“For this reason we said, ‘When they accuse us or future generations in this way, we will say, “Look! Here is a replica of the altar of Adonai which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.”’-Joshua 22:28
So the 2 1/2 tribes on the east side of the Jordan have made it clear to their brethren, the 9 1/2 tribes who are living in the Promised Land, that for them there is no other God but Hashem, the Holy One of Israel.
They also make it clear they have zero intention of performing any sacrifices on the altar they had built.
The only reason they built the altar in the first place was to demonstrate unity with their Israelite brothers living on the western side of the Jordan River.
To them, it was a safeguard that would prevent them from being categorized as gentiles in the future simply because they had chosen to not live inside the Promised Land.
There’s one other thing I want you to catch here.
The 2 1/2 tribes could really have built anything to stand as a memorial of their allegiance to the God of Israel.
In those days, folks erected standing stones or used other types of boundary markers.
In fact, in earlier chapters of the books of Moses and even early in the book of Joshua, we see the Israelites doing the same thing.
So why did the 2 1/2 tribes build something that from the outset was guaranteed to draw attention and cause trouble.
Take a look at verse 28 where according to the Complete Jewish Bible, it says the 2 1/2 tribes built a “replica” of the Altar of Burnt Offering.
Some other Bible translations will say a “copy” of the Altar of Burnt Offering.
However, none of them beat out the King James in terms of coming up with the most accurate translation.
The King James version says…
“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.”-Joshua 22:28
The original Hebrew word is TABNITH.
This word also appears a ton of times in the book of Exodus when the instructions for building the Tabernacle we’re being given out.
“According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.”-Exodus 25:9
Or sometimes it is translated into the word “likeness”.
“The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air”.-Deuteronomy 4:17
Either way you slice it, TABNITH does not really mean a “copy” or a “replica”.
Based on the original Hebrew, it does indeed mean a “pattern” after the first and original Altar of Burnt Offering.
This also aligns with what the ancient Jewish sages said on the topic.
To them it was obvious that the physical can NEVER be an exact duplicate of what exists in the spiritual world.
At best, it can only “pattern” itself after the spiritual.
So the bottomline is whatever this altar looked like, it was a far cry from the original Tabernacle.
Yet it was easily recognized as being “patterned” after the original based on God’s instructions to Moses.
In fact, the tribes could have went doggone hog wild and built something far more impressive and grand than the original Altar.
And come to think of it, based on how outraged the 9 1/2 tribes were, that’s probably what they did.
Keep in mind the original Tabernacle was constructed out of metal and portable.
It could easily be carried from one place to another.
However, the altar that Reuben, Gad and 1/2 of Manasseh built was NOT constructed out of metal (lest it be stolen) and was most likely not easily transportable.
Although we can’t say for sure, at the end of the day, it was probably a huge stone altar typical of all the stone altars for this era.
I’m learning a lot from your posts. Toda
Thank you for reading Sally. Be blessed and Shalom.