Atlas Biblica

    Joshua · 34 verses

    Joshua 22

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    An altar appears, and an army follows; an explanation appears, and the army goes home.

    A farewell with an alarming monumentvv. 1–20

    Joshua sends the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh home with blessings, livestock, metal, clothes, and the solemn charge to hold fast to the LORD. At Geliloth, near the Jordan, they build an imposing altar. Israel hears only that an altar has been built on its side of the border, and the whole congregation assembles at Shiloh to go to war—a remarkably brisk march from farewell to catastrophe. Phinehas and ten chiefs go first, carrying the accusation that one altar too many may bring judgment on everyone. They even offer the eastern tribes land west of the Jordan, provided the troublesome monument is removed.

    The altar explains itselfvv. 21–29

    The eastern tribes answer with a double cry that leaves very little doubt about their position: the LORD is God, and He knows what they meant. The altar was not built for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices. It was built because the Jordan might one day become an accusation, with descendants on the western side declaring that the eastern tribes had no share in the LORD. The monument is therefore a replica and a witness: an altar that must not function as an altar, which is the sort of object liable to make a peaceable intention look exceedingly dramatic.

    War dismissed, witness namedvv. 30–34

    Phinehas and the chiefs are satisfied. Phinehas declares that the eastern tribes have not committed a breach of faith and have, rather surprisingly, delivered Israel from the hand of the LORD. The report reaches the Israelites in Canaan; they bless God and abandon the proposed destruction of the eastern land without a battle. The Reubenites and Gadites name the altar Witness, giving the imposing object precisely the job it had claimed from the beginning.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Josh 22:1Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh

    2. Josh 22:2and 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.

    3. Josh 22:3All 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.

    4. Josh 22:4And 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.

    5. Josh 22:5But 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.”

    6. Josh 22:6So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

    7. Josh 22:7(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,

    8. Josh 22:8saying, “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.”

    9. Josh 22:9So 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.

    10. Josh 22:10And when they came to Geliloth near 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.

    11. Josh 22:11Then 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.”

    12. Josh 22:12And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

    13. Josh 22:13The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

    14. Josh 22:14With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel.

    15. Josh 22:15They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them,

    16. Josh 22:16“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?

    17. Josh 22:17Was 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.

    18. Josh 22:18And 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.

    19. Josh 22:19If 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.

    20. Josh 22:20Was not Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’”

    21. Josh 22:21Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel:

    22. Josh 22:22“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.

    23. Josh 22:23If 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 peace offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable.

    24. Josh 22:24But 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?

    25. Josh 22:25For 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.

    26. Josh 22:26That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.

    27. Josh 22:27Rather, 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!’

    28. Josh 22:28Therefore 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.’

    29. Josh 22:29Far 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.”

    30. Josh 22:30When 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.

    31. Josh 22:31Phinehas 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.”

    32. Josh 22:32Then 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.

    33. Josh 22:33The 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.

    34. Josh 22:34So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 326 passages were voted onto 33 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 5Matthew 22:37Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
    • 5Exodus 20:6but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
    • 5Romans 8:28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
    • 5Exodus 15:26saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
    • 5Deuteronomy 11:22For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—
    • 8Numbers 31:27Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to battle and the rest of the congregation.
    • 20Joshua 7:1The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.
    • 221 Kings 8:39be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—
    • 27Joshua 24:27And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”
    • 5John 14:15If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
    • 6Joshua 14:13Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
    • 9Numbers 32:26Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead.
    • 9Numbers 32:29And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, with every man armed for battle before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
    • 13Numbers 25:7On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand,
    • 14Numbers 1:4And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.
    • 17Psalms 106:28–29They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.

    Onward

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