Remember there are 4 key questions being touched on inside of Joshua Chapter 22.
They are…
“Who really are God’s people?”
“Is there a specific location where the worship of the Lord should take place?”
“Is there a proper way one should worship God that all mankind needs to conform to?”
“Is being sincere and having good intentions more important than actually obeying God’s commands?”
All 4 of these questions are fleshed out in Joshua 22 where we’re told the story of what happened when the 2 1/2 tribes of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh returned home to the land they had inherited in the Trans-Jordan.
Oh, and by the way, the word “Trans-Jordan” is just an academic term that means “across the Jordan River”.
Technically speaking, whenever you hear the word “Trans-Jordan”, understand it’s referring to the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
The gist of the story is when the 2 1/2 tribes were traveling back home and arrived at the Jordan River, they decided to build an altar.
But they decided to build an altar NOT on the eastern side of the Jordan (in their assigned territory) but on the western bank of the river (inside Promised Land territory).
Well, when the 9 1/2 tribes living in Canaan heard about thus, they lost their freakin’ minds and decided to go to war against the 2 1/2 tribes.
Why such an extreme reaction?
Because they thought the 2 1/2 tribes had decided to replace worship of HASHEM for another God at worst OR…
…or they had set up another unauthorized place of worship instead of respecting the official site that had been set up at Shiloh at best.
Either way, it was viewed as an act of great rebellion and Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh needed to be punished.
Hence, the 9 1/2 tribes immediately gathered up an army to attack the 2 1/2 tribes.
Fortunately, calmer heads stepped in to nip in the bud what could have escalated into an outright bloody war.
The son of the High Priest Eleazar named Pinchas along with 10 leaders from the 9 1/2 tribes (the 1/2 tribe is Manasseh, obviously) formed a delegation and went up to confront the leaders of the 2 1/2 tribes to find out what in the world was going on inside of their minds when they constructed the altar.
It turns out everything was just a huge understanding.
The 2 1/2 tribes denied any harmful intent and tell the delegation their intention was to demonstrate unity and loyalty to Hashem, not dissension or rebellion.
It was only their sincerest desire to keep their identity as Israelites that led them to building the altar which was actually a duplicate of the original Tabernacle altar.
Of course, they never intended to use the altar as an altar.
It was only meant to be symbolic and to serve as a reminder that they were part of the original 12 tribes of Israel.
Let me close by sharing the actual Hebrew word used in this verse to describe the purpose and intent of Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh.
That word is…
עד
It is pronounced ED and it literally means “a witness” as in a witness in a court of law.
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