The Jordan valley at dusk: one great square altar of piled fieldstones stands alone beside the green river thickets, the hills of Gilead dark beyond.

The Book of

Joshua 22

The war is over and the eastern tribes are going home. Then a pile of stones by the river nearly starts a civil war.

34 verses≈ 9 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–5Crossing overInto the land
6–12Taking the landThe LORD fights for Israel
13–21Dividing the landAn inheritance for each tribe
22–24Choose this dayServe the LORDChapter 22

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God.

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And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan.

Joshua 22:5

So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes. (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them,

A long column heads down to a Jordan ford at evening: herds of cattle and flocks of sheep in front, donkeys loaded with bundles of cloth and bronze bowls, the hills of Gilead beyond.

saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”

Reflect

Not deserted

For years the men of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh fought for land that was never going to be theirs. Their own homes and families were across the river, yet Joshua could say, “you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day.” Who are you standing beside right now until their burden is lifted? Write their name, and one way you can keep standing with them this week.

The Altar of Witness

So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses.

By the Jordan in hard midday light, men of the eastern tribes heave the last stones up an earth ramp onto a great square altar of fieldstones, far taller than they are.

And when they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.

Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.” And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Across the Jordan

The tabernacle stood at Shiloh in the hill country of Ephraim. From there the two and a half tribes went home east across the Jordan: Reuben and Gad to the high plain and the land of Gilead, half of Manasseh farther north toward Bashan. They built their altar at Geliloth “near the Jordan on the Israelite side,” a place no one can now identify.

They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them, “This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day?

Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD. And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

Phinehas and the chiefs

If indeed the land of your inheritance is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.

Was not Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’”

Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel:

Reuben, Gad and Manasseh

“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today. If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice peace offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable.

The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God!

Joshua 22:22

But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘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 Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

Reuben, Gad and Manasseh

Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”

Question

Quick question

Phinehas and the chiefs came expecting rebellion. The eastern tribes explained what their great altar was really for.

What did the eastern tribes say their altar was for?

When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied.

Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”

Evening at Shiloh: men, women and children crowd round eleven travel-dusty men just back, a young priest in white linen among them; some lift their hands in relief.

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead. The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

Asked before they fought

Whiteboard

Israel was ready to fight, and for a reason that mattered: one altar, one LORD. But before a spear was raised they sent Phinehas to ask. The charge was sharp, the answer was honest, and the misunderstanding melted. The altar everyone feared became a “witness between us that the LORD is God,” and a quarrel that nearly became a war ends with Israel blessing God.

Pray

Ask before you accuse

Lord, You know the hearts of Your people. Make me quick to ask and slow to accuse when something in a brother or sister looks wrong. Give me grace to answer gently when I am misread. And let me rejoice, as Israel did, when we find we were one in You all along, so that we can say together, “Today we know that the LORD is among us.” Amen.

You’ve experienced

Joshua 22

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A verse to carry with you

But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave 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.

Joshua 22:5

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