And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the people of Reuben according to their clans.....Beth-jeshimoth, that is, all the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land. Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain.
Josh 13:15 - 22
Why did Joshua make sure to list off the names of the bad kings along with Balaam when giving a description of the tribal inheritance of Reuban? To the modern ear it makes more sense to list the places analytically: Jordan river, to the Dead Sea turn east at Mount Pisgah, etc.
But there is an important reason for inclusion of the names of these wicked people:
O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord
Micah 6:5
The people were to remember and the know what the Lord had done. Those boundaries were to be lines of demarcation as well as spiritual memory aids. Every time they reviewed where they lived, they would recall those wicked men and then remember how the Lord had done marvelous things on their behalf!
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5 - 6
Do we consider our boundary lines and do we consider all that the Lord has done for us? Or is there whining and restlessness, wanting something that the Lord had not given us. Consider these Reubanites. A little while later, Deborah sings the song of triumph but includes a rebuke of that tribe:
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
Why did you sit still among the sheepfolds,
to hear the whistling for the flocks?
Among the clans of Reuben
there were great searchings of heart.
Judges 5:15b - 16
Reuben (as well as Gad and Manasseh) put their personal interests ahead of the public good. They chose for themselves instead of letting the Lord choose their portion. They could not say that the boundary line fell in pleasant places for they grasped their own destiny.
In a very real way, everyone who has left the Christian faith and broken covenant with God and with one another has done so by putting their own private interests ahead of the good of the Kingdom of God and the kingdom as expressed in a local church. The same fate still awaits such today.
This initial settling of the tribes based upon personal interest over public good is echoed in Deborah's song a hundred years or so later. And it was the reason why these tribes were the first to feel the effects of God's displeasure in having foreign kings molest them. They were the first of the tribes to go into captivity. (See 1 Chr 5:25 - 26.)
In a negative sort of way, the tribe of Reuben proved the truth of Proverbs 3:5 - 6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Prov. 3:5 - 6
We should then make sure to review our boundary lines with joy and great thanksgiving. We must see how pleasantly God has ordain our lot. We must understand the truth of what Spurgeon wrote:
Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. You are placed by God in the most suitable circumstances, and if you had the choosing of your lot, you would soon cry, "Lord, choose my inheritance for me, for by my self-will I am pierced through with many sorrows." Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good.
