Joshuachapter 22
34 verses · Joshua, by tradition · 15th or 13th century BC · History
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.
Introduction
Joshua, by tradition, History, Joshua Overview.
This chapter follows the soldiers of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh home after years of fighting for their brothers. They had promised Moses they would stay until every tribe held its land, and they kept that promise. The narrator then records a near disaster between people who worshiped the same God. The first hearers knew the law that allowed sacrifice at one place alone, and they knew what idolatry had already cost Israel. Listen for how quickly a report becomes a muster for war, and for the question that stops it. Listen too for the name given to what the eastern tribes built.
Context
- Who
- Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh going home, and a nation that came within a day of civil war
- What
- An account of the eastern tribes sent home with a blessing, the altar they built by the Jordan, and the war it nearly caused.
- Where
- Shiloh west of the Jordan, the region of Geliloth by the river, and the land of Gilead to the east.
- When
- About 1399 BC on the fifteenth-century date for the conquest, soon after the division of the land was finished.
- Why
- To show how Israel kept its worship at one altar and its tribes together, and how a charge was tested before it was punished.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to the eastern tribes. Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh had promised at Numbers 32:20 to 22 to cross over armed and fight until every other tribe had its inheritance. Joshua's words at verse 3 are the receipt for that promise.
Show the rest of the historical context, 6 more paragraphs
It stands after the division is complete and the land has rest, and it opens the book's last movement. Commentators reckon the length of the service from Caleb's arithmetic at Joshua 14:7 and 14:10, which leaves about seven years of war.
The dismissal happens at Shiloh, where the tabernacle stood. The altar goes up by the Jordan in the region of Geliloth, and the embassy travels on into Gilead east of the river.
The occasion is the altar and the report of it. Israel musters at Shiloh for war before anyone has asked a question, and then sends Phinehas and ten tribal leaders to ask.
A first hearer knew why a second altar looked like treason. Deuteronomy 12:5 to 14 had fixed sacrifice at one place. Deuteronomy 13:12 to 15 set out the procedure for a report that a town had gone after other gods, which is inquiry before the sword.
Such a hearer also knew who Phinehas was. He is the man of Numbers 25:7 and 8, who ended the plague at Peor, and Peor is the first case he raises when he speaks.
The last thing a first hearer understood was what a monument on a border did. Genesis 31:47 and 48 has Jacob and Laban pile stones at a boundary and name the heap for what it does. A structure built to be pointed at and never used was a recognisable act.
Significance
The chapter showed first hearers covenant seriousness from both sides. One side was ready to fight over unauthorised worship, and the other was building a monument so its grandchildren would not be cut off.
Show the rest of the significance, 2 more paragraphs
It also showed them the process that saved the nation: a report, an army, an embassy, a charge, a hearing, an explanation, and a war called off.
The fear the eastern tribes name was the sharpest thing said that day. They expected the Jordan to be treated one day as a border of belonging, and Judges 12:1 to 6 records that arriving.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The quarrel of this chapter turns on a law of worship, and Rashi states the law at the point where Israel musters for war. The western tribes were ready to fight "because בָּמוֹת were prohibited ... once the Mishkan was established at Shiloh" (Rashi on Joshua 22:12:1, the Metsudah Publications translation of 1997, CC-BY). The translation's own note explains the term: a bamah is any altar for sacrifice other than the altar of the Tabernacle or the Temple, permitted before the Tabernacle was established and forbidden while it stood, because such altars were held to threaten the unity of Israel and the centrality of the Tabernacle. A Christian reader who has wondered why an altar by the Jordan should be worth a civil war has the answer in that sentence, and it is a matter of practice rather than of sentiment.
Rashi reads the eastern tribes' defence as a defence made under oath and under fear. The doubled divine name of the twenty-second verse he takes as a declaration made twice over, that God is God in this world and in the world to come, and that he knows their intent was not rebellion (Rashi on Joshua 22:22:1). Their appeal that God himself should prosecute he glosses in three words, let him punish us (Rashi on Joshua 22:23:1). Their motive he takes from the word for anxiety, and he reads the whole speech as fear of a future insult, that the western children would one day tell the eastern children they have no share in the LORD because the Jordan stands between. He sets the same word beside Zedekiah's fear in Jeremiah to show what it means (Rashi on Joshua 22:24:1). The altar's purpose he reads as a witness that they have not withdrawn from the law governing the altar (Rashi on Joshua 22:27:1).
Two further notes touch practice directly. At the eighth verse Rashi reads the order to divide the spoil with the brothers as covering those who stayed behind to guard the cities, the women and the children, and he records that the practice was instituted by Abraham and made a standing rule by David (Rashi on Joshua 22:8:1). At the nineteenth he explains Phinehas's offer to let the eastern tribes cross over as resting on a judgment about their land, that God had not chosen to rest his Presence there (Rashi on Joshua 22:19:1). At the seventh he notes that Joshua sent the half-tribe of Manasseh away in the same manner as Reuben and Gad (Rashi on Joshua 22:7:1).
Metzudat David, Malbim and Radak carry the rest of the commentary, and the corpus holds sixteen of their refs with the reason that Sefaria holds no English version of them, so they stand cited and unquoted: Metzudat David on Joshua 22:2:1, 22:4:1, 22:5:1, 22:10:1, 22:13:1, 22:16:1, 22:17:1, 22:18:1, 22:25:1 and 22:26:1; Malbim on Joshua 22:3:1, 22:9:1, 22:11:1 and 22:21:1; and Radak on Joshua 22:14:1 and 22:20:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries thirty three rabbinic locators for this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. The doubled divine name of the twenty-second verse draws the largest group, ten in all, and most of them are liturgical rather than narrative, because the verse is one of the places the rabbis argue the names of God from. There the corpus holds Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 5:1:17, 9:1:9 and 9:1:10, Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 1:9:9 and Jerusalem Talmud Shekalim 3:2:11, with Bereshit Rabbah 8:9, Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 1:14:1, Midrash Tehillim 50:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 31:3.
Achan is raised again in this chapter as the warning case, and the twentieth verse carries six locators for it: Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 19:6, Midrash Tanchuma at Nitzavim 2:1 and Vayeshev 2:8, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Nitzavim 5:2, Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 11:1, and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 940:8. The dividing of the spoil at the eighth verse carries Bereshit Rabbah 98:15, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 24, and two entries of Otzar Midrashim, under Pesikta Chadata 19 and under Lekach Tov on the Blessings of Yaakov Our Father 21. Joshua's blessing at the sixth verse carries Bereshit Rabbah 35:3, Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 17:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 31:1, and the seventh carries Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 32:17:1 with Seder Olam Rabbah 11:2.
The rest follow the dispute itself. On the fifteenth verse the corpus holds Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 13:1; on the eighteenth, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 13:14:1; on the nineteenth, Introductions to Tanaitic Literature, Introductions to Tractates of the Mishnah, Kelim 28; on the twenty-fourth, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 18:23 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 225:3; and on the thirtieth, where Phinehas and the chiefs are satisfied, Zevachim 101b:11 with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Zevachim 12:1, Ein Yaakov, Zevakhim 12:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 772:1. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Joshua 22:7:1 to 22:27:1, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997, CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Joshua 22:2:1 to 22:26:1, ten refs cited because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Joshua 22:3:1, 22:9:1, 22:11:1 and 22:21:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Radak, Radak on Joshua 22:14:1 and 22:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/joshua/22.json, the 33 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The eastern tribes sent home with a blessing
Joshua 22:1-3
The promise kept here was made at Numbers 32:20-22, where these tribes agreed to cross armed before the Lord until every tribe had its inheritance. Joshua's words at verse 3, "you have not deserted your brothers", are the receipt for it. Commentators reckon the service from Caleb's figures at 14:7 and 14:10, forty at the spying and eighty-five now, which leaves about seven years of war.
Joshua 22:1
“The events of this chap. are no doubt recorded in their proper historical order. The auxiliary forces of the trans-Jordanic tribes were not sent away immediately after the campaigns against the Canaanites were over. They set forth from Shiloh, Jos 22:9, to which place the sanctuary had been removed Jos 18:1 after the conquest and the settlement of the children of Judah and of Joseph in their possessions, and after the appointment of the Levitical cities.”
At Joshua 1:16-17 these tribes promised to obey Joshua just as they had obeyed Moses. Joshua now reports that promise kept on both counts. The two commanders had given one order.
Joshua 22:2
“When Moses was gone, they remembered and observed the charge he had given them; and all the orders which Joshua, as general of the forces, had issued out, they had carefully obeyed, went, and came, and did, as he appointed, Matt. viii. It is as much as any thing the soldier's praise to observe the word of command.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Moses first gave this charge at Deuteronomy 3:18-20, ordering the men of valor to cross armed ahead of their brothers until the LORD gave them rest. Genesis 26:5 uses the same phrase of Abraham, who kept the LORD's charge. Joshua counts their war service as that obedience.
Joshua 22:4-5
Rest is the word the book has moved toward, promised at Deuteronomy 12:9-10, offered these tribes at 1:13-15 and given at 21:44. Hebrews 4:8 takes it up, where the King James spells Joshua's name as Jesus: had he given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day. Verse 5 stacks five verbs, love, walk, keep, hold fast and serve, from Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12 and 11:22.
Joshua 22:4
“Tho' their affections to their families could not but make them very desirous to return, yet like good soldiers, they would not move 'till they had orders from their general. So, tho' we desire to be at home with Christ ever so much, yet we must stay here till our warfare is accomplished, wait for a due discharge, and not anticipate the time of our removal.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua sends these tribes home with the law while the tabernacle stays at Shiloh, a river away from their towns. Five verses later their altar puts the charge to the test. At Joshua 23:8 Joshua gives all Israel the same order to hold fast to the LORD.
Joshua 22:5
“But take diligent heed, etc. - Let us examine the force of this excellent advice; they must ever consider that their prosperity and continued possession of the land depended on their fidelity and obedience to God; to this they must take diligent heed. Do the commandment - They must pay the strictest regard to every moral precept. And the law - They must observe all the rites and ceremonies of their holy religion. Love the Lord your God - Without an affectionate filial attachment to their Maker, duty would be irksome, grievous, and impossible.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 22:6-8
So Joshua blessed them: The spoil is shared with those who stayed behind, the rule of Numbers 31:27 after Midian that David made permanent at 1 Samuel 30:24-25. Verse 7 explains the split in Manasseh: Moses gave half the tribe Bashan (Numbers 32:33; Deuteronomy 3:13), and Joshua gave the other half land west of the river. Joshua blesses them twice and ends by sharing the spoil with men who were absent.
Joshua 22:6
“So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away,.... Dismissed them from his presence with a blessing, in order to go to their own country; this he did by wishing them well, praying to God for a blessing on them, their persons, and families, who had been so useful in assisting their brethren to get possession of the land of Canaan.”
Manasseh is the one tribe with families on both banks of the Jordan. When the ten chiefs cross at verse 14, a leader from western Manasseh goes to question his own tribe's eastern half. The quarrel over the altar runs through one family.
Joshua 22:7
“The insertion of this explanation about the half tribe, and the repetition of Joshua’s farewell, are examples of a marked characteristic of very ancient writers and of Hebrew writers as much as any - that of giving a completeness and finish to each section of their story. The Jewish historian scarcely ever quotes or reminds, but repeats so much as may be necessary to make his account of the transaction in hand fully intelligible by itself. (Compare also Jos 13:14, Jos 13:33; Jos 14:3; Jos 18:7.)”
These tribes owned very large herds when they asked for Gilead at Numbers 32:1, and they go home with more. The silver, gold, bronze and iron are the kind of goods Joshua 6:19 reserved for the LORD's treasury at Jericho, and Achan died for taking them. Joshua 8:2 let Israel keep the plunder of Ai.
Joshua 22:8
“With your brethren -- that is, with them who stayed beyond Jordan for the defense of their land, and wives, and children, who therefore were to have a share, though not an equal share with these. But for them, 1 Sam. xxx, 24, their share was equal, because their danger was equal.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 22:9-10
They leave from Shiloh, where the tabernacle stood from 18:1 until the ark was taken in 1 Samuel 4. Readers have placed the altar on the western bank and on the eastern, since verse 10 says "in the land of Canaan" and verse 11 "on the border" of it. It is called an imposing altar, built to be seen from afar, which becomes the argument of verse 28.
Joshua 22:9
“Gilead - Here used in the widest sense for the whole trans-Jordanic district.”
A great altar by Jordan, and a nation ready for war
Joshua 18:17 puts a Geliloth on Benjamin's border facing the Ascent of Adummim, and the matching border at 15:7 names Gilgal facing the same ascent. Barnes takes the two for one place. Gilgal was Israel's first camp west of the Jordan, where the twelve stones from the river stood.
Joshua 22:10
“The borders of Jordan, that are in - Canaan - This verse can never mean that they built the altar on the west side of Jordan, for this was not in their territories; nor could it be a place for the purpose of public worship to their own people, if built on the opposite side of Jordan; besides, the next verse says it was built over against the land of Canaan. It appears that when they came to the river they formed the purpose of building the altar; and when they had crossed it they executed their purpose.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 22:11-12
Israel hears a report and musters at Shiloh for war before anyone has asked a question. Deuteronomy 13:12-15 sets out the procedure for this exact charge, that a report of a city gone after other gods is to be inquired of, searched out and asked diligently before a sword is drawn. The inquiry does happen, and it happens in the next verse with the army already gathered.
Joshua 22:11
“It was no strained innuendo from the building of an altar to infer an intention to offer sacrifice upon it, and that might introduce idolatry and end in a total apostasy from the faith and worship of the God of Israel.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Joshua 21:44 had just recorded the rest the LORD gave Israel, and the first muster after it is called against their own brothers. The tribes gather at Shiloh, beside the tabernacle whose altar the new one seemed to rival. Zeal for that altar came close to civil war.
Joshua 22:12
“They all gathered together, and Shiloh was the place of their rendezvous, because it was in defence of the divine charter lately granted to that place that they now appeared; their resolution was as became a kingdom of priests, who, being devoted to God and his service, did not acknowledge their brethren nor know their own children, Deut. xxxiii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Joshua 22:12
“Gathered themselves together - The various tribes had already dispersed to their homes, and were now summoned together again.”
Joshua 22:12
“To go up to war against them - Supposing that they had built this altar in opposition to that which Moses, by the command of God, had erected, and were consequently become rebels against God and the Israelitish constitution, and should be treated as such. Their great concern for the glory of God led them to take this step, which at first view might appear precipitate; but, that they might do nothing rashly, they first sent Phinehas and ten princes, one out of each tribe, to require an explanation of their motives in erecting this altar.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 22:13-15
Phinehas is the man of Numbers 25:7-8 who took a spear into the tent at Peor and stopped the plague, earning a covenant of peace at 25:12-13. He is sent to men accused of a second Peor, and Peor is the first thing he raises at verse 17. The ten chiefs are one for each western tribe, with Levi standing in the priest who leads them.
Joshua 22:13
“Thus was their zeal for God tempered, guided, and governed by the meekness of wisdom. He that knows all things, and hates all evil things, would not punish the worst of criminals but he would first go down and see, Gen. xviii. Many an unhappy strife would be prevented, or soon healed by an impartial and favourable enquiry into that which is the matter of the offence.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The embassy follows the pattern of Numbers 1:4 and 13:2, one leader from each tribe. Every western tribe has a man in the room, so the answer given in Gilead binds the whole nation. Phinehas speaks for the sanctuary.
Moses promised at Numbers 32:22 that this land would belong to these tribes as a possession before the LORD once the war was done. The ten chiefs and the priest now stand in that land to ask whether its owners have turned from the LORD. Phinehas tests the promise on its own ground.
Joshua 22:15
“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,.... The deputation came thither; they either sent for the chiefs among the two tribes and a half, to meet them at some place, or they, having a notion of their coming, assembled together to receive them, and hear what they had to say to them: and they spake with them, saying; as follows; very probably Phinehas was the mouth of the whole, for there could be but one speaker.”
Joshua 22:16-17
The Hebrew word behind "breach of faith" is the word used of Achan's sin at 7:1, and the delegation names Achan four verses later. Peor is raised as a sin uncleansed "to this day", though its 24,000 dead at Numbers 25:9 had been gone a generation. The charge assumes a second altar means a second worship, which Deuteronomy 12:5-14 made a capital matter.
Joshua 22:16
“What trespass - How heinous a crime is this! This day - That is, so soon after God hath obliged you by such wonderful favours, and when God is now conducting you home to reap the fruits of all your pains and hazards. Rebel - With a design to rebel against God, and against his express command of worshipping him at one only altar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Commentators read the uncleansed sin two ways, as a guilt the nation still carried and as a love for the Baal of Peor that some still hid. Matthew Henry takes the second. At Joshua 24:23 Joshua still has to order Israel to get rid of the foreign gods among them.
Joshua 22:17
“From which we are not cleansed until this day - Phinehas, who had borne a conspicuous part in vindicating the cause of God against those who fell away to Baal-peor, means that terrible as the punishment had been, there were still those among them who hankered after Baal worship, and even practiced it in secret. (Compare Joshua’s words, Jos 24:14-23.)”
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 22:17
“Of Peor - That is, of our worshipping of Baal-peor, Num. xxv, 3. Probably this is mentioned the rather, because Phinehas, the first commissioner in this treaty, had signalized himself in that matter: and because they were now at or near the very place, where that iniquity was committed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 22:18-20
The argument is corporate: a rebellion today brings anger tomorrow on the whole congregation. Verse 19 offers them land among the western tribes if the east is unclean, conceding that the tabernacle stands on one side of the river only, the very fear voiced in verses 24 and 25. Achan is the proof at verse 20, one man who did not perish alone in his sin.
Joshua 22:18
“But that you must turn away this day from following the Lord?....”
Keil and Barnes take unclean to mean a land with no tabernacle to hallow it. Numbers 34:12 runs the border of Canaan down the Jordan, and the land of the LORD's possession lies west of that line. Gilead sat outside the borders Moses drew for Canaan.
Joshua 22:19
“If the land of your possessions be unclean - The generous mind of Phinehas led him to form this excuse for them. If ye suppose that this land is impure, as not having been originally included in the covenant, and ye think that ye cannot expect the blessing of God unless ye have an altar, sacrifices, etc., then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord’s tabernacle dwelleth, the only legitimate place where sacrifices and offerings can be made.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
About thirty-six men fell at Ai for Achan's theft, at Joshua 7:5, and his sons and daughters were brought with him to the Valley of Achor at 7:24. Achan was of Judah, the accusers' own side of the river. The delegation names a sin from its own ranks.
Joshua 22:20
“Did not Achan the son of Zerah - Your sin will not be merely against yourselves; your transgressions will bring down the wrath of God upon all the people; this was the case in the transgression of Achan; he alone sinned, and yet God on that account turned his face against the whole congregation, so that they fell before their enemies.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Not for sacrifice but for witness: the altar named Ed
Joshua 22:21-23
The answer opens with a divine name said twice, "The LORD, the Mighty One, is God!", which is El Elohim Jehovah repeated in the form an oath takes. A self-curse follows, "do not spare us today", and the Lord himself is asked to hold them accountable. They swear to the motive first, and the reason for the stones waits three more verses.
Joshua 22:21
“But let us see what sacrament lies within this deed. The former people of the circumcision are represented in Reuben, who was the firstborn; but also in Gad, who also is the firstborn out of Zilpah; and Manasseh, no less a firstborn. But insofar as I say "firstborn," I speak chronologically. Therefore, these things are said not that it might be evident some division and separation is between us and those who were righteous before the coming of Christ, but that they might reveal themselves to still be our brothers even if they existed before the coming of Christ.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 26.3patristic
The accused appeal to what God already knows. The altar stood in plain view across the river, but its purpose lay in the builders' hearts, and they ask Israel to learn it. Matthew Henry notes how mild the answer is, given to an Israel mustered for war against them.
Joshua 22:22
“The Lord God of gods - The original words are exceedingly emphatic, and cannot be easily translated. אל אלהים יהוה El Elohim Yehovah, are the three principal names by which the supreme God was known among the Hebrews, and may be thus translated, the strong God, Elohim, Jehovah, which is nearly the version of Luther, der starcte Gott der Herr, “The strong God the Lord.””
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The burnt, grain and fellowship offerings are the offerings of Leviticus 1 to 3, where Leviticus 3:1 calls the last the peace offering. The builders deny every use an altar has. Leviticus 1:3 required the burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, which then stood at Shiloh.
Joshua 22:24-25
The fear here is generational: one day the western children will tell the eastern children they have no share in the Lord because the Jordan is a border. Numbers 32:6-15 shows Moses suspecting these tribes of that distance before they crossed. Time bore it out, with Ephraim and Gilead at war in Judges 12:1-6 and the eastern tribes carried into Assyria first at 1 Chronicles 5:26.
Joshua 22:24
“For fear of this thing - The motive that actuated us was directly the reverse of that of which we have been suspected.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
At Joshua 4:12 these same tribes crossed the Jordan ahead of Israel, armed for battle. The river the LORD had opened for all twelve tribes could later be read as the line that shut the eastern ones out. The loss they fear is the fear of the LORD itself.
Joshua 22:25
“A border - To shut you out of the land of promise, and consequently from the covenant made between God and our fathers. No part - Nothing to do with him; no right to serve him or expect favour from him. Cease from fearing the Lord - For they that are cut off from public ordinances, usually by degrees lose all religion.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 22:26-27
An altar that receives no sacrifice is a monument, and they call theirs "a witness between us and you and the generations to come". The pattern is Genesis 31:47-48, where Jacob and Laban heap stones at a border and name the mound for what it does. Joshua raises such markers twice, the twelve stones of chapter 4 and the great stone of 24:26-27.
Joshua 22:26
“An altar, not for burnt-offering, nor for sacrifice - Because this would have been in flat opposition to the law, Lev 17:8, Lev 17:9; Deu 12:4-6, Deu 12:10, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:13, Deu 12:14, which most positively forbade any sacrifice or offering to be made in any other place than that one which the Lord should choose.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The witness guards their right to travel to the one altar. Deuteronomy 16:16 required every man of Israel to appear before the LORD three times a year in the place He chose. The copy by the river kept that road open for their sons.
Joshua 22:27
“Before him - That we and ours may have and hold our privilege of serving and worshiping God, not upon this altar, but in the place of God's presence, in your tabernacle, and upon your altar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Joshua 22:28-29
The word rendered replica at verse 28 is the word rendered pattern at Exodus 25:9 and 25:40, so the thing by the river is a copy built to be recognised rather than used. It is shaped like an altar to be pointed at, and no fire is laid on it. Verse 29 says "Far be it from us" and places the lawful altar before the tabernacle, as Deuteronomy 12 did.
The altar of the LORD they name is the altar of burnt offering that Bezalel built of acacia wood at Exodus 38:1, set in front of the tabernacle's entrance by the order of Exodus 40:6. It stood now at Shiloh. The eastern tribes claim that altar as their own.
Joshua 22:29
“We have as great a value and veneration for the altar of the Lord at Shiloh as any of the tribes of Israel have, and are as firmly resolved to adhere to it and constantly to attend it; we have the same concern that you have for the purity of God's worship and the unity of his church; far be it, far be it from us, to think of turning away from following God." II.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Joshua 22:29
“God forbid that we should rebel - These words not only express their strong abhorrence of this crime, but also show that without God they could do no good thing, and that they depended upon him for that strength by which alone they could abstain from evil.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 22:30-31
when Phinehas the priest: They were satisfied, and the man who once settled a matter at Peor with a spear takes an answer here and goes home. Phinehas reads the outcome as evidence rather than relief: "Today we know that the LORD is among us", because the breach of faith was never committed. His last clause hands the credit to the accused, that they have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.
Joshua 22:30
“And (which is strange), whereas in most differences that happen there is a fault on both sides, on this there was fault on no side; none (for aught that appears) were to be blamed, but all to be praised.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the Lord is among us: At Joshua 7:12 the LORD told Israel He would no longer be with them unless they removed what was devoted to destruction. Phinehas reads Gilead the other way. With no breach of faith found, the LORD remains among His people.
Joshua 22:31
“We perceive that the Lord is among us - Or, according to the Targum of Jonathan. “This day we know that the majesty of Jehovah dwelleth among us, because ye have not committed this prevarication against the Word of the Lord, and thus ye have delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Word of the Lord.” They rejoice to find them innocent, and that there is no ground of quarrel between the children of the same family.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Joshua 22:32-34
The King James prints the name Ed in italics because the Masoretic text lacks it; a few Hebrew manuscripts, with the Syriac and Arabic, carry it, as Clarke and Barnes set out. Ed means witness, and the sentence it heads is a confession, "that the LORD is God". Israel gathered to destroy a tribe and went home blessing God, unlike the muster of Judges 20.
A report started the muster at verse 11, and a second report ends it. Destroying the land where these tribes lived is the sentence Deuteronomy 13:15-16 set for a city gone over to other gods, its people and livestock devoted to destruction. The assembly blesses God instead.
Joshua 22:33
“And did not intend to go up against them in battle - That is, they now relinquished the intention of going against them in battle, as this explanation proved there was no cause for the measure.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The confession on the altar, that the LORD is God, is the cry of the people on Carmel at 1 Kings 18:39 when fire fell on Elijah's altar. Deuteronomy 4:35 gives Israel the same sentence as the lesson of the Exodus. Here an altar by the river says it.
Joshua 22:34
“Called the altar Ed - The word עד Ed, which signifies witness or testimony, is not found in the common editions of the Hebrew Bible, and is supplied in Italics by our translators, at least in our modern copies; for in the first edition of this translation it stands in the text without any note of this kind; and it is found in several of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., and also in the Syriac and Arabic.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: A dismissal speech followed by a narrative of accusation, defence and reconciliation, closing on the naming of a monument, as Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The witness, said five times | The eastern tribes call the altar a witness at verses 27, 28 and 34, and the word carries the whole defence. Verse 34 names the altar for what it does, and the naming closes the chapter.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on Joshua 22:26 to 27. | Joshua 22:27, Joshua 22:28, Joshua 22:34 |
| The two precedents the accusers reach for | Phinehas raises Peor at verse 17 and Achan at verse 20, and both are cases where one group's sin fell on the whole congregation. Phinehas is himself the man of Numbers 25:7 and 8, so the first precedent he names is his own.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1834 to 1885, on Joshua 22:18 to 20. | Joshua 22:17, Joshua 22:20 |
| The name of God said twice over | Verse 22 opens the defence with the divine name repeated in the form an oath takes, the LORD the Mighty One is God said through twice. A self-curse follows at once, that if this was rebellion they are to be given no quarter.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, on Joshua 22:21 to 23. | Joshua 22:22, Joshua 22:23 |
| The fear stated and the fear answered | Verses 24 and 25 put the feared sentence in the mouth of a future western generation, that you have no share in the LORD. Verse 27 puts the answer in the mouth of a future eastern generation, pointing at the altar. The same words are used both times.Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, on Joshua 22:24 to 29. | Joshua 22:25, Joshua 22:27, Joshua 22:28 |
The structure
11 more paragraphs on the patterns
Two scenes joined by one road home. Verses 1 to 9 are the dismissal at Shiloh. Verses 10 to 34 are the altar, the muster, the embassy, the charge, the defence and the settlement.
The second scene is built as a courtroom. A report arrives at verse 11, an army gathers at verse 12 and a delegation is sent at verse 13. The charge is laid at verses 16 to 20, the defence is made at verses 22 to 29, and the verdict comes at verses 30 and 31.
The chapter closes on a name. The altar is called Witness, and the sentence it heads is a confession that the LORD is God.
Across the canon
Numbers 32 is the agreement being discharged. Numbers 25:7 to 13 is where Phinehas earned the standing he brings to this embassy, and Peor is the first case he raises.
Joshua 7 is the second case. The word trespass at verse 16 is the word used of Achan at Joshua 7:1, and the delegation names Achan outright four verses later.
The fear named at verses 24 and 25 was borne out by time. Judges 12:1 to 6 has Ephraim and Gilead at war with a password to tell one from the other. 1 Chronicles 5:26 records Reuben, Gad and the half tribe carried into Assyria before the rest of the nation.
Joshua raises a marker of this same kind twice himself, the twelve stones out of the Jordan in chapter 4 and the great stone under the oak at Joshua 24:26 and 27.
Judges 20 records the same nation mustering against one of its own tribes and not turning back, which is the road this chapter came close to taking.
In the New Testament
Hebrews 4:8 and 4:9 take up the rest of verse 4, the word this chapter opens on, and argue that a rest remains for the people of God. No New Testament writer quotes the altar account itself.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, on Joshua 22 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710, on Joshua 22:11 to 12.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.