Joshua 22:29 · World English Bible
“Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and turn away today from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides Yahweh our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!”
The tribes accused of building a rival altar answer with horror at the thought. A community that keeps two altars serves two masters, and a divided center cannot hold a people together.
From the Clinical Psychology reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
The tribes accused of building a rival altar answer with horror at the thought. A community that keeps two altars serves two masters, and a divided center cannot hold a people together. One place of sacrifice means one order of value, one shared account of what stands highest. Worship cannot be split.
The men here defend that single center as if their lives depended on it, because they do. Split the highest good into competing versions and every lesser quarrel becomes a war with no referee. The wish to worship alongside the sacred altar hides a slow drift away from it. Loyalty to what is highest has to be undivided, or it stops being loyalty at all.
Clinical Psychology lens
What second thing have you been keeping on the side, just in case?
The one with a divided mind is pulled in every direction and arrives nowhere. Steadiness comes from having a single highest thing.
You cannot serve two ends and keep your integrity, Epictetus said, because the one you keep choosing in the moment is the one you actually serve. A second altar is just the first compromise with a nice name.
The cook carves an ox for years without dulling his blade because he follows one grain and nothing else. Mastery comes from attention that is not split.
Free · No account needed
Lensightful opens every verse of the Bible through the traditions you choose. Save readings, ask a follow-up question, and get one verse a day.
Get Lensightful on the App Store
Clinical Psychology