Thematic Bible: Misjudgment

Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for livestock; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, "Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, read more.
the land which the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock; and your servants have livestock." They said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not bring us over the Jordan." Moses said to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, "Shall your brothers go to the war, and shall you sit here? Why do you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? Your fathers did so when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the LORD had given them. The LORD's anger was kindled in that day, and he swore, saying, 'Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have followed the LORD completely.' The LORD's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed. "Behold, you have risen up in your fathers' place, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel. For if you turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people." They came near to him, and said, "We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones: but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward." Moses said to them, "If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves to go before the LORD to the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD, until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before the LORD; then afterward you shall return, and be guiltless towards the LORD, and towards Israel; and this land shall be to you for a possession before the LORD. "But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth." The children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, "Your servants will do as my lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock, shall be there in the cities of Gilead; but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the LORD to battle, as my lord says." So Moses commanded concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. Moses said to them, "If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man who is armed to battle, before the LORD, and the land shall be subdued before you; then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession: but if they will not pass over with you armed, to battle before the LORD, then you shall bring over their children and their wives and their flocks before you into the land of Canaan, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.? The children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, "As the LORD has said to your servants, so will we do. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan." Moses gave to them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities and borders, even the cities of the surrounding land.

The children of Israel heard this, "Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertains to the children of Israel." When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, read more.
and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for each of the tribes of Israel; and every one of them heads of ancestral houses among the thousands of Israel. They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, "Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, 'What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that you have built you an altar, to rebel this day against the LORD? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the LORD, that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? It will be, seeing that you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD's tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but do not rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man did not perish alone in his iniquity.'" Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, "El, God, the LORD. El, God, the LORD. He knows; and Israel shall know. If it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against the LORD, do not save us this day, that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the LORD himself require it. If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, 'In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD."' So your children might make our children cease from fearing the LORD. Therefore we said, 'Let's now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;' that your children may not tell our children in time to come, 'You have no portion in the LORD.' Therefore we said, 'It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, "Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you."' Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle." When Phinehas the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD."

So Eli said to her, "How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you." And Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD. Do not count your handmaid as a worthless woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my distress and my anguish." read more.
Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him."