Joshua 22:9

_AND THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN AND THE CHILDREN OF GAD AND THE HALF TRIBE OF MANASSEH RETURNED, AND DEPARTED FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OUT OF SHILOH, WHICH IS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, TO GO UNTO THE COUNTRY OF GILEAD, TO THE LAND OF THEIR POSSESSION, WHEREOF THEY WERE POSSESSED, ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD BY THE HAND OF MOSES._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-9 Joshua dismisses the tribes with good counsel. Those who have the commandment have it in vain, unless they do the commandment; and it will not be done aright unless we take diligent heed. In particular to love the Lord our God, as the best of beings, and the best of friends; and as far as that principle rules in the heart, there will be constant care and endeavour to walk in his ways, even those that are narrow and up-hill. In every instance to keep his commandments. At all times, and in all conditions, with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord, and to serve him and his kingdom among men, with all our heart, and with all our soul. This good counsel is given to all; may God give us grace to take it!...

GILEAD - Here used in the widest sense for the whole trans-Jordanic district....

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

AND THE CHILDREN OF REUBEN, AND THE CHILDREN OF GAD, AND THE HALF TRIBE OF MANASSEH, RETURNED,.... First to the camp to take their substance, and then set forward to their own land: AND DEPARTED FROM THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; from the rest of them, for otherwise they were children of Israel also: OUT OF SHILOH, WHICH [IS] IN THE LAND OF CANAAN; for here the camp of Israel was, as well as the tabernacle: TO GO UNTO THE COUNTRY OF GILEAD, TO THE LAND OF THEIR POSSESSION, WHEREOF THEY WERE POSSESSED; Gilead is put for the whole country on the other side Jordan, as the land of Jazer, and the kingdom of Bashan, which the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, were possessed of: ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD BY THE HAND OF MOSES; for when they moved to have that country, Moses, it seems, consulted the Lord about it, who declared it to be his will they should

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

CHILDREN. sons. SHILOH. See note on Joshua 18:1. WORD. Hebrew "mouth", put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for what was spoken by it....

Return of the Tribes. Erection of an Altar on the Jordan 9. _out of Shiloh_ where the division of the land had been carried out. See Joshua 18:1. _which is in the land of Canaan_ Only the country west of the Jordan is regarded as the _Land of Canaan_. That on the east of the river is simply called here _Gilead_(comp. Numbers 32:1; Numbers 32:28-29), although it embraced Gilead and Bashan, the kingdoms of Sihon and Og....

_The Dismissal of the Eastern Tribes Joshua 22:1-9_ Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you: 3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan. 5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to ser