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Texts -- Joshua 22:5-34 (NET)

Context
22:5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love the Lord your God , follow all his instructions , obey his commands , be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and being !” 22:6 Joshua rewarded them and sent them on their way ; they returned to their homes . 22:7 (Now to one half-tribe of Manasseh , Moses had assigned land in Bashan ; and to the other half Joshua had assigned land on the west side of the Jordan with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home , he rewarded them, 22:8 saying , “Take home great wealth , a lot of cattle , silver , gold , bronze , iron , and a lot of clothing . Divide up the goods captured from your enemies with your brothers .” 22:9 So the Reubenites , Gadites , and half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead , which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses .
Civil War is Averted
22:10 The Reubenites , Gadites , and half-tribe of Manasseh came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan and built there , near the Jordan , an impressive altar . 22:11 The Israelites received this report : “Look , the Reubenites , Gadites , and half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance to the land of Canaan , at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side .” 22:12 When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to launch an attack against them. 22:13 The Israelites sent Phinehas , son of Eleazar , the priest , to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites , Gadites , and the half-tribe of Manasseh . 22:14 He was accompanied by ten leaders , one from each of the Israelite tribes , each one a family leader among the Israelite clans. 22:15 They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites , Gadites , and the half-tribe of Manasseh , and said to them: 22:16 “The entire community of the Lord says , ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord ? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord . 22:17 The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough . To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord . 22:18 Now today you dare to turn back from following the Lord ! You are rebelling today against the Lord ; tomorrow he may break out in anger against the entire community of Israel . 22:19 But if your own land is impure , cross over to the Lord’s own land , where the Lord himself lives , and settle down among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or us by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God . 22:20 When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged , though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin !’” 22:21 The Reubenites , Gadites , and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans : 22:22 “El , God , the Lord ! El , God , the Lord ! He knows the truth! Israel must also know ! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord , don’t spare us today ! 22:23 If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering tokens of peace on it, the Lord himself will punish us. 22:24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants , ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel ? 22:25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites . You have no right to worship the Lord .’ In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying the Lord . 22:26 So we decided to build this altar , not for burnt offerings and sacrifices , 22:27 but as a reminder to us and you, and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence with burnt offerings , sacrifices , and tokens of peace . Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants , ‘You have no right to worship the Lord .’ 22:28 We said , ‘If in the future they say such a thing to us or to our descendants , we will reply , “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors made , not for burnt offerings or sacrifices , but as a reminder to us and you.”’ 22:29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings , sacrifices , and tokens of peace aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place !” 22:30 When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites , Gadites , and the Manassehites , they were satisfied . 22:31 Phinehas , son of Eleazar , the priest , said to the Reubenites , Gadites , and the Manassehites , “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this . Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment .” 22:32 Phinehas , son of Eleazar , the priest , and the leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead and reported back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan . 22:33 The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God . They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived . 22:34 The Reubenites and Gadites named the altar , “Surely it is a Reminder to us that the Lord is God .”

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • WITNESS

    [smith] Among people with whom writing is not common the evidence of a transaction is given by some tangible memorial or significant ceremony: Abraham gave seven ewe-lambs to Abimelech as an evidence of his property in the well of Be...

  • Thousands

    [ebd] (Micah 5:2), another name for "families" or "clans" (see Num. 1:16; 10:4; Josh. 22:14, 21). Several "thousands" or "families" made up a "tribe."

  • Testimony

    [ebd] (1.) Witness or evidence (2 Thess. 1:10). (2.) The Scriptures, as the revelation of God's will (2 Kings 11:12; Ps. 19:7; 119:88; Isa. 8:16, 20). (3.) The altar raised by the Gadites and Reubenites (Josh. 22:10).

  • REUBEN

    [isbe] REUBEN - roo'-ben, ru'-ben (re'ubhen; Rhouben): The eldest son of Jacob, born to him by Leah in Paddan-aram (Gen 29:32). 1. Jacob's Oldest Son: This verse seems to suggest two derivations of the name. As it stands in Massore...

  • Passage

    [ebd] denotes in Josh. 22:11, as is generally understood, the place where the children of Israel passed over Jordan. The words "the passage of" are, however, more correctly rendered "by the side of," or "at the other side of," thu...

  • PENTATEUCH, 3

    [isbe] PENTATEUCH, 3 - III. Some Literary Points. 1. Style of Legislation: No general estimate of the Pentateuch as literature can or need be attempted. Probably most readers are fully sensible to its literary beauties. Anybody who...

  • PALESTINE, 2

    [isbe] PALESTINE, 2 - III. Palestine in the Historic Books of the Old Testament. 1. Book of Joshua: Joshua is the great geographical book of the Old Testament; and the large majority of the 600 names of places, rivers and mountains...

  • Manasseh

    [nave] MANASSEH 1. Son of Joseph and Asenath, Gen. 41:50, 51; 46:20; adopted by Jacob on his deathbed, Gen. 48:1, 5-20. Called Manasses, Rev. 7:6. 2. Tribe of. Descendants of Joseph. The two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, ...

  • Manaen

    [ebd] consoler, a Christian teacher at Antioch. Nothing else is known of him beyond what is stated in Acts 13:1, where he is spoken of as having been brought up with (Gr. syntrophos; rendered in R.V. "foster brother" of) Herod, i....

  • MANASSEH (2)

    [isbe] MANASSEH (2) - 1. Son of Joseph: Following the Biblical account of Manasseh (patriarch, tribe, and territory) we find that he was the eider of Joseph's two sons by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On (Gen 41:51...

  • LEVITICUS, 2

    [isbe] LEVITICUS, 2 - III. Origin. 1. Against the Wellhausen Hypothesis: As in the article ATONEMENT, DAY OF, sec. I, 2, (2), we took a stand against the modern attempts at splitting up the text, and in III, 1 against theory of the...

  • Israel

    [nave] ISRAEL 1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4. 2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3. 3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 4...

  • GAD (1)

    [isbe] GAD (1) - (gadh, "fortune"; Gad): 1. The Name: The seventh son of Jacob, whose mother was Zilpah (Gen 30:11), and whose birth was welcomed by Leah with the cry, "Fortunate!" Some have sought to connect the name with that of ...

  • FATHER'S HOUSE, FATHERS' HOUSE

    [isbe] FATHER'S HOUSE, FATHERS' HOUSE - (beth 'abh, beth 'abhoth): Father's house in the Old Testament is (1) a dwelling, the family home (Gen 12:1; 31:14,30; 38:11; 1 Sam 18:2); (2) a family or household (Gen 41:51; 46:31; Ex 12:3...

  • DEUTERONOMY

    [isbe] DEUTERONOMY - du-ter-on'-o-mi: 1. Name 2. What Deuteronomy Is 3. Analysis 4. Ruling Ideas 5. Unity 6. Authorship 7. Deuteronomy Spoken Twice 8. Deuteronomy's Influence in Israel's History 9. The Critical Theory LITERATURE 1....

  • CRITICISM

    [isbe] CRITICISM - (The Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis) I. PRELIMINARY 1. Thesis 2. Historical Perspective 3. Inspiration and Criticism II. THE LEGISLATION 1. Groups 2. Covenant Code 3. The Sanctuary 4. Kinds of Sacrifice 5. Sacrifice ...

  • CARE; CAREFULNESS; CAREFUL

    [isbe] CARE; CAREFULNESS; CAREFUL - kar, kar'-fool-ness, kar'-fool: The English word "care" has such a variety of meanings, and so many Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible are translated by this English expression and its compounds...

  • CANAAN; CANAANITES

    [isbe] CANAAN; CANAANITES - ka'-nan, ka'-nan-its (kena`an; Chanaan): 1. Geography 2. Meaning of the Name 3. The Results of Recent Excavations 4. History (1) Stone Age (2) Bronze Age (3) A Babylonian Province (4) Jerusalem Founded (...

  • Beyond

    [ebd] when used with reference to Jordan, signifies in the writings of Moses the west side of the river, as he wrote on the east bank (Gen. 50:10, 11; Deut. 1:1, 5; 3:8, 20; 4:46); but in the writings of Joshua, after he had cross...

  • Baal-peor

    [ebd] lord of the opening, a god of the Moabites (Num. 25:3; 31:16; Josh. 22:17), worshipped by obscene rites. So called from Mount Peor, where this worship was celebrated, the Baal of Peor. The Israelites fell into the worship of...

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  • [Jos 22:28] Anniversary Hymn

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Another instance of incomplete obedience followed the great victory God gave His people and the military commanders' sacrificial, voluntary worship of Yahweh.32:1-19 Maybe the leaders of Reuben and Gad concluded that their br...
  • I. The conquest of the land chs. 1-12A. Preparations for entering Canaan chs. 1-21. God's charge to Joshua 1:1-92. Joshua's charge to Israel 1:10-183. The spying out of Jericho ch. 2B. Entrance into the land 3:1-5:121. Passag...
  • In one sense verses 1-9 are a preamble to the whole book. They contain the basic principles that were to guide Joshua and Israel so they could obtain all that God had promised their forefathers.1:1 The first word of the book ...
  • Chapters 13-24 describe how Joshua divided the land and the results of that division. Many if not all the Israelite tribes did not conquer or control all the land allotted to them (15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13). The record of the a...
  • This portion of the Promised Land went to the two and one-half tribes that had requested it previously (Num. 32).13:8-14 This pericope of verses records the boundaries of Israel's whole transjordanian territory. The peoples t...
  • The main part of the second half of the Book of Joshua dealing with the division of the land ends with the appointment of the Levitical cities (chs. 13-21). The rest of the book deals with settlement in the land (chs. 22-24)....
  • These final verses record the end of Joshua's life and ministry that terminated an important and successful era in Israel's history. Israel's success continued as long as the elders who had served Israel contemporaneously wit...
  • Succoth and Penuel (a variant of Peniel, cf. Gen. 32:30) were towns that stood on the east side of the Jordan beside the Jabbok River. The residents of these villages lived closer to the Midianites than most of the Israelites...
  • The 11 tribes wisely tried to settle this problem with the Benjamites peacefully (v. 12; cf. Josh. 22:13-20). Unfortunately the Benjamites decided to support the residents of Gibeah who were their kinsmen. They should have si...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • This oracle clarifies that God's purposes for Egypt, another nation the Judeans wanted to trust for help during this time of Assyrian expansion, would involve judgment followed by blessing. The passage consists of three palis...
  • The tribe of Dan was to receive the northernmost section of the Promised Land. The order of tribes from north to south, north of the sacred district, was Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Judah--seven tribal...
  • 1:21 Capernaum became Jesus' base of ministry in Galilee (cf. Luke 4:16-31). It stood on the Sea of Galilee's northwest shore and was the hub of the most populous district in Galilee. Archaeologists have done extensive restor...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Joshua 21:43-45; 22:1-9The old order changeth, giving place to new.' In this passage we have the breaking up of the congregation and the disbanding of the victorious army. The seven years of fighting had come to an end. The s...
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