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Joshua 22

Joshua book home•Chapter 22 of 24•34 verses

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Joshua 22 Overview

Joshua dismisses Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh after they faithfully complete their military obligation west of Jordan. On the way home, they build a large altar near the Jordan, alarming the western tribes, who fear a rival worship center and prepare for war. Phinehas and tribal leaders investigate, and the eastern tribes explain the altar is only a witness that they share in the LORD, not an altar for sacrifice. The explanation preserves peace.

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22Chapter

34Verses

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Before you read Joshua 22

Coming from

Chapter 21 completed the Levitical-city assignments and declared that the LORD had given Israel the land, rest, and every good promise.

In this chapter

A potential civil war tests whether Israel can defend covenant worship without judging before hearing the facts.

Leads into

Chapter 23 jumps forward to Joshua’s old age and gives his farewell warning that Israel must cling to the LORD and avoid joining itself to the remaining nations.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The eastern tribes had promised in Numbers 32 and Joshua 1 to fight until their brethren received rest; Joshua now declares that they have kept that promise. The altar triggers justified concern because Deuteronomy restricts sacrificial worship to the place God chooses. Yet the investigating delegation listens before attacking. The eastern tribes appeal to God as witness and explain that geography—not rebellion—motivated the memorial structure.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Keeping a long-term promise matters; the eastern tribes are commended for years of faithful service beside their brethren.

Truth 2

Zeal for pure worship is right, but accusations still require investigation.

Truth 3

Listening to an explanation can prevent righteous concern from becoming wrongful violence.

Truth 4

A memorial can affirm unity when its purpose is clearly distinguished from unauthorized worship.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Numbers 32 records the eastern tribes’ original military promise.

Connection 2

Deuteronomy 12 explains why a second sacrificial altar would have been a serious covenant violation.

Connection 3

Numbers 25 and 31 identify Phinehas as a priest already known for zeal, making his role in this careful investigation especially significant.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not portray the western tribes as foolish merely for being concerned; a rival sacrificial altar would have been a major breach.

Keep this clear 2

Do not portray the eastern tribes as idolaters after the text explicitly accepts their explanation.

Keep this clear 3

The chapter does not teach that good intentions excuse unauthorized worship; peace is preserved because the altar is said not to function as a sacrificial rival.

Read Joshua 22 watching for…

Joshua’s praise of the eastern tribes before dismissal.

Why the altar’s location creates alarm.

The western tribes’ references to Peor and Achan.

The eastern tribes’ repeated denial that the altar is for sacrifice.

How Phinehas and the princes respond after hearing the explanation.

Chapter outline4 sections

1-9Joshua releases the eastern tribes with a blessing 10-20The altar by Jordan alarms the western tribes 21-29The eastern tribes explain that the altar is a witness, not a rival altar 30-34Phinehas and the princes accept the explanation and peace is preserved

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

And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.

And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto 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 unto their tents.

Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them,

And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

And 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 unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to.

And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.

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

And the children of Israel sent unto 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,

And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.

And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,

Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD?

Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,

But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God.

Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,

The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)

That we have built us an altar to turn from following the LORD, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the LORD himself require it;

And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?

For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD.

Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:

But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD.

Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.

God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.

And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased them.

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the LORD is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the LORD: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD.

And 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, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God.

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Joshua 22:25

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