Hence, therefore, Moses at once condemned the proposition of Reuben and Gad. True, he afterwards relaxed his judgment and gave his consent. Their promise to cross the Jordan, ready-armed, before their brethren, drew from Moses a kind of assent. It seemed an extraordinary manifestation of unselfishness and energy to leave all their loved ones behind, and cross the Jordan, only to fight for their brethren. But where had they left those loved ones? They had left them short of the divine mark. They had deprived them of a place and portion in the true land of promise—that inheritance of which God had spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And for what? Just to get good pasture for their cattle. For an object like this did the two tribes and a half abandon their place within the true limits of the Israel of God. And now let us look at the consequences of this line of action. Let the reader turn to Joshua xxii. Here we have the first sorrowful effect of the equivocal conduct of Reuben and Gad. They must needs build an altar—“a great altar to see to,” lest in time to come their brethren might disown them. What does all this prove? It proves that they were all wrong in taking up their position on this side of Jordan. And only mark the effect upon the whole assembly—the disturbing, alarming effect of this altar. At the first blush, it wore the aspect of actual rebellion. “And when the children of Israel heard it, _the whole congregation of the children of Israel_ gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them. And _the children of Israel_ sent unto _the children of Reuben_, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh,[22] into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was a head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, ‘Thus saith _the whole congregation of the Lord_, [Did not the two and a half belong to it?] What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, but that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against the Lord, that to-morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Notwithstanding, if the land of _your possession_ be unclean, then pass ye over unto _the land of the possession of the Lord_, wherein the Lord’s tabernacle dwelleth, [what burning words!] and take possession among us; but rebel not against