The Eastern Tribes Return Home
Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Num 32:18-33Deu 29:7-8 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. Jos 1:12-18Deu 3:16-20Num 32:20-29 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. Php 1:23-27
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. Jos 13:8Num 32:18Deu 3:20Deu 12:9Deu 29:8Deu 3:1-17Jos 13:15Jos 21:43-44 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.” Mat 22:37Exo 20:6Rom 8:28Exo 15:26Deu 11:22Jhn 14:15Jas 1:12Jos 24:14-15
So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes. Jos 14:13Luk 24:502Sa 6:18Exo 39:43Gen 47:71Sa 2:202Ch 30:182Sa 6:20 (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, Jos 17:1-12Num 32:33Jos 13:29-31 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.” Num 31:271Sa 30:24Deu 8:17-18Deu 8:9-14Pro 3:161Co 15:581Sa 30:162Ch 17:5
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. Num 32:26Num 32:29Num 32:1Deu 3:15-16Jos 13:11Jos 13:25Jos 13:31Num 32:39-40 And when they came to Geliloth 1near 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. Gen 28:18Gen 31:46-52Jos 22:25-28Jos 24:26-27Jos 4:5-9
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.” Deu 13:12-14Deu 12:5-7Jhn 1:28Jos 2:7Lev 17:8-9Jdg 12:5Jhn 20:1Jhn 20:12 And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them. Jdg 20:1-11Act 11:2-3Deu 13:15Gal 4:17-18Jos 18:1Rom 10:2
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. Num 25:7Exo 6:25Jdg 20:28Psa 106:30-31Deu 13:14Jdg 20:12Mat 18:15Num 25:11-13 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. Num 1:4Exo 18:25
They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them, 1Ch 21:31Co 1:101Co 5:41Sa 15:232Ch 10:192Ch 25:272Ch 26:182Ch 28:13 “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? Deu 12:13-14
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. Num 25:1-18Psa 106:28-29Deu 4:3-41Co 10:111Co 10:8Ezr 9:13-14 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. Num 16:22Jos 22:161Ch 21:11Ch 21:141Ki 9:61Sa 12:141Sa 12:202Ch 25:27
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. Jos 18:12Ch 11:132Ch 11:16-17Act 10:14-15Act 11:8-9Amo 7:17Deu 12:5-6Exo 15:17
Was not Achan 2son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, 3 bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’” Jos 7:1Jos 7:51Co 10:6Jos 7:18Jos 7:242Pe 2:6Jud 1:5-6
Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel: 1Pe 3:15Act 11:4Exo 18:21-25Jas 1:19Mic 5:2Pro 15:1Pro 16:1Pro 18:13 “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. 1Ki 8:39Deu 10:17Psa 44:21Job 10:7Jer 17:101Sa 15:231Ti 6:162Co 11:11 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 fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable. 1Sa 20:16Deu 18:192Ch 24:22Deu 12:11Ezk 3:18Ezk 33:6Ezk 33:8Gen 9:4
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? Jos 4:6Deu 6:20Exo 13:14Gen 18:19Gen 30:33 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. 1Ki 12:161Ki 12:27-301Ki 14:161Ki 15:301Sa 26:192Sa 20:1Act 8:21Ezr 4:2-3
That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’ Jos 24:27Gen 31:48Deu 12:11Deu 12:17-18Deu 12:5-6Jos 22:341Sa 7:12Deu 12:26-27
Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’ Exo 25:40Ezk 43:10-11Heb 8:52Ki 16:10
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.” Deu 12:13-14Jos 24:161Ki 21:31Sa 12:232Ch 32:122Ki 18:22Gen 44:17Gen 44:7
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. Jos 22:331Sa 25:32-331Sa 29:62Ch 30:4Act 11:18Est 1:21Gen 28:8Jdg 8:3 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.” 2Ch 15:2Lev 26:11-121Co 14:25Isa 12:6Jos 3:10Mat 1:23Num 14:41-43Psa 68:17
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. Jos 22:12-14Pro 25:13 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. 1Ch 29:20Dan 2:19Luk 2:28Jos 22:301Sa 25:32-331Th 3:6-82Co 7:7Act 15:12 So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, 4 “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.” Jos 22:27Isa 43:10Mat 4:101Ki 18:39Jos 24:27