The Book of Joshua

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- Chapter 22 -

Joshua then summoned the leaders of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

He said to them, “You have done everything that Moses the servant of Yahweh, commanded you to do. You have also done what I commanded you to do.

For a long time you have helped the other tribes to defeat their enemies. You have obeyed everything that Yahweh your God taught you and commanded you to do.

He promised to give peace to your fellow Israelites, and he has done what he promised. So now you may go back to your homes, to the land that Moses gave to you, on the east side of the Jordan River.

Moses also commanded you to love Yahweh your God and to live your life as he wants you to live. He told you to obey his commands, to trust in him and to turn away from all others. Do this as you worship him and serve him by everything that you think and everything that you do.”

Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, so they went back to their tents.

Moses had given the region of Bashan, to the east of the Jordan River, to one-half of the tribe of Manasseh, and Joshua had given land on the west side of the Jordan River to the other half of that tribe. When Joshua sent them away to their tents, he asked God to bless them.

He said to them, “Go back to your tents with much money with many animals and silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with many beautiful clothes. But you should share the plunder from your enemies with your brothers and sisters.”

The Altar of Witness

So the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh left the other people of Israel at Shiloh in the region of Canaan. They returned home to the region of Gilead, which belonged to them, because Moses had assigned it to them by Yahweh’s command.

They arrived at the western bank of the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. There the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar, a very large and impressive altar.

The other people of Israel heard about this altar; they were concerned about what the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh had built. It was an altar at the entrance to the land of Canaan. It was built at the city of Geliloth, near the Jordan, on the side that was part of the land of Israel.

The people of Israel heard of this, and the whole assembly of the people came together at Shiloh. They decided to go to war against them because of this altar.

But first, the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leader of all the priests, to talk with the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.

They also sent one leader from each of the ten tribes of Israel west of the Jordan River. Each of the leaders was an important leader in his own clan.

Those leaders went to the region of Gilead to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. They said,

“All the other Israelites are asking, ’What is this you have done? You have disobeyed the commands of God. You have turned against Yahweh by building your own altar here in this place. You have rebelled against Yahweh.

Have you forgotten about how Yahweh punished us at Peor, when we stopped worshiping him and began to worship other gods? Yahweh sent a deadly sickness among the people of Israel, and many died from it.

Maybe you have built this altar because you have stopped worshiping Yahweh. If this is true, you have rebelled like this against him, and he will be angry with all the people of Israel.’

“If you think that Yahweh considers your land here is not suitable for worshiping him, come back to our land, where Yahweh’s sacred tent is. We can share our land with you. But do not rebel against Yahweh or against us by building another altar for Yahweh our God.

Surely you remember what happened when Zerah’s son Achan refused to obey Yahweh’s command to destroy everything in Jericho? That one man disobeyed God’s command, but many other Israelites were punished for what he did.”

The leaders of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh replied,

“Yahweh, God Almighty, knows why we did that, and we want you to know, too. If we have not been faithful to our promise to serve Yahweh, do not have any mercy on us, but take our lives.

If we have built this altar so we can stop obeying Yahweh, or if we have built this altar to offer sacrifices, grain offerings, or sacrifices to promise friendship with him, in violation of the law, may Yahweh punish us and even take our lives.

No, we built this altar because we were afraid that your children might speak to our children one day in the future and ask, ’What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?”

We are afraid that they will say to our children, “Yahweh made the Jordan River to be a boundary between us and you people of Reuben and you people of Gad. You have nothing to do with Yahweh.’ And your children might try to stop our children from worshiping Yahweh.

So we said, ’Let us now build an altar, but not for bringing sacrifices nor for any offerings.

Instead, we want it to be a monument to prove to you, to ourselves, and to all of our descendants after us, that we truly worship Yahweh. We indeed worship him by our burned sacrifices and our offerings, and our offerings to promise friendship with him. We built this altar so your descendants may never say to our descendants in the future, “Yahweh never gave you any portion of this land; you do not belong here.”’

In the future, if your descendants say that, our descendants can say, ‘Look at the altar that our ancestors made! It is exactly like Yahweh’s altar at Shiloh, but we do not burn sacrifices on it. It is a monument which means that we and you together worship Yahweh!’

We certainly do not want to rebel against Yahweh or stop doing what he desires. This altar was never intended to be used for the sacrifices, for burning flour offerings or for making other sacrifices. We know that there is only one true altar for Yahweh our God and that it is in front of the sacred tent.”

When Phinehas the priest and the other ten leaders of the people of Israel heard what the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said, they were pleased.

So Phinehas said to them, “Now we know that Yahweh is with all of us Israelites, and that you were not rebelling against him when you built that altar. Because what you did did not break Yahweh’s laws, we are sure that he will not punish us.

Then Phinehas and the Israelite leaders left the people of the tribes of Reuben and Gad in the region of Gilead, and returned to Canaan. There they told the other Israelites what had happened.

They were pleased, and they thanked God. They did not talk anymore about fighting against the people of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and destroying everything in their land.

The people of the tribes of Reuben and Gad named their new altar “Reminder,” and they said, “It is a reminder to us all that Yahweh is God.”

Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.

You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of the LORD your God.

Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.

Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,

and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”

The Altar of Witness

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.

The children of Israel heard this, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the children of Israel.”

When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest.

With him were ten princes, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel.

They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

“The whole congregation of the LORD says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the LORD, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the LORD?

Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the LORD,

that you must turn away today from following the LORD? It will be, since you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the LORD our God’s altar.

Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’”

Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel,

“The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against the LORD (don’t save us today),

that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the LORD himself require it.

“If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, “What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.”’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing the LORD.

“Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice;

but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the LORD.’

“Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of the LORD’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.”’

“Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the LORD our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!”

When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well.

Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the LORD’s hand.”

Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived.

The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.”