“But they transgressed against the God of their ancestors, and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of King Pul of Assyria, the spirit of King Tilgathpilneser of Assyria, and he carried them away, namely the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manaseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.” 1 Chronicles 5:25-26

Years before these two and half tribes stopped short, they entered the Promise Land only to help the other eight and half tribes to settle in the land that God had given to all of them. After helping, they backed up, retreated to the east crossed back over the Jordan River, thus separating themselves from the rest of Israel. Eventually, progressively they began to worship the gods of the peoples around them; they were carried away. As Dr Tuttle likes to say, “singled out, you get picked off.” O God that I would not stop short of your promise, and that I would enter in, go where you send me, regardless of how “good” the present place looks. I want the faith to go all the way.