Joshua 22:10-34--The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

Joshua 22:10-34
English Standard Version

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness
10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. 11 And the people of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

13 Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 15 And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, 16 “Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the LORD? 17 Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the LORD, 18 that you too must turn away this day from following the LORD? And if you too rebel against the LORD today then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the LORD's land where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the LORD or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. 20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today 23 for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance. 24 No, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? 25 For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the LORD.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”’ 29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD and turn away this day from following the LORD by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

30 When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD.”

​32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

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The name of the LORD is central in this passage as we'll see it mentioned 29 different times here in these few verses.  As we mentioned yesterday there was already some suspicion of the Trans-Jordan tribes and when the tribes that were given their allotment in Canaan heard that the Trans-Jordan tribes had built a massive altar on "Israel's" side of the Jordan River (notice that the nine-and-a-half tribes have already started to think of the Trans-Jordan tribes as not being a part of Israel and the boundary of Israel starting at the Jordan River and not including the land given to the Trans-Jordan tribes), then the people of Israel all gathered at Shiloh (where the Tabernacle was at) to make war against the Trans-Jordan tribes.  For the rest of Israel assumed that they raised up this altar in some kind of rebellion or defiance of the LORD, either to worship false gods or to make their own place of worship so that they did not have to travel to the Tabernacle to worship in the place and way that God had ordained.

The people choose diplomacy before war and send Phinehas the son of Eleazar along with ten representatives--one from each of the nine-and-a-half tribes living in Canaan (including West Manasseh) to speak to the leaders of Reuben, Gad and East Manasseh.  Their goal is to lay out the charges, as they see them, to call the Trans-Jordan tribes to repentance for the sake of all of Israel and to offer them a place to live in Canaan if that would help them to be connected to the LORD and LORD's people, for they saw this action as an act of either rebellion or idolatry.  At the same time that these men went to seek a diplomatic option, all of the fighting men gathered their armies together to make war if necessary.

The nine-and-a-half tribes are concerned that what the Trans-Jordan tribes did building another altar to the LORD would anger the LORD (for He had designated one altar and one place of worship with the Tabernacle) and that all of Israel would suffer for the actions of these two-and-a-half tribes.  They point out how Achan's sin affected the whole congregation even though it was done in secret, and this action (which they presume to be sinful) is out in the open for everyone to see--even the other Gentile nations.  How much more would the LORD's anger burn against them in this situation if this was open rebellion that was not dealt with swiftly and decisively?

Then the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered and said that it was not as an alternate place of worship that they had built this altar, but as a witness to the nine-and-a-half tribes and to their descendants and to the Trans-Jordan tribes and their descendants that they were one people with one LORD and one common faith, and their land in the Trans-Jordan was also part of the Land that was promised by the LORD.  They knew no other way to show their allegiance to the LORD other than to build a huge version of the Altar of the LORD that all could see from far away.  It was not intended to be a sign of rebellion or an act of idolatry, but a symbol of unity and to remind everyone that the Jordan River was not the boundary between two different lands and two different peoples (the nine-and-a-half tribes had already made this mistake, so the Trans-Jordan tribes were right that they would need a physical reminder that the Trans-Jordan tribes were Israelites too).  Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh were concerned that there would be viewed as having "no portion in the LORD" and might be excluded from the assembly of those that could worship in the Tabernacle (and later in the Temple).

Phinehas and the ten chiefs of the nine-and-a-half tribes hear what Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh have to say, and their answer seems good in their eyes.  Notice that nowhere in this passage did the congregation seek the opinion of the LORD either in going to war or in the offering of land to the Trans-Jordan tribes or even in accepting their answer.  I think that it is telling that in all of this, all of these tribes have already started to do what was right in their own eyes and judge good and evil for themselves by how they perceive and hear things.  It is quite possible that the LORD might have told them that while the intent was good, the existence of a second altar was not a good thing and that the altar needed to be torn down to prevent the temptation of idolatry.  The LORD was the one that commanded that those that wanted their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River should get what they asked for after having leading the armies of Israel in battle for the conquest of Canaan--a land that they would have no portion in.  The LORD might have had something to say to the nine-and-a-half tribes or to the two-and-a-half tribes or to both of them, but we don't know because neither of them ever asked the LORD's opinion.  They just did what felt right to them.  This is going to set us up for the book of Judges which will have the refrain "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  We're already seeing the seeds of that here and Joshua is still there to lead the people and to remind them of the LORD's covenant that they are to be careful to follow (one part of which is that they were always to seek the LORD's council before making either war or treaty).