Reflections on Joshua 22

Joshua 22 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Joshua had the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh come for a meeting, and he told them:
   
2. You have obeyed every command of the LORD your God and of his servant Moses. And you have done everything I've told you to do. It's taken a long time, but you have stayed and helped your relatives.
   
3. (SEE 22:2)
   
4. The LORD promised to give peace to your relatives, and that's what he has done. Now it's time for you to go back to your own homes in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan River.
   
5. Moses taught you to love the LORD your God, to be faithful to him, and to worship and obey him with your whole heart and with all your strength. So be very careful to do everything Moses commanded.
   
6. You've become rich from what you've taken from your enemies. You have big herds of cattle, lots of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and plenty of clothes. Take everything home with you and share with the people of your tribe. I pray that God will be kind to you. You are now free to go home. The tribes of Reuben and Gad started back to Gilead, their own land. Moses had given the land of Bashan to the East Manasseh tribe, so they started back along with Reuben and Gad. God had told Moses that these two and a half tribes should conquer Gilead and Bashan, and they had done so. Joshua had given land west of the Jordan River to the other half of the Manasseh tribe, so they stayed at Shiloh in the land of Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.
   
7. (SEE 22:6)
   
8. (SEE 22:6)
   
9. (SEE 22:6)
   
10. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan River valley and built a huge altar there beside the river. When the rest of the Israelites heard what these tribes had done,
    
11. (SEE 22:10)
    
12. the Israelite men met at Shiloh to get ready to attack the two and a half tribes.
    
13. But first they sent a priest, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, to talk with the two and a half tribes.
    
14. Each of the tribes at Shiloh sent the leader of one of its families along with Phinehas.
    
15. Phinehas and these leaders went to Gilead and met with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said:
    
16. All of the LORD's people have gathered together and have sent us to find out why you are unfaithful to our God. You have turned your backs on the LORD by building that altar. Why are you rebelling against him?
    
17. Wasn't our people's sin at Peor terrible enough for you? The LORD punished us by sending a horrible sickness that killed many of us, and we still suffer because of that sin.
    
18. Now you are turning your backs on the LORD again. If you don't stop rebelling against the LORD right now, he will be angry at the whole nation.
    
19. If you don't think your land is a fit place to serve God, then move across the Jordan and live with us in the LORD's own land, where his sacred tent is located. But don't rebel against the LORD our God or against us by building another altar besides the LORD's own altar.
    
20. Don't you remember what happened when Achan was unfaithful and took some of the things that belonged to God? This made God angry with the entire nation. Achan died because he sinned, but he also caused the death of many others.
    
21. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered:
    
22. The LORD is the greatest God! We ask him to be our witness, because he knows whether or not we were rebellious or unfaithful when we built that altar. If we were unfaithful, then we pray that God won't rescue us today. Let us tell you why we built that altar,
    
23. and we ask the LORD to punish us if we are lying. We didn't build it so we could turn our backs on the LORD. We didn't even build it so we could offer animal or grain sacrifices to please the LORD or ask his blessing.
    
24. We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, "The LORD made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The LORD is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the LORD." Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the LORD.
    
25. (SEE 22:24)
    
26. That's why we decided to build the altar. It isn't for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the LORD.
    
27. To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the LORD and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the LORD. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the LORD's altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, "You can't worship the LORD." But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, "Look at this altar our ancestors built! It's like the LORD's altar, but it isn't for offering sacrifices. It's here to remind us and you that we belong to the LORD, just as much as you do."
    
28. (SEE 22:27)
    
29. (SEE 22:27)
    
30. Phinehas and the clan leaders were pleased when they heard the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh explain why they had built the altar. Then Phinehas told them, "Today we know that the LORD is helping us. You have not been unfaithful to him, and this means that the LORD will not be angry with us."
    
31. (SEE 22:30)
    
32. Phinehas and the clan leaders left Gilead and went back to Canaan to tell the Israelites about their meeting with the Reuben and Gad tribes.
    
33. The Israelites were happy and praised God. There was no more talk about going to war and wiping out the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
    
34. The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar "A Reminder to Us All That the LORD Is Our God."
    

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    After seven years of warfare to clear the land of promise of its former occupants, Israel had peace, the land had been distributed among the tribes and they were ready to settle into the land and build their new lives. Joshua called together the soldiers of the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, who received land on the east side of the Jordan River. He commended them for faithfully honoring their commitment to help the other tribes clear the land before settling into their own land east of the Jordan. Then he sent them home, exhorting them to "carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the LORD's servant gave you: to love the LORD your God, walk in all His ways, keep His commands, remain faithful to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul." (22:5)
    
    As the soldiers of these three tribes came to the Jordan River on their way home, they saw the great divide the river made between their territory and the main territory of Israel and feared that a time might come in the future when their brothers in the main territory would question their right to worship the Lord at the tabernacle in Shiloh. Therefore they built a copy of the true altar as a witness of their right to worship at the tabernacle. However, when the rest of their brothers, living on the west of the Jordan, learned of their altar they were ready to go to war against them. It wasn't only the prospect of dishonoring God that upset these brothers on the west side of the Jordan, but also the threat it posed to them as well. As with the sin of Achan which brought God's judgment on the whole Israelite community, sin on the part of these brothers east of the Jordan threatened to bring judgment on them all.
    
    Fortunately, a party of eleven men were sent to investigate the intent of the tribes to the east. This party was made up of Phinehas, son of the high priest, and a leader from each of the ten tribes west of the Jordan. Once they learned that the erected altar was intended only as a copy and as a witness, they were satisfied as was the rest of the assembly when they heard the report. Civil war was avoided. This incident is an example of how the unity of the congregation is frequently threatened by assumptions of the motives of others and the wisdom of always verifying the validity of our assumptions before taking action.