"To Your Tents "
by Dr. Michael H. Browder
February 8, 2009

Joshua 22:4-6

Perhaps the greatest Biblical archeologist who ever lived was William F. Albright. Although he spent much of his life in Blackstone, Virginia, I never knew him. He was before my time. I did study with a number of his disciples, however.

Some of Albright’s most famous work centered on archeology discoveries, which shed light on the world of Abraham. We know Abraham as the first of the great patriarchs in the Book of Genesis.

W. F. Albright uncovered artifacts and texts which showed Abraham as part of a world of donkey caravans. These were wandering merchants who lived in tents and carried their goods on burros.

When I first read about this, I said, “Where have I seen this picture before?” Suddenly, my mind flashed back to Philmont Scout Ranch. I could picture myself once more, at the age of 14, leading a convoy of donkeys through the wilds of New Mexico, and sleeping in tents. With this memory, Abraham seemed like an old friend, even a fellow scout.

The mention of scouts hiking reminds me of a story. There were 2 scouts out hiking and they came across the biggest, meanest grizzly bear you ever saw. One was scared to death, the other remained calm. The scared one said, “How can you be so calm? You can’t outrun this bear!” The other one answered, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.”

Today I want to talk about tents. The tent is the symbol of a boy scout. Am I right about that? You know, I learned some other things about tents, when I was studying Old Testament archeology. For instance, the Hebrew word for tent is ’ohel. I had heard this before in Scouts: I never will forget one night we were out camping in the winter. It was raining and snowing. The wind was blowing like crazy. Suddenly, the wind blew over my scoutmaster’s tent. It was right then, I distinctly heard him call the tent by its Hebrew name: “O Hel!”

The tent is truly a symbol of the Boy Scout. And the tent is one of the great symbols in the Bible. One of my favorite lines in the Old Testament is the cry, “To your tents, O Israel!” Today, we might cry, “To your tents O Scouts!” We are affirming the Boy Scouts today. We are saying, “Go and be active in scouting.” “Learn wilderness survival skills.” “Go and participate in things, like camping, where you experience fun and fellowship, and where you develop the character to become a man.”

I love this phrase, “To your tents, O Israel!” But I must confess, I was not sure what it meant in the Bible. So I thought I would go and have a look. We have mentioned that, in the early part of the Old Testament, the people, the “Children of Israel,” lived in tents. So, as it turns out, the phrase, “To your tents, O Israel,” basically means, “Go home.”

But the Bible says this in a number of different contexts. First, it says, “Go home to your tent and rest.” You’ve had a long day at the Jamboree. It’s time to go back and get some shut-eye. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. That’s the context of our scripture today. God is saying to the Israelites: You’ve been through a lot. You’ve learned a lot. Now it’s time to go home and rest.

Rest is an important principle in the Bible. A whole day is set aside for rest. Even God rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath. We in our modern world, going crazy from being busy, burning the candle at both ends. We could learn to rest more, and to spend some time focusing on spiritual matters for a change. What are you so busy for? Or, as the Bible asks, “What does it matter if you gain the whole world, if you lose your own soul?’

A further meaning of “to your tent” is: to go home in peace. In this context, the Bible is saying, “You have done what you set out to do. You have accomplished your goal. Now, give yourself a rest.” You deserve a break. “Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, you just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do now?” (OK are you ready, everybody, say it with me:) “I’m going to Disney World!”

Elsewhere in the Bible, in the best known passages of “To your tents!” (II Chron. 10, I Kin. 12), the phrase means to go home in anger and frustration. The kingdom is being divided, after Solomon’s death, into Israel and Judah. The northerners, from Israel, come to Solomon’s son to share their complaints and their frustrations. But king Rehoboam will not listen. He says, “If you complain, I’m going to make it even harder on you than you had it before.”

So the Israelites say to each other, “Go home to your tents.” “The king is never going to listen to us. We will go back to our own land and start our own kingdom.” Israel and Judah would never be united again.

We should learn something from King Rehoboam. He should have listened to the people’s concerns. By being haughty and refusing to listen, he lost ten twelfths of his kingdom. If we don’t listen to other people, we lose out in life.

Finally, in our scripture from Joshua 22 today, the phrase “to your tents” brings an element of integrity. Joshua has led the people as they have been living in their tents in the wilderness, and now they have arrived at their new home in the Promise Land. Joshua says, “You have received God’s commandments, and you have started to obey them. Now the Lord has blessed you and given you the Promised Land. You can go home to your tents and live in peace.”

But Joshua reminds them, “Remember God’s commandments and continue to obey them in the future. If you do, you the Lord will bless you, and you will live in peace. But if you do not obey God’s word, you will suffer and be punished.”

So, “to go to your tent” is not just about the tent. It is not just about camping. It involves character, and morality, and doing the right thing.

We see this theme carried even further in the New Testament. Back in the day of Moses and Joshua, the most important tent in the whole world had been the tent of the tabernacle. That was the holiest of all places. It was where the fullness of the Glory of God rested.

The New Testament teaches us that our bodies have become the tabernacle. God intends for his Holy Spirit to dwell in us. When we obey God, our tabernacle is made pure and holy by God’s grace. When we sin, our tabernacle is defiled, and rejected by God.

Scouting is not just about camping, and knots, and first aid, it is really about building character. That’s why the Scouts and the Church have always gone hand in hand. The Boy Scouts have even gone to the Supreme Court to affirm their faith in God. And the United Methodist Church law requires that Scouting be affirmed and supported.

But, here is where the church goes one step beyond the Scout Creed. And I would like for you young men to think about this today. You cannot find the strength to obey God all on your own. Your own weakness and sin are working against you. You need help.

And that is why we turn to Jesus Christ. There is strength, in Christ, beyond what we have in ourselves. No matter what happens, there is forgiveness and hope in him. That’s why we trust Christ and commit ourselves to him. He gives us his strength. He saves us. And he brings us through to the end. He is with us in this world, and the next. Think about that today. Give Christ your heart and your life so that he can be at work in you.

Let us pray: Lord, we thank you today for your message to us in the Bible. We thank you for the tents of Israel. We thank you for the tents of Scouting. We remember that you have created our bodies as a tabernacle, as a tent, for your Holy Spirit to dwell in. Dear Savior Jesus, let us trust you with our hearts and our lives, so that you may dwell in us and keep our tent pure. Amen.