack thereof, that cannot be avoided, and with which we will have to live and endure.
Failure to fully address a matter as we should have led to later problems. The "children of Ephraim and Manasseh" were given a great privilege, and the benefits were clear. However, for some reason, they did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer but kept them as laborers to serve them. The serious future problems caused by this lack of complete commitment were that the pagan people among them worshipped idols and served the false gods the idols represented. It is a sign of weakness or compromise that Ephraim did not remove the Canaanites but allowed them to “serve under tribute.” They could have followed the Lord's commands but chose not to. Instead, they wanted to use those subjugated people for their own purposes. Perhaps they thought life would be easier if they didn’t have to work hard themselves.
We cannot accept mixing spiritual truth with falsehood to appeal to the world. It may seem easier to live in this compromising state, but it is only a spiritual twilight that confuses everyone, making it hard to distinguish right from wrong. Problems will persist as long as God's people try to coexist with the children of darkness. The light of the Gospel of the Glory of God reveals every evil way of the powers of darkness. When we walk in the light as our Lord is in the light, we will share fellowship with God's people. This means there will be a separation between what is of God and what is unclean. There is a price to pay for receiving a double portion of God's blessings, and we cannot avoid it.
This same attitude can be the downfall of Christians who choose to accommodate their spiritual enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil—as a way to avoid laboring for the Lord and bringing people from darkness to light. Counterfeit Christianity has undermined the witness of believers to the point that most disregard Christianity as being relevant to them. To many people, Christians do not practice what they preach. Additionally, many Christians do not accept the Bible as the ultimate authority for what we do and believe. They want to interpret the scriptures in the context of their own chosen lifestyle.
It doesn’t seem wrong for some untrained believers to allow anyone to participate in the Lord’s Supper, even though God intended it for His own people alone. Those who have willingly identified with the Lord through baptism and placed Him first in their lives have, in these ways, demonstrated the reality of their life in Christ. However, it is wrong for those who do not belong to the Lord, or for those who claim to be born again but do not read or even care about His Word, to participate at the table of remembrance of our Lord. That table is reserved for those who know and openly admit they are there only by God's redeeming grace. True worshippers obey His commands because they love the Lord Jesus Christ and come to seek His face and “Show the Lord’s death till He comes.”
A seat outside that circle of favor is not a rejection of the person but rather a place where they can observe and learn why it is crucial to never spurn God’s grace. The “seat of the unlearned” serves as a place of observation so that, by watching and learning, they will soon see whether their profession is genuine or just for show. It is the right of everyone who gathers to remember the Lord—to make a public declaration of His death, burial, and resurrection, and to anticipate His return— to look for the fruit of divine life. We do not come there paying some form of tribute like many others who always ask for money, taking what they can get from professed worshippers.
Those who believe that tribute, whether a tithe or an offering, helps to compensate for all of Christ’s suffering are insulting God, who paid the highest price when He gave His only begotten Son. Those who repent of their sins to God and are born again may enjoy the benefits of all God has provided. How terrible it is for someone to think they have somehow added to the price of redemption through a tribute they pay. Some people hope that on a future judgment day, God will see their tribute as some form of penance they can perform. Instead of trusting in the sacrifice of Christ as the complete payment for sins after true repentance, they try to add to Christ’s atonement.
If someone enters a fellowship as a “tribute-payer” who has never repented or accepted God’s gift for sin, give him a learner’s seat and tell him you are glad he is there. As he observes, hopefully, he will begin to care deeply and wonder why Christ died on the cross in shame. An honest seeker for salvation will be able to see and hear that the Lord Jesus Christ fully paid for our sins. By accepting responsibility for all our sins, the righteousness of Christ is credited to those who trust in Him alone, and they are completely freed from the consequences of their sins. And regarding the tribute money – there is no need.
The decision of the Ephraimites to accommodate and exploit the people of Gezer rather than obey the command of the Lord to destroy them ultimately led to the ten northern tribes, with Ephraim as their leader, being dispersed throughout the Assyrian Empire and losing their identity altogether. The gods and idols of the Canaanites became the downfall of God’s people then, and it will do the same if we allow our enemies to influence us. The mixture of truth and deception, light and darkness, saved and unsaved, if permitted among us, will ruin the testimony of an assembly. Trying to blend the doctrines of men and God leads to failure.