Joshua 22:1-4

Ver. 1-4. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, &c.— The war against the Canaanites being happily concluded, the conquered country divided, and the priests and people settled in the peaceable possession of the cities which had been assigned them; Joshua thought it was just to dismiss the 40,000 men of the three tribes beyond the Jordan, who, for seven or eight years before, had generously quitted their families, and run all the hazards of war, to assist their brethren in their conquest, as Moses had enjoined them. Accordingly, he sent for their chiefs, bore public testimony to their courage and fidelity, and in a solemn manner permitted them to return to their tents, i.e. to their dwellings or houses; for, as the Israelites dwelt at first in tents, this word is in Scripture put indifferently for dwellings or habitations.