Joshua 22:27

_THEREFORE WE SAID, LET US NOW PREPARE TO BUILD US AN ALTAR, NOT FOR BURNT OFFERING, NOR FOR SACRIFICE:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

21-29 The tribes took the reproofs of their brethren in good part. With solemnity and meekness they proceeded to give all the satisfaction in their power. Reverence of God is expressed in the form of their appeal. This brief confession of faith would remove their brethren's suspicion that they intended to worship other gods. Let us always speak of God with seriousness, and mention his name with a solemn pause. Those who make appeals to Heaven with a careless "God knows," take his name in vain: it is very unlike this. They express great confidence of their own uprightness in the matter of their appeal. "God knows it," for he is perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and intents of the heart. In every thing we do in religion, it highly concerns us to approve ourselves to God, remembering that he knows the heart. And if our sincerity be known to God, we should study likewise to let others...

EXPOSITION JOSHUA 22:1 THE REUBENITES AND THE GADITES. According to the Hebrew idiom, these are in the original in the singular, as in Genesis 12:6. Thus a tribe, as has been before remarked, or even a family (Joshua 6:25), is spoken of frequently as a single individual (cf. Joshua 17:14, Joshua 17:15, Joshua 17:17, Joshua 17:18). It seems prob

BUT [THAT] IT [MAY BE] A WITNESS BETWEEN US AND YOU, AND OUR GENERATIONS AFTER US,.... That we are one people, worship one God, and serve at one altar, of which this built was a resemblance, and would put them in mind of it: THAT WE MIGHT DO THE SERVICE OF THE LORD BEFORE HIM; in the tabernacle, and at the altar, in the place where he had chosen to put his name and dwell: WITH OUR BURNT OFFERINGS, AND WITH OUR SACRIFICES, AND WITH OUR PEACE OFFERINGS; to be brought at stated times, or as occasion required: THAT YOUR CHILDREN MAY NOT SAY TO OUR CHILDREN, IN TIME TO COME, YE HAVE NO PART IN THE LORD; nor right to his altar, and so forbid them offering their sacrifices on it; or "have no part in the Word of the Lord,'' as the Targum; the Messiah, whose sacrifice was typified by the sacrifices of the legal dispensation, and all such, who offered theirs in the faith of that, had a part i...

III. THE FINAL WORDS OF JOSHUA AND THE EPILOGUE 1. The Two and One-half Tribes and the Altar Ed CHAPTER 22 _ 1. Joshua's address (Joshua 22:1)_ 2. The tribes dismissed and their return (Joshua 22:7) 3. The great altar erected (Joshua 22:10) 4. War proposed (Joshua 22:11) 5. The mission of Phinehas and the explanation (Joshua 22:13) 6. The explanation accepted (Joshua 22:30) 7. The altar Ed ...

THE ALTAR OF WITNESS ERECTED BY THE E. JORDAN TRIBES. This narrative is clearly not historical, and the question arises, Why should it have been composed? The answer is that it is a Midrash (p. 314, 2 Chronicles 13:22 *) of the same nature as those in Numbers 15:32, the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and Numbers 31:25, the law for the division of the spoil. In this connexion we may quote the admirable words of Mr. Ball: We have to bear in mind a fact familiar enough to students of Talmudic and Midrashic literature, the inveterate tendency to convey their doctrine not in the form of abstract discourse, but in a mode appealing directly to the imagination.. The Rabbi embodies his lesson in a story, whether

A WITNESS. Compare Genesis 31:48, and see Joshua 22:34 below, and Ch. Joshua 24:27....

Defence of the Two Tribes and a Half 21. _Then the children of Reuben_ The two tribes and a half proceed to defend themselves and to shew that their object was in all respects the very reverse of that imputed to them....

_A Reason Given for the Altar Joshua 22:21-34_ 21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, (save us not this day,) 23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it; 24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel? 25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lo

DISMISSAL OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES. THE AXTAR SET UP AT ED, AND THE CONTROVERSY IT RAISED 1-9. The dismissal of the tribes. 10-34. The controversy at Ed. Here, as in Numbers 25:7, we see Phinehas playing a prominent part, and the contrast between the scenes is instructive. Swift, stern, and relentless when occasion demanded, he appears in Numbers as the hero who, by prompt execution of judgment, stayed the plague at Shittim (cp. Psalms 106:30); here, on the other hand, though not unmindful of that crisis (Joshua 22:17), he shows tact and gentleness, and under circumstances of the utmost delicacy and tension, helps to avert a disastrous civil war....