Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of Yahweh your God. Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan. Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh 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.”
So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 8 1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, etc Here is…
1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, etc Here is related the discharge of the two tribes and half-tribe, who had followed the rest of the people, not that they might acquire anything for themselves, but that, as they had already obtained dwellings and lands without lot, they might carry on war in common with their brethren, until they also should have a quiet inheritance. Now, as they had been faithful companions and helpers to their brethren, Joshua declares that they were entitled to their discharge, and thus sends them back to their homes released and free. It is asked, however, how he can consider them to have performed their due measure of military service, while the enemy were still in possession of part of the land, of which the sole possession was to be the proper termination of the war? But if we bear in mind what I lately said, the knot will be loosed. Had the Israelites followed the invitation of God, and seconded his agency, nay, when he was stretching out his hand to them, had they not basely drawn back, the remaining part of the war would have been finished with no danger and little trouble. From their own sloth, therefore, they refused what God was ready to bestow. And thus it happened that the agreement by which the two tribes and half-tribe had bound themselves, ceased to be binding. For the only obligation they had undertaken was to accompany the ten tribes, and contend for their inheritance as strenuously as if their condition had been exactly the same. Now, when they have perseveringly performed their part as faithful allies, and the ten tribes contented with their present fortune, not only do not demand, but rather tacitly repudiate their assistance, a free return to their homes is justly allowed them. They, indeed, deserve praise for their patient endurance, in not allowing weariness of the service to make them request their discharge, but in waiting quietly till Joshua of his own accord sends for them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 6, 8 After that the Israelites enjoyed the land of Canaan.
After that the Israelites enjoyed the land of Canaan.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 Jos 22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the…
Jos 22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
Ver. 1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites.] That he might disband and dismiss them, with due commendation and remuneration, as became a noble general.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 8 These many days, i.e. for divers years together, so…
These many days, i.e. for divers years together, so long as the war lasted. See Jos 11:18; 14:10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and…
Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. The promise of God to Israel being fulfilled, the land of Canaan being for the most part subdued, the war at an end, and rest had on all sides from their enemies, and the land divided among the nine tribes and an half, and they settled in the quiet possession of their lots; Joshua sent for the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had, at their own request, their portion allotted them on the other side Jordan, and who came over that river with him to assist their brethren in their wars with the Canaanites, and addressed them in the following respectable manner.
Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. The promise of God to Israel being fulfilled, the land of Canaan being for the most part subdued, the war at an end, and rest had on all sides from their enemies, and the land divided among the nine tribes and an half, and they settled in the quiet possession of their lots; Joshua sent for the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had, at their own request, their portion allotted them on the other side Jordan, and who came over that river with him to assist their brethren in their wars with the Canaanites, and addressed them in the following respectable manner.
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Joshua 22:2
jos 22:2
jos 22:2
jos 22:2And said unto them, ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,.... Which was, that they should leave their wives and children, and flocks, and herds, behind them in the land of Gilead, and pass over Jordan, with their brethren the children of Israel armed, and fight with them, and for them, until the Canaanites were subdued, and not return until their brethren were peaceably settled in the possession of their inheritances; all which they had punctually observed, and inviolably kept, as they agreed to, Num 32:1,
and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you; as the generalissimo and commander in chief of the Israelitish forces; as what rank and position to be in, what part to take in an engagement, what attack to make, when and where, or on what expedition to go; wherever he ordered them to go, they went; and upon whatsoever and wheresoever he sent them, they readily and cheerfully obeyed, as they promised, Jos 1:16; and approved themselves as good soldiers under him; for all which he commends them, and gives them military honour.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 8 Joshua's dismission of the two tribes and an half,…
Joshua's dismission of the two tribes and an half, and their return to their own country, ver. 1-9. The altar they built on that side of Jordan, which offended the other tribes, ver. 10-20. Their apology, with which the rest were satisfied, ver. 21-34.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 7, 8 Joshua assembles, commends, blesses, and then dismisses the two
CHAPTER XXII
Joshua assembles, commends, blesses, and then dismisses the two
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tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, 1-8.
They return and build an altar by the side of Jordan, 9, 10.
The rest of the Israelites hearing of this, and suspecting that
they had built the altar for idolatrous purposes, or to make a
schism in the national worship, prepare to go to war with them,
11, 12;
but first send a deputation to know the truth, 13, 14.
They arrive and expostulate with their brethren, 15-20.
The Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh, make a
noble defence, and show that their altar was built as a
monument only to prevent idolatry, 21-29.
The deputation are satisfied, and return to the ten tribes and
make their report, 30-32.
The people rejoice and praise God, 33;
and the Reubenites and Gadites call the altar they had raised
Ed, that it might be considered a witness between them and
their brethren on the other side Jordan, 34.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXII
Verse 1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, c.] We have already seen that 40,000 men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, had passed over Jordan armed, with their brethren, according to their stipulation with Moses. The war being now concluded, Joshua assembles these warriors, and with commendations for their services and fidelity, he dismisses them, having first given them the most pious and suitable advices. They had now been about seven years absent from their respective families and though there was only the river Jordan between the camp at Gilgal and their own inheritance, yet it does not appear that they had during that time ever revisited their own home, which they might have done any time in the year, the harvest excepted, as at all other times that river was easily fordable.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 Jos 22:1. Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites,…
Jos 22:1. Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites, &c. — The war being ended, and ended gloriously, Joshua, as a prudent general, disbands his army, and sends them home to enjoy what they had conquered; and particularly the forces of those separate tribes, which had received their inheritance on the other side Jordan, from Moses, upon this condition, that their men of war should assist the other tribes in the conquest of Canaan; which they promised to do, Num 32:32, and renewed the promise to Joshua at the opening of the campaign, Jos 1:16. And now, as they had performed their agreement, Joshua publicly and solemnly, in Shiloh, gives them their discharge.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 The events of this chap. are no doubt recorded…
The events of this chap. are no doubt recorded in their proper historical order. The auxiliary forces of the trans-Jordanic tribes were not sent away immediately after the campaigns against the Canaanites were over. They set forth from Shiloh, Jos 22:9, to which place the sanctuary had been removed Jos 18:1 after the conquest and the settlement of the children of Judah and of Joseph in their possessions, and after the appointment of the Levitical cities.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 8 Time; before the assembly broke up. The 40,000 had…
Time; before the assembly broke up. The 40,000 had continued to fight along with their brethren, (Calmet) as long as there was occasion. Now peace being obtained, they are permitted to return to their families. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Release of the Two and a Half Transjordanic…
SECTION THIRD
The Release of the Two and a Half Transjordanic Tribes. Joshua’s Farewell Discourse. His Death and that of Eleazar
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Joshua 22-24
1. The Release of the Two and a Half Transjordanic Tribes.
Joshua 22
a. Joshua’s Parting Address
Jos_22:1-8
1Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,2And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] commanded you, and have obeyed [hearkened to] my voice in all that Icommanded you: 3Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but [and] have kept the charge of [omit: of] the commandment of the Lord [Jehovah]your God. 4And now the Lord [Jehovah] your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised [spoke to] them: therefore [and] now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and [omit: and] unto [into] the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] gave you on the other5side [of the] Jordan. But [Only] take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] charged [commanded] you, to love the Lord [Jehovah] your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart, and6with all your soul. So [And] Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they7went unto their tents. Now [And] to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given possession in Bashan: but [and] unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this [the other]1 side [of the] Jordan westward. And [and also] when Joshua sent them away also [omit: also] unto their tents, then Hebrews 8 blessed them, And he [omit: he] spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
b. Return Homeward of the Two and a Half Tribes. Erection of an Altar on the Jordan
Jos_22:9-10
9And the children [sons] of Reuben, and the children [sons] of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children [sons] of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country [into the land] of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed [in which they had possessions], according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah] by the hand of Moses. 10And when they came unto the borders of [into the circles2 of the] Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children [sons] of Reuben, and the children [sons] of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by [the] Jordan, a great altar to see to [an altar great to behold].
c. Embassy from Israel to the Two and a Half Tribes on account of the Altar
Jos_22:11-20
11And the children [sons] of Israel heard say, Behold, the children [sons] of Reuben, and the children [sons] of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, have built an [the] altar over against the land of Canaan,3 in the borders [circles] of [the]Jordan, at the passage of [opposite to] the children [sons] of Israel. 12And when the children [sons] of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children [sons] of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war againstthem. 13And the children [sons] of Israel sent unto the children [sons] of Reuben, and to the children [sons] of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh into the landof Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14And with him ten princes, of each chief house4 a prince throughout [for] all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an [a] head of the house of their fathers [the head of their chief houses]2 among the thousands of Israel.
15And they came unto the children [sons] of Reuben, and to the children [sons] of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spakewith them, saying, 16Thus saith the whole [all the] congregations of the Lord [Jehovah], What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel to turn away [return] this day from following the Lord [Jehovah], in that ye have17builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord [Jehovah]? Is the iniquity5 of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague [and the plague was] in the congregation ofthe Lord [Jehovah], 18But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord [Jehovah]? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to-day against the Lord [Jehovah], that to-morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.
19Notwithstanding [And truly], if the land of your possession be [is] unclean, then [omit: then] pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord [Jehovah] wherein the Lord’s [Jehovah’s] tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the Lord [Jehovah], nor rebel against us, in buildingyou an altar beside the altar of the Lord [Jehovah] our God. 20Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing [in what was devoted], and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.
d. Apology of the Two and a Half Tribes for Building the Altar
Jos_22:21-31
21Then [And] the children [sons] of Reuben, and the children [sons] of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and said [spake] unto the heads of the thousandsof Israel, 22The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods [God, God Jehovah, God, God Jehovah, or, the God of gods, Jehovah, etc.], he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be [was] in rebellion, or [and] if in transgression [trespass]against the Lord [Jehovah], (save us not this day,) 23That we have built us an altar to turn [return] from following the Lord [Jehovah], or [and] if to offer thereon burnt-offering, or [and] meat-offering, or [and] if to offer [make] peace-offeringsthereon, let the Lord [Jehovah] require it; 24And if we have not rather [omit: rather] done it for fear of this thing [done this from concern, for a reason], saying, In time to come your children [sons] might [will] speak unto our children [sons], saying,25What have ye to do with the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel? For [And] the Lord [Jehovah] hath made [the] Jordan a border between us and you, ye children [sons] of Reuben and children [sons] of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord [Jehovah]: So [And] shall your children [sons] make our children [sons] cease from fearing26the Lord [Jehovah]. Therefore [And] we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar [let us now do for ourselves to build the altar], not for burnt-offering,27nor for sacrifice: But that it may be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord [Jehovah] before him with our burnt-offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings; that your children [sons] may not say to our children [son’s] in time to come, Ye28have no part in the Lord [Jehovah]. Therefore [And] said we, that it shall be, when they should [shall] so say to us or [and] to our generations in time to come, that we may [will] say again [omit: again], Behold [See] the pattern of the altar of the Lord [Jehovah], which our fathers made, not for burnt-offerings, nor for29sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you. God forbid [Far be it from us] that we should rebel against the Lord [Jehovah], and turn this day from following the Lord [Jehovah], to build an altar for burnt offerings, and for meat-offerings, or [and] for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord [Jehovah] our God, that is before his tabernacle [dwelling].
30And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children [sons] of Reuben, and the children [sons] of Gad, and the children [sons] of Manassehspake, it pleased them [was good in their eyes]. 31And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children [sons] of Reuben, and to the children [sons] of Gad, and to the children [sons] of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord [Jehovah] is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord [Jehovah]: now ye have delivered [then did ye deliver] the children [sons] of Israel out of the hand of the Lord [Jehovah].
e. Return of the Embassy. Naming of the Altar
Jos_22:32-34
32And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children [sons] of Reuben, and from the children [sons] of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children [sons] of Israel, and broughtthem word again. 33And the thing pleased [was good in the eyes of] the children [sons] of Israel: and the children [sons] of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up [Heb. nearly: did not say they would go up] against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children [sons] of Reuben and [the sons of] Gaddwelt. 34And the children [sons] of Reuben and the children [sons] of Gad called the altar Ed [Witness; or, more probably, omit: Ed]: for it shall be a witness [it is a witness] between us that the Lord [Jehovah] is God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The author of chaps. 13–21. having given the report, distinguished by his valuable and accurate statements, of the division of the land, the appointment of the cities of refuge and the Levitical cities, relates to us in the three following chapters, which close the book, the release of the two and a half transjordanic tribes, transcribes Joshua’s last discourses to the people, and finally gives account of his death and that of Eleazar.
Chap. 22 itself falls naturally into the following smaller sections: (a.) Joshua’s farewell discourse to the two and a half tribes, Jos_22:1-8; (b.) Return of these tribes to their home. Erection of an altar on the Jordan, Jos_22:9-10; (c.) Embassy from Israel on account of this altar, Jos_22:11-20; (d.) The apology of the eastern tribes, Jos_22:21-31; (e.) Return of the embassy, Jos_22:32-34.
a. Jos_22:1-8. Joshua’s Farewell Discourse to the Two and a Half Tribes from across the Jordan. Joshua acknowledges their obedience to Moses and to his own commands (Jos_22:2), and further, that they had faithfully stood by their brethren and kept the commandment of God (Jos_22:3). As now Jehovah had given rest to the others, they might return to their tents in the land of their possession already given to them by Moses beyond the Jordan (Jos_22:4). To this he adds the admonition that they should continue to observe the commandment, to serve God in unchanging love, with their whole heart and their whole soul. Still further are they called upon to share their rich booty with their brethren (Jos_22:8). That he sent them away with his blessing is twice related (Jos_22:6-7 b). A geographical notice is inserted (Jos_22:7).
Jos_22:1. אָז, almost certainly not immediately at the end of the war, but, from the connection in which this narrative occurs, and according to Jos_22:4, not until after the division of the land was completed.
Jos_22:2. They have kept their obligations to Moses (Num_32:20 ff .) and to Joshua himself (Jos_1:16 ff.).
Jos_22:3. Still further, they had kept what was to be kept, the commandment of Jehovah. On שָׁמַר מִשִׁמֶרֶת מִצְוַת י, vid. Gen_26:5; Lev_8:35.
Jos_22:4. Comp. Jos_1:15, אֶרֶץ אֲחֻזַּת, Jos_22:9-10; Gen_36:43; Lev_14:34; Lev_25:24, and often.
Jos_22:5 recalls Deu_4:2; Deu_4:29; Deu_6:5; Deu_8:6. On the infin. form. אְהָבָה, cf. Gesen. § 133; Ewald, § 238 a; Knobel on Deu_1:27.
Jos_22:6 properly closes, in its first half the account of the sending away of the two and a half tribes, while Jos_22:7 adds a notice which was given in a similar way Jos_14:3; Jos_18:7, and was therefore not necessary. Keil, in his earlier commentary on Joshua, noticed it quite sharply. He says (p. 462), “in Jos_22:7 we find again a notice, characteristic of our author, as Maurer rightly observes, in which he, from a mere desire to be perfectly explicit, sometimes falls into redundancy and superfluous repetitions.” He now (Bibl. Com. in loc.) says more mildly, “in Jos_22:7 the author, for the sake of perspicuity, inserts the repeated observation, that only half of Manasseh had received their inheritance at the hand of Moses in Bashan, while the other half, on the contrary, had received theirs through Joshua west of the Jordan, as in Jos_14:3; Jos_18:7. To us this repetition appears redundant; it agrees, however, with the fullness, abundant in repetitions, of the ancient Hebrew style of narrative.” The second half of the verse now repeats what is known already from Jos_22:6. Since it begins with the words וגַם כִּי, it would almost seem that something immediately preceding had fallen out or “been omitted.”
Jos_22:8 presents a continuation of the foregoing in the demand not previously made, that they should share the rich booty with their brethren. This booty consisted in cattle, silver, gold, brass, iron, and clothing, and these all in very large quantities (Exo_3:22; Exo_11:2; Exo_12:36). By the brethren are meant the members of their tribes who had remained at home, to whom, according to Num_3:27, one half belonged. Although we cannot, with Knobel, recognize three original elements of the section, namely, Jos_22:1-4; Jos_22:6 from the War-book, Jos_22:5 from the Deuteronomist, Jos_22:7-8 from the Law-book, we may not suppress the remark that Jos_22:7 b. and 8 appear to have sprung from a different source, the statements of which are not fully communicated. Whoever put the finishing hand to the whole work, has added that portion of its contents which offered a new thought as a valuable complement.
b. Jos_22:9-10. Return of the Two and a Half Tribes to their Home. Erection of an Altar on the Jordan. The children of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh returned from Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, into the land of Gilead, into the land of their possession, wherein they had taken possessions (נֹאחְזוּ, as in Gen_34:10; Gen_47:27; Num_32:30; prop., “wherein they had been held fast,” or established themselves), according to the command of Jehovah by Moses. That they departed from Shiloh, favors the view that this return took place not till after the division of the land. From Jos_22:9 we see that only the country west of the Jordan is regarded as the land of Canaan; that on the east of that river is called here simply Gilead, although it embraced Gilead and Bashan, the kingdoms of Sihon and Og. The command of Jehovah by Moses, see Num_32:20 ff.
Jos_22:10. On their way home they reared an altar on the Jordan. For they came into the regions on the Jordan [the circles of the Jordan], Hebrew, גְּלִילוֹת הַתַּרְדֵּן. As in Jos_13:2 and Joel 4:4, the circles of the Philistines (גּ׳ הַגְּלִשְׁתִּים or גּ׳ פְּלֶשֶׁת) are mentioned, so here the גּ׳ הַיַּרְדֶּן, which, Gen_13:10-11; 1Ki_7:47, are designated as כִּכַּר הַיַּרדֵּן (Mat_3:5, ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ ̓Ιορδανοῦ, then, Gen_13:12; Gen_19:17, simply, as הַכִּכַּר; now the Ghor. The west side of the Ghor is intended, as appears from the addition, which is in the land of Canaan,—on the west bank of the Jordan. Here they built an altar on the Jordan, an altar great to behold. Hebrew, גָּדוֹל לְמַרְאֶה, i.e., an altar so high and broad that it could be seen from a great distance [or, great in appearance, great as compared with other altars, quasi “great-looking”]. Since Moses had once raised such an altar to commemorate his victory over Amalek (Exo_17:15), they believed they were acting in good faith, as also they afterwards with a good conscience testify (Jos_22:24 ff.).
c. Jos_22:11-20. Embassy from Israel to the Two and a Half Tribes on Account of this Altar. Jos_22:11. The children of Israel heard that an altar had been built, over against the land of Canaan (אֶל־מוּל אֶרֶץ כְּנַצַן, i.e., on its eastern side, Knobel), in the circles of the Jordan ( גְּלִילוֹת וגו אֶל, i.e., in the Ghor), at the side of the sons of Israel (אֶל־עֶבֶר ונו, as in Exo_25:37; Exo_32:15). It is the east side [Zunz: at the side (of the river) turned toward the children of Israel. But comp. Textual Note].
Jos_22:12 repeats that the children of Israel had heard of this, but adds that the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to overrun the two and a half tribes with war. Knobel regards this verse as an interpolation, and out of the War-book. It is noticeable, indeed, that the beginning of Jos_22:11 is repeated here, and that Jos_22:13 might perfectly well follow Jos_22:11. But, on the other hand, the verse contains nothing at all which could disturb the connection or would be improbable in itself, since in view of Lev_17:8-9 (comp. Exo_20:24) such an excitement appears so much the more intelligible, as the tabernacle had been a short time before (Jos_18:1) erected for the first time in Shiloh. “This zeal was,” as Keil says, with reference to Calvin’s remark on this passage, “entirely justifiable and praiseworthy, since the altar, although not built for a place of sacrifice, yet might easily be perverted to that use, and lead the whole people into the sin. At all events, the two and a half tribes ought not to have undertaken the building of this altar without the consent of Joshua, or of the high-priest.”
Jos_22:13-14. The congregation now send Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and ten princes to their fellow tribes beyond the Jordan, to demand an explanation of this matter. Phinehas (פִּינְחָם, according to Gesen. = brazen mouth, נְחָם = נְחשֶׁת), son of Eleazar and one of the daughters of Putiel (Exo_6:25), is named (Num_25:6 ff.) as zealous for discipline and morality in Israel, as a victorious leader of the people (Num_31:6 ff.) in the strife with the Midianites, and was therefore very well suited, on account of the high respect which he undoubtedly enjoyed, to be the head and spokesman of the embassy. Afterwards, he was, as related Jdg_20:28, himself high priest. The ten princes who were sent with him represented the nine and a half tribes west of the Jordan, and in Jos_22:30 are called נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה. Each of them was head of a chief (father) house among the thousands of Israel. On the relation of the chief houses, or, as De Wette translates family houses (Stammhäuser), to the whole tribe, cf. Jos_7:14; Jos_7:16-18. The אַלְפֵי יִשׂרָאֵל are the families of Israel, as appears from 1Sa_10:19; 1Sa_10:21, where אֵלֶף is exchanged with מִשְׁפָּחָה. The expression is often met with, e.g.,Jdg_6:15; Num_1:16; Num_10:4; in our ch., Jos_22:30, and above all in the famous passage Mic_5:1.
Jos_22:15-20. The messengers come to the children of Reuben, and the rest, in the land of Gilead, and make to them earnest representations. As their speaker we have to imagine to ourselves Phinehas, the man of the brazen-mouth, whose words sound vehemently and as instinct with feeling. He assumes from the first that the altar was built mala fide by the two and a half tribes, that the question is one of rebellion against Jehovah (Jos_22:16; Jos_22:22), and then asks whether the iniquity of Peor was not enough, of which the people were not yet purified, that they should call forth against them the wrath of Jehovah anew (Jos_22:17-18). Rather, he admonishes them in the second part of his discourse, if the land of their possession seemed to them unclean, should the brother tribes cross over into the land of Jehovah’s possession, where his dwelling was, and there take possession, but not rebel against Jehovah and apostatize by building them an altar besides the altar of Jehovah (Jos_22:19). With an impressive reference to the crime of Achan who perished not as an individual man, but likewise brought God’s anger on the entire congregation, the noble zealot concludes his discourse (Jos_22:20).
Jos_22:15-16. What trespass is this—to turn away—that ye might rebel against Jehovah. The expressions here chosen are to be particularly noted: (1) מָעַל, used Jos_7:1 and Jos_22:20 with בְּ, of the thing, to commit a trespass in respect to something; but here with בְּ, of the person, and he the most exalted person, Jehovah; “to deal treacherously, with concealment, underhandedly,” in consistency with the probable ground signification; “to cover,” whence מְעיל, mantle. For strengthening, the substantive מַעַל is added to the verb, as [ch. Jos_7:1] 1Ch_5:25; 1Ch_10:13; 2Ch_12:2. (2) שׁ ב מֵאחֲרֵי יי, as Jos_22:23; Jos_22:29 (cf. Jos_23:12), to turn away from Jehovah. In that consists the treacherousness in general, that they turn away from Jehovah. But since they have so far forgotten themselves as even to build an altar, so (3) the strongest expression is chosen, namely, מָרַד, to be disobedient, refractory, to rebel (Gen_14:4; 2Ki_18:7; 2Ki_18:20; 2Ki_24:1), first, against human rulers, as the passages quoted show, but here, as in Eze_2:3; Dan_9:9, against Jehovah.
Jos_22:17. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us? That is, the iniquity which we committed (Num_25:3; Num_31:16) in the worship of Baal Peor, consisting in the offering of young maidens (Winer, Realw., art. Baal [Smith’s Bibl. Dict.]). At that time twenty-four thousand of the people died as a punishment. To the zeal of Phinehas the people owed the cessation of the plague (Num_25:9-12). Of him God said to Moses, “he has turned away my anger from the children of Israel” (Num_25:11). So much the more remarkable must it appear that Phinehas himself here still designates the iniquity as one from which we are not cleansed until this day. He is thinking, perhaps, that, as in his opinion the case of the two and a half tribes shows, the inclination to idolatry still exists among the Jews. So explained already, after the example of R. Levi ben Gerson, C. a Lapide, and Clericus: “A quo nondum satis abhorremus; multi enim videntur fuisse, qui nondum delicti magnitudinem intelligebant.” Vid.Pro_20:9. “Non aeerant etiam, qui clam Cananœorum et Chaldœorum deos colerent, ut liquet ex oratione Josuœ, cap. xxiv.14, 23" (ap. Keil, Com. on Josh. in loc.). With this agree Keil and Knobel.
Jos_22:18. And ye turn away this day from following Jehovah. The sense is: so little do you think of that plague which once came upon the congregation, that you are to-day ready again to turn away from Jehovah [comp. Textual and Gram. Note].
And it will be, since ye rebel. … will be wroth. The construction is the same as in Gen_33:13, אִם א׳ ת׳ = אתֶּם תִּמרְדוּ. Meaning: “Consider well, for if you rebel to-day against Jehovah, to-morrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.” The judgment of God comes quickly, and it comes not alone on the two and a half tribes, but upon the whole people. In the latter circumstance lies, for Phinehas, at the same time, a sort of warrant for his speaking so earnestly to his transjordanic countrymen.
Jos_22:19. Proceeding in a milder tone, Phinehas proposes to them, that if their land seemed unclean to them they should go over to the others in the land where Jehovah has his dwelling, only they should build no separate altar. Knobel: “And, indeed (אַךְ, as Gen_26:9; Gen_29:14; Gen_44:28), if the land which they have taken were unclean, they could cross over into the land of Jehovah’s possession, where the dwelling of Jehovah had its seat (שָּׁכַן, as Jos_18:1), and there settle; only they should not, through such building of a special altar besides the true altar of Jehovah, rebel against the Lord, and bring their brethren into hostility, i.e., draw down mischief on the whole people from God.”
If the land. … be unclean, etc., i.e., because Jehovah had not his abode there, and because many heathen dwelt among them.
Land of your possession… . land of the possession of Jehovah. The antithesis is worthy of careful notice. מָרַד, with the accus. as Job_24:13, מֹרְדֵי אוֹר.
Jos_22:20. Finally, Phinehas reminds them of the crime of Achan (Jos_7:1 ff.), which was yet fresh in memory, and which, as once the iniquity of Peor, had involved in its consequences, not only the particular man, but also his children (Jos_7:24), and, through the unfortunate attack on Ai (Jos_7:1-5), the entire people. Keil: “Phinehas argues a minore ad majus. Yet the antithesis of minus and majus is not, with Calvin, to be sought in the clandestinum unius hominis maleficium and the manifesta idololatria, but to be understood with Masius, thus: ‘Si Achan cum fecisset sacrilegium, non solus est exstinctus, sed indignatus est Deus universœ ecclesiœ, quid futurum existimatis, si vos, tantus hominum numerus, tam graviter peccaveritis in Deum’ ” (p. 381).
d. Jos_22:21-31. Defense of the Two and a Half Tribes against the Reproach on Account of this Altar. With a solemn appeal to God, and that as the God Jehovah, whom Israel worshipped, these tribes declare that they have built the altar, not in treachery, to turn away from Jehovah and establish a new worship (Jos_22:21-23), but rather from solicitude lest the posterity of those who dwelt in Canaan proper should say to their posterity: You have no part in Jehovah! and should so restrain their children from worshipping Him. This had led them to think of building an altar, not as an altar of sacrifice, but as a witness to their common worship of Jehovah, even to future generations, that, if ever the case before supposed should occur, they might point to this altar fashioned after the pattern of the altar of Jehovah (Jos_22:26-28). In conclusion, they again repeat that rebellion or apostasy was furthest from their thoughts (Jos_22:29). With this frank reply, evidently springing from a good conscience, Phinehas and the princes declare themselves satisfied; for to-day have they learned that Jehovah is among them, from whose hand the children of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh have saved Israel (Jos_22:30-31).
Jos_22:21-23. The answer of the Eastern tribes begins with much solemnity: God (אֵל), God Jehovah (אֱלהִֹים יְהוָֹהGod (אֵל), God Jehovah (אֱלהִֹים יְהוָֹה), he knoweth it (הוּא יֹדֵע), and let Israel also know. “The combination of the three names of God, אֵל, the strong אֶלהִֹים, the Supreme Being worthy to be feared, and יהוָֹה, He who truly is, the covenant God (Jos_22:22) serves, as in Psa_1:1, to strengthen the appeal, which is intensified by the repetition of the three names” (Keil).
If it be in rebellion, etc. The apodosis to this follows at the close of Jos_22:23, let Jehovah require it. Interpolated into the asseveration is the imprecation, proceeding from an excited feeling, and addressed immediately to God, save us not this day! This day, הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה = to-day. He should to-day not help them, to-day not stand by them, to-day forsake them if they have reared the altar in rebellion or in trespass. Knobel: “In case of our unfaithfulness, help thou us not in our present trouble, but leave us to destruction! A parenthetic clause, in which the excited feeling passionately invoking evil upon itself passes into the appeal to God.” On the different kinds of sacrifice, in Jos_22:23; Jos_22:27, see Winer, Realw., art. “Opfer”; Herzog, Realenc. x. 614 ff. [Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, art. “Sacrifice”]).
Jos_22:24-25. And if not rather from anxiety, for a reason, we have done this thing, saying, etc. From anxiety,מִדְּאָגָה, from דָּאַג , to fear, to be concerned, 1Sa_9:5; 1Sa_10:2; Psa_38:19. The substantive occurs Eze_4:16; Eze_12:18-19; Jer_49:23; Pro_12:25.—For a reason,מִדָּבָר, comp. Jos_5:4, as also עַל דְּבַ־, Gen_12:17; Gen_20:11.—Saying, i.e., saying to themselves, and so = thinking.
Jos_22:25. יְרֹא “This infin. form, instead of the shortened, לֵרֹא , 1Sa_18:29, has analogies in יְצֹק, Eze_24:3, and לִישׁוֹן, Son_5:11, whereas in the Pentateuch only יִרְאָה is used” (Keil). The anxiety was not unfounded, in so far as in the promises only Canaan was spoken of, therefore only the land west of the Jordan according to the clear signification of Jos_22:10. Comp. Gen_12:7; Gen_13:15; Gen_15:18; Gen_17:8, and in particular, Num_34:1-12.
Jos_22:26-28. Let us now do for ourselves to build the altar, not. … but that it may be a witness, etc. נַעֲשֶׂה לָנוּ לִבְנוֹת. Either to be taken, according to the examples cited by Knobel, Gen_2:3; Gen_30:30, as we have aimed to express it in our translation, or as Keil prefers: “We will make us to build an altar (an expression out of the language of common life for: We will build us an altar).” Both explanations afford a good and apposite sense, which Luther renders with pregnant brevity: “Lasset uns einen altar bilden” (let us build an alter) doubtless following the Vulg.: “Exstruamus nobis altare.” The LXX, refer the נַעֲשֶׂה, not to the building in itself, but to the design of the altar to be built: καὶ εἴπαμεν ποιῆσαι, οὕτω τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι τὸν βωμον τουτον, οὐκ ἕνεκεν κυρπωμάτων . . . . ἀλλ̓ ἵνα ἦ μαρτύριον τοῦτο, etc.
Jos_22:27. The altar, therefore, should serve not for sacrifices, but to be a witness (cf. Exo_17:15) between the generations on both sides, in the present and future times, that we might do [or that we do] the service of Jehovah before Him (לַעֲבֹד אֶת־בֹדַת יי לְמָנָוי) with our burnt-offerings, etc. The offerings were not to be made upon this altar, but before Him, before Jehovah, in Canaan. There would they perform the service of Jehovah.
Jos_22:28. Simply for that should the altar be built after the pattern of the altar in the Tabernacle, that it might be a witness to which posterity also might point. תַּבְנִית from בָּיָה, is the model, Exo_25:9; Exo_25:40; 2Ki_16:10, after which anything is built; but then also here, as Deu_4:16-18; Eze_8:10, copy, image of anything. This sense is expressed by the LXX. quite correctly by ὁμοίωμα, by Luther by “likeness.” The Vulgate does not translate תַּבְנִית; De Wette’s Bau (structure) is too indefinite.
Jos_22:29. Another asseveration of their innocence. “The speakers conclude with the expression of their horror at the idea of forsaking Jehovah, חָלִילָה לָנוּ מִמֶּנּוּ, far be it to us from Him, i.e., from God (מֵיִהוָֹה = מִמֶּנּוּ, 1Sa_24:7; 1Sa_26:11; 1Ki_21:3), that we should rebel against Jehovah,” etc. [“The sense is: ‘profane or accursed be it from Jehovah,’ God forbid, LXX., μὴ γένοιτο; or, the primary signification being neglected; ‘woe to me’ [or us] from Jehovah,’ ” etc., Gesen. in v.,חָלִילָה].
Jos_22:30. It was good in their eyes, namely, in the eyes of the ambassadors, who had heard these words of the two and a half tribes. The sense of בְּעֵנֵיחֶם is very correctly given by the LXX. by καὶ ἤρεσεν αὐτοῖς.
Jos_22:31. In his explanation Phinehas gives the glory to God alone, when he says: This day wo perceive that Jehovah is among us, because (אֲשֶׁר, in this sense, as Gen_30:18; Gen_31:49; Gen_34:13; Gen_34:27; Ecc_4:9; Ecc_8:11, more completely יַעַן אֲשֶׁר) ye have not committed this trespass against Jehovah. God himself, as Phinehas rightly asumes, hindered that. Now (אָז before conclusions = then or now, Job_9:31; Pro_2:5; Psa_119:92)6 have ye rescued Israel from the hand of Jehovah. “On הִצִּיל מִיָּד, comp. Gen_37:21; Exo_2:19” (Knobel). This was realized in so far as otherwise a punishment like that in Num_25:8 would have again fallen on the whole people.
e. Jos_22:32-34. Return of the Embassy. Naming of the Altar. Phinehas and the princes return from the land of Gilead to Canaan, and bring back word which is universally acceptable, so that the people thank God, and all thought of going to war against the eastern tribes is dropped (Jos_22:32-33). The chapter concludes with the mention that the children of Reuben and Gad had named the altar: It is a witness between us that Jehovah is God (Jos_22:34). In Jos_22:32 the children of Reuben and Gad alone are named, and so in Jos_22:34, merely for brevity’s sake.
Jos_22:34. By the giving of this name the two and a half tribes distinctly professed themselves worshippers of Jehovah as the true God. The first כִּי stands like the Greek ὅτι, as sign of the quotation of direct discourse (cf. Gen_4:23; Gen_29:33; Rth_1:10; 1Sa_10:19), and is therefore not to be translated.
THEOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL
1. As Israel was to honor only one God, Jehovah, who truly was (Exo_3:14; Exo_20:2), so should there be in Israel only one place of sacrifice (Lev_17:1-9); for to the שְׂעִירִים (Lev_17:7), prop. goats, then, probably, shepherd deities, whose worship the apostate Jeroboam, according to 2Ch_11:15, brought in again with that of the calves, to these they should not sacrifice. Considering the strong inclination of the people to turn aside to heathenish idolatry, which had shown itself repeatedly (Exodus 22; Numbers 25) on their march through the wilderness, the leaders of Israel must have felt, now that the people had received their dwelling-place, and the tabernacle been reared at Shiloh, and the land divided, the supreme necessity of establishing the unity of the worship. This could be truly instituted with a people that needed to be educated through the law (Gal_4:23-24), only by absolutely prohibiting the offering of sacrifices on any other altar than the altar in the tabernacle. One God, one house of God among the one people chosen by him: one altar of sacrifice before the door of this one habitation,—all this belonged together in the Old Testament, precisely as in the New, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Eph_4:5-6).
2. The zeal which animated a Phinehas already once before (Numbers 25), and now again, was a holy zeal for the honor of God, manifestly springing from a deep moral aversion to the shameful Peor-worship which threatened to bring Israel into destruction. Altogether in the same spirit as Phinehas, Elijah acted at a later period (1 Kings 18). If this involved the shedding of blood, we must consider that, according to Lev_17:4, idolatry was regarded exactly as if a murder had been committed, and was therefore to be punished with death. The spirit of Jewish zealotry, as it was developed at the time of the destruction of the city by Titus, was a caricature of that which Phinehas and Elijah cherished. How Christ stood related to it appears from the account of the purification of the Temple (Joh_2:13 ff.; Mat_21:12 ff.; Mar_11:15 ff.), which teaches us how in Him holy zeal was blended with temperate self-restraint (Joh_2:15-16), as an impressive admonition to blind zeal in all ages. True, holy zeal is in all respects different from the wild excited passion of fanaticism. That resembles the flame which purifies the noble metal from the dross, this is the torch which, wherever it is hurled, sets all in flames, destroys everything, not in majorem Dei gloriam, but in majorem insaniœ gloriam. If our times in ecclesiastical matters show again a very strong tendency to that false zealotry, this sign of the times is to be esteemed one of the worst, a sign in which no one will conquer, but many certainly perish.
3. How a good conscience might appeal to God, the two and a half tribes show in their reply to the ambassadors of Israel. On the ground and foundation of Christianity also, the same appeal is still allowable, as the asseverations employed by Christ and his Apostles prove, comp. e.g., Joh_3:5; Joh_5:24-25; Joh_6:53; Joh_13:16; Joh_13:21; Luk_23:43; Rom_1:9; Rom_11:1; Rom_11:3; Php_1:8. Such affirmations are not thoughtlessly ejaculated assertions, but they spring immediately from the temper of the soul filled with the spirit of God, which temper they evince.
4. To have no part in the Lord is the worst thing which can befall a people, a congregation, an individual. How deeply Peter once felt this we learn from Joh_13:8-9.
5. In all that men do or leave undone constantly to recognize the hand of the Lord, therefore the control of his providence (Jos_22:31), is an altogether peculiar result of earnest religious meditation. The eye of the ancient Israelites for this, as the passage before us shows, and 1Sa_3:8 very impressively, was sharpened in an unusual degree. The more clearly this ultimate causality of God is discerned, so much the more intelligible appears to us all human history, and that as the hypothesis of divine control and human conduct, or of divine appointment and human freedom.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The release of the brother tribes from Gilead, by Joshua. (1) How he acknowledges the fraternal help which had been afforded; (2) admonishes to faithful compliance with the commands of God; (3) dismisses them, with his blessing, to their tents (Jos_22:1-8).—The return of the tribes to the country east of the Jordan, and the erection of the altar on the border of Canaan (Jos_22:9-10).— Israel’s embassy to their brethren beyond the Jordan, (1) occasion (Jos_22:11-14); (2) the message of Phinehas and the princes (Jos_22:15-20); (3) the answer to this (Jos_22:21-31); (4) the return of the messengers (Jos_22:31-33).—Phinehas the holy zealot for the honor of God (Jos_22:15-20, with appropriate and skillful use of Num_25:1 ff.—So let the whole congregation of the Lord say to you—a powerful, solemn word (Jos_22:16)!—How people with a good conscience speak. (1) They may appeal to God as their witness; (2) they may, however, also state clearly and frankly what they have done, without being obliged to conceal anything (Jos_22:21-31).—Monuments of historical events are dumb and yet eloquent witnesses (Jos_22:28 compared with Jos_22:9-10; Jos_22:34).—How brethren can understand each other (Jos_22:30-31).—To-day we perceive that the Lord is among us ! Can we not also frequently say so, when God keeps us that we commit no trespass against Him (Jos_22:31).—A joyful return home (Jos_22:32-33).—What joy good tidings may spread abroad (Jos_22:33). —In all things be the honor God’s (Jos_22:33, comp. Psa_115:1).
Starke: It is not enough to begin well, but we must also continue in that way and persevere even to the end, Heb_3:12; Heb_3:14; Mat_10:22; Mat_24:13.—When God releases us from our service we may go but not before, Psa_31:16; Psa_39:5; Luk_2:29.—A Christian zeal for religion is not wrong.—It is certainly allowable in important cases, with moderation to answer, and with adjuration by the name of God to manifest truth and innocence.—Altars and images are not in themselves wrong and forbidden: only we must not practice superstition with them, 2Ki_18:4.
Osiander: By this is it manifest and known that we love God if we keep his commandments, Joh_14:23; Joh_15:14.—Whenever we hear concerning Christian believers that they stand fast in the faith, we ought to thank God for such a benefit [1Th_1:1-3; 1Th_2:6-9].—We should, as far as possible, guard beforehand that none be offended (Jos_22:34).
Hedinger: Precipitate blood-thirstiness is not consistent with true religion; for how can he who himself would not break the bruised reed, allow us either to bruise that which is whole, or break that which is bruised, or burn up the broken ? Isa_43:3.—In cases which are ambiguous and uncertain, it is better to let the judgment stand suspended than to act contrary to love, 1Co_13:7.—As good householders plant trees of which only their children and children’s children will eat the fruit, and sit under the shadow, so should Christian parents strive still more earnestly that true godliness may be propagated to their children.
Footnotes:
[1][Jos_22:7.—מֵעֵבֶר as בְּעֵבֶר, Jos_5:1, except that the latter is defined by יָמָה; here it is “on (lit. out of) the other side” with reference to Bashan east of the Jordan, which has just been mentioned.—Tr.]
[2][Jos_22:10.—גּלִילוֹת הַיּ, “circles, circuit, region;” see the exeg. note. That this district is said to hare been In the “land of Canaan,” which is in general strongly distinguished from the table-land east of the Jordan, certainly favors the supposition that the altar in question was erected on the west side of the river still everything else is against it, and we cannot but think that the recent commentators, against many of the older and against Josephus, have too readily assumed that it was so. It is in itself highly improbable that the Gileadites should have built an altar with their design on ground not belonging to them, where they could have no control over its safety, and where it is impossible to see how it could bear witness for them. And the expressions in Jos_22:11, אֶלְ־מוּל אֶרֶץ כּ׳ “over against the land of Canaan,” and אֶלְ־עֵבֵר בְּנֶי יִשׂ׳, both naturally point to the other side, and can only with a degree of violence be understood of a locality in the fullest sense within and of the land of Canaan. Consider further that there was no mention by the Israelites of simply destroying the altar, which would on this supposition be easy, and in their state of mind very natural (as indeed they would not have allowed it to be built without explanation on their territory), but that the ambassadors must pass over into Gilead to treat of the matter, and that there to all appearance the naming of the altar took place, and there will appear to be more reasons for the view of those who place the altar on the east bank of the Jordan than against it. May not the solution of the difficulty lie in the extension of the “land of Canaan,” in Jos_22:10, so as to include the whole of the Ghor (ancient Arabah), overlooking the river, for the moment, as a boundary, and making the boundary between Canaan, the “low country,” and Gilead to be the wall of eastern mountains which fences in the Jordan Valley? This being conceded, the phrase “over against,” quasi “fronting,” in Jos_22:11, and אֶל־עֵבֶר בְּ׳ יִשׂ׳ (English version, “at the passage of,” etc.), “to the other side with reference to the sons of Israel,” might both be understood in their most usual sense. Certainly some notice ought to be taken of the probabilities for this opinion.— Tr.]
[3][Jos_22:11.—אֶל, “in a place to which one has come:” comp. לְ, letter B, also Greek εἰς, ἐς for ἐν. In all this, however, the idea of motion is not wholly lost, namel0y, “a motion that preceded” (Gesen. Lex. p. 52 B).—Tr.]
[4][Jos_22:14.—יֵית אָב, “house of a father,” and בֵּית אֲבוֹת, “house of the fathers,” = father-house, father-houses. On the use of the genitive plural instead of the plural of the noun limited, see Gesen. Lex. s. v. בֵּית (11), p. 129.— Tr.]
[5][Jos_22:17.—אֶת־עֲוֹן פּ׳, prop. an adverbial ace., “in respect to” the iniquity, etc. The sense of the question is, “Had we not enough of the iniquity?” etc. Zunz’s version appears to take the last member of the verse singularly, as giving a vivid designation of the time of the transgression: als die Seuche war, etc. “And” (וְ) need not be understood here as = “although,” but more naturally in its proper sense: “and the plague [for which] was upon the congregation (not the particular sinners) of Jehovah.” The next verse (18) then proceeds: And (nearly = and yet) ye are turning away this day from after Jehovah. Or, if we suppose a somewhat more free combination of clauses, than is often met with in this style of Hebrew writing, we may consider the two verses as making up a compound sentence, in which one question runs through to the end of the first member of Jos_22:18. We should then translate thus: Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, and [for which] the plague was on the congregation of Jehovah,—and are ye turning away this day from after Jehovah? And it will be (q. d., the result is) ye will rebel to-day against Jehovah, and to-morrow upon the whole congregation of Israel he will break forth.”— Tr.]
[6][Perhaps, rather, simply: “then (sc., when ye adopted the pious course).”—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 8 Ye have not left your brethren these many days…
Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day--for the space of seven years.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES DISMISSED, Jos_22:1-9.
THE TRANS-JORDANIC TRIBES DISMISSED, Jos_22:1-9.
We have seen (Jos_1:12-15) that Joshua required these tribes to fulfil the condition on which they were permitted to receive their portions before the conquest of Canaan, namely, that they should assist in that conquest, (Num_32:20,) and we have noted the cheerfulness with which they left their families and possessions (Jos_1:16) and became the vanguard of the invading host, forty thousand strong. Jos_4:12-13. Through all the long war of subjugation they have served faithfully, till at last the land is substantially conquered and actually allotted, and henceforth each tribe is to clear its own inheritance without the aid of the federal army, which is now disbanded with the high encomiums of their chief.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–8 Ch. Jos_22:1-8. Joshua’s Farewell Address to the two Tribes…
Ch. Jos_22:1-8. Joshua’s Farewell Address to the two Tribes and a Half
1. Then Joshua] The author of the section from chapters 13–21. having given his account, marked with truth and accuracy, of the division of the land, the appointment of the Cities of Refuge and the Levitical cities, describes in the three following chapters, which close the book, (a) the release of the two tribes and a half to their homes beyond the Jordan; (b) their return, and erection of an altar on the Jordan; (c) the embassy from Israel on account of this altar; (d) the apology of the eastern tribes and return of the embassy; (e) Joshua’s last discourses to the people; (f) his death; and (g) the death of Eleazar.
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called the Reubenites] This took place not immediately after the close of the war, but after the completion of the division of the land and the appointment of the Levitical cities, in which the Trans-Jordanic tribes had as much interest as the other tribes.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 7 (1-6) Charge to the two and a half tribes…
XXII.
DISMISSAL OF THE TWO AND A HALF TRIBES TO THEIR INHERITANCE ON THE EAST OF JORDAN.
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(1-6) Charge to the two and a half tribes by Joshua.
The words of Jos_22:2-3 recall the promise of Jos_1:16, and Joshua’s charge in Jos_22:5 recalls that which he himself had received at first (Jos_1:7), and finds a further parallel in what he said to Israel before his death (Joshua 23, 24).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 The Reubenites and the Gadites. According to the Hebrew…
The Reubenites and the Gadites. According to the Hebrew idiom, these are in the original in the singular, as in Gen_12:6. Thus a tribe, as has been before remarked, or even a family, (Jos_6:25) is spoken of frequently as a single individual. (cf. Jos_17:14, Jos_17:15, Jos_17:17, Jos_17:18) It seems probable that this chapter occurs in strict chronological order, and that the soldiers of the two tribes and a half remained under the national banner at Shiloh until the work of survey and appointment was completed. But this cannot be affirmed with certainty. The word za with which the chapter commences, is not the usual word for chronological sequence, though it does not preclude it. (see note on Jos_8:30) And the time during which these soldiers must in this case have remained separated from their wives and families was a very long one. Some have even supposed that it lasted fourteen years (see ver. 3). On the other hand, the words "gathered together to Shiloh," in ver. 12, implies that the tribes west of Jordan had left Shiloh. Nor did there seem to be the least need for their services after the battle of Merom. We must be content to leave the matter in uncertainty, with the remark that if the armed men of the two tribes and a half did remain during this long period away from their homes, our sense of their ready obedience must be greatly enhanced, as also of the personal influence of the leader at whose instance they did so. The half tribe of Manaseh. Some cities read fb here for hFm, and as the tribe is spoken of in a political and not in a genealogical point of view, the reading, as far as internal considerations go, would seem preferable. The two words, however, are not always used with complete strictness, but are sometimes regarded as synonymous. (see note on Jos_13:29)
Vers. 1-34. Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh at home.
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Three points are especially noticeable in this chapter. First, the reward of those who have laboured on behalf of their brethren; next, the duty of claiming our privileges as Christians when severed from our brethren; and lastly, the necessity of zeal for the purity of religion.
I SELF DENIAL SHALL HAVE ITS REWARD. Our Lord tells us that he who gives a cup of cold water to his brother shall not lose his reward.
We find a similar statement in Mat_10:41. The reward includes this life as well as the next. (Mar_10:30) Joshua blessed the two tribes and a half, and sent them to their inheritance. So does Jesus say to those who have laboured in His cause, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of the Lord." And as the Reubenites and their brethren were blessed with silver and gold and a multitude of earthly possessions, so the Christian enjoys riches which are far above what earth can give, even the riches of the glory of God"s inheritance among the saints. If he leaves home and friends for the work of the Gospel; if he devotes himself to a long and weary warfare against sin, the time will come when the true Joshua will dismiss him to his inheritance, across the Jordan-stream of death.
II WE MUST NOT LET ISOLATION DEPRIVE US OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE COVENANT. Many an Englishman is in the position of the two tribes and a half. He emigrates to distant lands, and he often forgets to assert his oneness with those whom he has left behind. So did the members of the Church of England neglect in America to reproduce the organization of their native land. So continually do men
(a) cast off all religious profession whatever, or
(b) neglect to keep up sufficient connection with their brethren at home, and thus to keep up the solidarity and mutual brotherhood of Christian churches.
Of late this evil has been much diminished. The "great altar to see to" is visible on all sides. Those who leave us for the colonies, or for foreign lands, are not left without the ministrations of their own nation and faith. Christians deprived of the superintendence of the ministers of religion assemble for prayer and reading of the Scriptures. Thus a witness is set up before God and man that they have both part and lot in the Christian brotherhood. It is the one worship of the one God. There is no desire to set up altar against altar, to break the bonds of Christian love and fellowship. The new communion has its own laws and regulations, suited to its own peculiar needs, for the gospel practically forbids us to set up one hard and fast rule for all races and regions alike. But the one faith and the one Church exists throughout, united, not in the unity of external rules and rites, and organization and tribunals, but in the holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity.
III WE MUST BE ZEALOUS FOR THE CAUSE OF TRUE RELIGION. Had the Jews continued to display the same zeal for God which they showed in this instance, they would have escaped the fall which afterwards befel them. So, had Christians maintained their first zeal and purity and mutual love, the Christian Church would have been spared much of its sad history, and so large a portion of the world would not have remained heathen. But as the Jews allowed mixed marriages and intercourse with heathen tribes to undermine their attachment to God and His law, so has familiarity with the world deadened the zeal for true religion among Christians. The zeal which was displayed in early Christian times concerned faith more than morals. The zeal shown now concerns morals rather than faith. But a true Christian spirit will care for both. Faith is the salt that keeps practice from corruption, and a carelessness or tendency to compromise in matters affecting the fundamental principles of Christian truth or worship is as sinful as would have been the conduct of the Israelites had they suffered the erection of the altar of witness to pass without explanation. Such a spirit of compromise is the danger of our own day. It is our duty
(a) to decide for ourselves what are the essentials of Christianity, and
(b) when we have decided it, to declare perpetual war against those who would deny them.
While we are careful not to insist upon anything as essential which is not "contained in Scripture, or may be proved thereby," we must make the maintenance of the recognised truths of Christianity a sine qua non. The spirit abroad which maintains that no teacher should be removed from his post for any consideration whatsoever, is as opposed to truth as that which would remove him without fair trial or sufficient cause. The task of deciding on the limits of religious freedom is a difficult one, and demands exceptional gifts. But the denial that there are such limits is contrary to the main principles of law and gospel alike.
IV WE ARE BOUND TO RESTRAIN ZEAL WITHIN PROPER BOUNDS. The Israelites did not proceed to action without due inquiry. They sent a deputation to their brethren to invite them to clear themselves if they could. And the result was an honourable acquittal, though there was a strong prima facie case against them. Would that all religious investigations had been as fair! For though the duty of maintaining the purity of the Christian faith is most undeniable, yet the converse is equally true, that we must be sure that it is the Christian faith that is at stake. The practice on the part of the mediaeval Church authorities, of treating suspicion of heresy as a crime, was a violation of the commonest laws of justice. The practice of holding a teacher responsible for every inference which could be drawn by a merciless logic from his theses, although these conclusions are energetically repudiated by himself, was not the offspring of zeal for the truth, but of prejudice and passion. The custom of declaring views heretical which, though opposed to the voice of authority and the force of numbers, did not touch the essentials of the faith, was an outrage against Christian liberty, and a violation of the great principle laid down in this chapter, of subordinating the letter to the spirit. For the Reubenites and their brethren had unquestionably broken the letter of the law. The erecting of such an altar as they had erected was strictly forbidden. And yet by that very violation they had been proving their sincere adhesion to the spirit of the violated law. And their defence was not only accepted, but joyously and thankfully accepted (ver. 31). If in those days the spirit was set above the letter, how much more in our own. Let us take heed then that we do not, misled by blind party zeal, fall upon those who are our allies in the great and holy work. Let us not exact too strict a conformity with the letter of Holy Scripture, but let us seek hearts purified by love to God to discern its real spirit. It is no easy task, no doubt, but it may be performed through prayer and love to God and man. With hearts so filled with the sacred fire, it may well be that we shall often gather together to Shiloh ready and burning for the conflict, yet be appeased when we learn what seemed a foul wrong to God was inspired by the deepest devotion to His cause, and may say with Phinehas, whose zeal for the truth cannot be disputed, "This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord.
V ALWAYS BELIEVE THE BEST. "Charity hopeth all things," says the apostle. The Lord Himself bade us always, when we had a cause of complaint against our brother, to begin by talking the matter over with Him. So also says the wise man in the Apocrypha, in words which well deserve to be remembered. "Admonish a friend, it may be he hath not done it, and if he have done it, that he do it no more. Admonish thy friend, it may be he hath not said it, and if he have, that he speak it not again. Admonish a friend, for many times it is a slander, and believe not every tale." It is never safe to neglect this counsel. The case may look very bad against your friend, but so it did against the two tribes and a half. In fact, in their case, nothing could be worse. They were caught in flagrante delicto. There was the altar, erected in a most conspicuous situation a great altar to be seen. The Israelites might have argued that it was useless to ask explanations when they had the fact before their eyes. But they were not so rash. And the result showed that they would have been blameable indeed if they had been so precipitate. How many a friendship has been severed, how many a life-long estrangement has been caused, how much misery has been brought about, by the want of courage to go frankly to a friend and ask for an explanation of what seems indefensible. You may have your testimony from unimpeachable witnesses, or witnesses you believe to be unimpeachable, and if in truth they are not slanderers, or mischief makers, they may yet not be in possession of certain material facts which give the ease an altogether different aspect. At least the rule is clear never condemn any one unheard. Wounded feeling or offended pride may make us averse to seek the explanation; the effort may be painful, almost intolerable, yet justice demands that it should be.made. And you may afterwards have reason to "bless God" that you did not "go up against your brother to battle." Either he may repent, and then "thou hast gained thy brother," or he may never have offended, and then the bonds of Christian friendship will never be relaxed at all.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 1-4. Service and reward.
I THE SERVICE. This is characterised by the following points of merit:
1. Obedience to discipline. The two tribes and the half tribe are commended for obedience to their supreme commanders. Soldiers, servants, employees, all persons under authority, should recognise the duty of loyal obedience from the heart, and perform it
a. conscientiously with eye service as men pleasers;
b. diligently working as laboriously as if for their own pleasure; and
c. cheerfully.
2. Brotherly kindness. These tribes had not left their brethren. They had been foremost in conquering Canaan for them. Humanity, patriotism, and Christianity should lead us to labour unselfishly for the welfare of the world, our country, and fellow Christians.
3. Faithfulness to God. These tribes had "kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord their God." We have a charge from God to keep. Our duty is not confined to our relations with men; we have duties to God. (Mal_1:6) Even our duties to men should be discharged with a supreme regard to the will of God, (Col_3:22) and our religious devotion should guide and inspire us in human duties.
II THE REWARD. This is marked by the following features:
1. It is delayed till the service is complete. The Reubenites and their associates were the earliest tribes to have an inheritance apportioned to them; but they were the latest to enter into possession of it. Thus the first are last. We must not expect the rewards of faithfulness before our work is complete. It is wrong to desire to hasten to our heavenly reward at the neglect of earthly duty. The "rest which remaineth" is secure, though the enjoyment of it is delayed. The force of God"s promises is not weakened by time.
2. It is so appointed as to satisfy the desires of those who receive it. The two tribes and the half tribe preferred to settle on the east of Jordan, and they were permitted to do so. As they chose for themselves they must take the consequences, whether for good or for ill. God allows us much liberty in shaping our own destinies. When He does not give us what we desire, the refusal is not arbitrary but merciful. In the end He will give us our heart"s desire either the thing we desire now, or something else to which He will incline our hearts, so that we shall desire that. As there are varieties of dispositions among Christians, so there will be differences in the heavenly reward.
3. It takes the form of rest and peaceful occupation. The army is disbanded. Warfare was a temporary necessity; it was not to be regarded as a constant occupation. Home life is most natural and most blessed by God. The spiritual warfare of Christians is only temporary. It will be followed by
a. rest,
b. reunion,
c. the home life of heaven. W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE Vers. 1-9.
We have seen the Reubenites and Gadites generously taking their part in the war for the conquest of Canaan, though they had already come into possession themselves of their assigned share on the other side of Jordan. In this way the solidarity of the nation was vindicated. Joshua now sends back these soldiers of their country to their own inheritance, and we see in the verses before us the reward of their fidelity to duty.
I THEIR FIRST RECOMPENSE IS A MATERIAL ONE. They carry away a goodly share of the booty which accrued to Israel from its successful warfare. The man of God cannot always count upon this temporal reward. It may never be his. And yet it is certain that, as a general rule even in this life, the fulfilment of duty is a condition of prosperity. Evil gives only deceptive and evanescent joys; it is opposed to the Divine law, which must in the end prevail. It entails also terrible consequences. Is not all sensual indulgence a deadly and ruinous thing? Does not hatred kindle with its accursed torch fire and war, only to be quenched with blood? Does not the wicked dig the pit into which he himself falls. (Psa_7:15) Punishment may tarry. Penalty is slow footed, as Homer says, but it is guided by the unerring hand of Divine justice. The people who fear God and work righteousness are in the end always the blessed people, and the Psalmist rightly pronounces them happy.
II The highest recompense is not however this material prosperity, BUT THE APPROVAL OF GOD. "Ye have kept," says Joshua to the Reubenites and Gadites, "all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you" (ver. 2). There can be no purer joy than to hear words like these from the Master"s lips: "Well done, good and faithful servant, etc. (Mat_25:21) They waken in the depths of our hearts the glad echo of an approving conscience. This is not the proud satisfaction of self righteousness; it is the joy of having rejoiced the heart of God; of having done something for the Saviour; of having in some measure responded to the love freely received.
III OBEDIENCE LEADS TO OBEDIENCE; GOOD BEGETS GOOD. "The path of the just is as the shining light, shining more and more." So Joshua, in sending back these valiant soldiers of their country, gives them in parting some holy admonitions. We see that he judges them worthy to apprehend the law of God in its "true breadth and length," in the spirit and not in the letter. It is to be noted that he sums up the whole in that commandment which is ever new, and never to be abrogated, that which St. John calls the old and the new commandment: (1Jn_2:7) "Love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways; keep his commandments, and cleave unto him and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul" (ver. 5). Thus does each step or word in the Divine life prepare the way for a yet further advance, and so we go from strength to strength, from grace to grace. E. DE P.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Ye have not left your brethren.
Jos_22:1-34
Ye have not left your brethren.
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Helping one another
I. These tribes helped their brethren to their own inconvenience and positive detriment. A narrow-minded, selfish race would have recognised no claim for any service which could not be repaid dollar for dollar. What fine excuses could have been made for the non-performance of this duty if they had been in the excuse-making mood! How prominently that threadbare proverb, Charity begins at home--a proverb often outrageously perverted--might have figured in their conversation! We have our own children and our own houses to look after; our crops must be planted and harvested; our homes must be established in this new land; the wandering tribes of our enemies may at any time swoop down upon our vineyards and gardens. Small and selfish souls always reason in this way, whether they live in Palestine or America, in the fifteenth century before Christ or the nineteenth after Christ. Such reasoning and such living inevitably lead to national and individual bankruptcy in all the generous and noble qualities which make a nation great. Let us remember also that it is not what we can spare as well as not which helps our brother. It is not the cast-off coat which we should never wear, the superfluous dollar whose gift we should never feel, that blesses the world; it is the gift that carries part of ourselves with it that helps to regenerate mankind. The Reubenites and Gadites gave themselves, their sturdiest men, their bravest warriors, not merely a quota of drafted hirelings. There is no other brotherly kindness worth the name; a dollar bill given without the personal interest of the one who sends it is but a piece of printed paper; a dollar bill sent with love and prayer, a bill that represents the yearning of some heart to do good, may be--yea, it always is--the winged messenger of God, carrying a blessing to him to whom it goes and leaving a larger one with him who sends it.
II. These heroic israelites helped their brethren persistently and patiently. Seven long years passed before all their battles were fought and they were at liberty to return to their wives and their children. In our deeds of benevolence and charity the tendency is to leave the work half-done because of discouragement at the slowness of results. Ye did run well, who did hinder you? might be the epitaph on the tombstone of many abandoned schemes of philanthropy. If the world could be converted in a year, there would be many enthusiastic missionaries among those who now chiefly find fault with the slowness of missionary operations, because the Lord chooses to make use of centuries in bringing about the triumph of His cause. The reason for this seeming slowness of Gods hosts is not far to seek. There is more virtue in the fight than in the victory. There are souls to be enlarged, there are sympathies to be quickened, there are lives to be inspired with zeal for God and truth and fellow-men. All this is accomplished by the struggle and not by the ease and the possession of the goodly land that follows the struggle.
III. Their home-coming after the seven years of conflict. There is another home-coming to which every true heart aspires, and the conditions of honourable discharge and of welcome to that home are typified in our lesson. What is heaven except the final gathering-place for those who have helped their brethren for Christs sake? (F. E. Clark.)
Helping others
The law for us is the same as for these warriors. In the family, the city, the nation, the Church, and the world, union with others binds us to help them in their conflicts, and that especially if we are blessed with secure possessions, while they have to struggle for theirs. We are tempted to selfish lives of indulgence in our quiet peace, and sometimes think it hard that we should be expected to buckle on our armour and leave our leisurely repose because our brethren ask the help of our arms. If we did as Reuben and Gad did, would there be so many rich men who never stir a finger to relieve poverty, so many Christians whose religion is much more selfish than beneficent? Would so many souls be left to toil without help, to Struggle without allies, to weep without comforters, to wander in the dark without a guide? All Gods gifts in providence and in the gospel are given that we may have somewhat wherewith to bless our less happy brethren. The service of man is not the substitute for, but the expression of, Christianity. Are we not kept here, on this side Jordan, away for a time from our inheritance, for the very same reason that these men were separated from theirs--that we may strike some strokes for God and our fellows in the great war? Dives, who lolls on his soft cushions, and has less pity for Lazarus than the dogs have, is Cain come to life again; and every Christian is either his brothers keeper or his murderer. Would that the Church of to-day, with infinitely deeper and sacreder ties knitting it to suffering, struggling humanity, had a tithe of the willing relinquishment of legitimate possessions and patient participation in the long campaign for God which kept these rude soldiers faithful to their flag and forgetful of home and ease till their general gave them their discharge. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Standing by our brethren
A ship arrived at San Francisco recently which had been two hundred and ninety-six days from New Castle, Australia. She had been in great peril in a storm at sea and had had long delays. One night when she was in great danger the captain asked the captain of another ship to stand by through the night, and he did so at great risk to his own vessel and his own life, but finally was the cause of the salvation of the imperilled vessel. As soon as he was safe in harbour the captain of the ship that had been threatened with wreck gave his first attention to showing appreciation of the other captains assistance, and sent him a gold watch, and went before the council of the city of Sydney and told the story of his heroism. On learning of it the Sydney authorities presented to the noble captain a medal bearing his name on one side, and on the other the simple inscription, The man that did stand by. In the midst of the campaign for righteousness that is going on in our modern life the noblest ambition for a Christian man is to share the fate of righteousness; to be no more popular than Jesus Christ would be, if He stood in his place, and sought as of old to make it easy for men to do right and hard for them to do wrong. Rather than anything else the Christian man should prize having Christ look down upon him and say: The man that did stand by. (Louis A. Banks, D. D.)
Take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law.
The commanders parting charge
They were about to depart for a life of comparative separation from the mass of the nation. Their remoteness and their occupations drew them away from the current of the national life, and gave them a kind of quasi-independence. They would necessarily be less directly under Joshuas control than the other tribes were. He sends them away with one commandment, the imperative stringency of which is expressed by the accumulation of expressions in verse 5. They are to give diligent heed to the law of Moses. Their obedience is to be based on love to God, who is their God no less than the God of the other tribes. It is to be comprehensive--walking in all His ways; it is to be resolute--cleaving to Him; it is to be whole hearted and whole-souled service, that will be the true bond between the separated parts of the whole. Independence so limited will be harmless; and, however wide apart the paths may lie, Israel will be one. In like manner the bond that knits all divisions of Gods people together, however different their modes of life and thought, however unlike their homes and their work, is the similarity of relation to God. They are one in a common faith, a common love, a common obedience. Wider waters than Jordan part them. Graver differences of tasks and outlooks than separated these two sections of Israel part them. But all are one who love and obey the one Lord. The closer we cleave to Him, the nearer we shall be to all His tribes. (American Sunday School Times.)
Universal obligation
All the great duties of a Christian life are no more incumbent upon Christians than upon other men; for men are bound to be and to do right on the religious scale of rectitude not because they are Christians, but because they are men. Religious obligations took hold of us when we were born. They waited for us as the air did. They have their sources back of volition, back of consciousness, just as attraction has. Though a man declares himself an atheist it in no way alters his obligations. Right and wrong do not spring from the nature of the Church. Obligation lies deeper than that. It is as much the worldlings duty to love God and obey His laws as the Christians. (H. W. Beecher.)
Obedience unmeasured
When the truth of our sincerity requires to be weighed out in drachmas and scruples, and runs so sparingly as from an exhausted vessel--when the state of the conscience must be ascertained by a theological barometer, the health of the soul must be in a very feeble and crazy condition. (H. G. Salter.)
Sincere obedience
If conscience be enlightened, and faithful in the trial, a man cannot deliberately deceive himself: he must know whether his resolutions and endeavours be to obey all the will of God; or, whether, like an intermitting pulse, that sometimes beats regularly, and then falters, he is zealous in some duties, and cold, or careless in others? Saul would offer sacrifice, but not obey the Divine command to destroy all the Amalekites: for his partiality and hypocrisy he was rejected of God. Tis not the authority of the lawgiver, but other motives that sway those who observe some commands, and are regardless of others. A servant that readily goes to a fair or a feast, when sent by his master, and neglects other duties, does not his masters command from obedience, but his own choice. Sincere obedience is to the royalty of the Divine taw, and is commensurate to its purity and extent. (H. G. Salter.)
What trespass is this that ye have committed?--
The memorial altar
1. Notice the proper jealousy of the elders. When the chiefs of the tribes of Israel heard of this altar they arose in great alarm and went down to their brethren, the two and a half tribes, to demand an explanation. Their jealousy was hasty, it was ignorant and uncharitable, but it was not unnatural. It arose, indeed, from a misunderstanding. They imagined that the eastern men were wishful to do the exact opposite of that which was in their hearts; they took the altar to be a sign and a means of division, whereas it was intended to be a symbol and an influence for unity. Such misunderstandings often and naturally arise. Men look at what others are doing; they do not stay to inquire, they assume they know all about it; they read in what they see their own notions, and hence they come to unwise and uncharitable opinions. It is surely necessary that Christian men, in judging each others work, should cultivate a spirit of candour, should be anxious to be clear in judgment, should assume the better motive until the worse is proved; and should remember that, within the limits of what is right, there is room for wide difference of taste, even where there is equal loyalty for the truth and equal anxiety for its maintenance.
2. Now notice the anxiety of the fathers. They were very anxious to have a symbol of unity. They themselves, who had borne a part in every conflict, could never forget the battle or the victory; but to their children those memories might become dim, and might even become to be thought mere myths, and so they desired a symbol, the existence of which could only be accounted for by the fact symbolised, and the sight of which, exciting curiosity and comment, should keep the glorious facts alive amongst them. And they were surely right. Symbols and monuments are useful, the human mind requires them, and men in all ages and lands have provided them erected on the sites of great battles, as Waterloo and Quebec; to commemorate great discoveries, such as chloroform; or great inventions, such as the steam engine; they have been executed to keep green the memory of great men. The busy world is only too apt to forget its benefactors and to lose trace of the events which have been mightiest in moulding its fortunes, so the instinct of men has led them to keep alive precious memories by monumental symbols. And the principle has been recognised by God Himself, and has been embodied in the institutions of the Church. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a symbol, a memorial observance in which we do show forth the Lords death till He comes. By its frequent observance the Church recalls to the mind of its members and the attention of the thoughtless world the supreme fact of human history. And surely never were becoming memorials of great and noble events more necessary than in our own time! These are days of rush and hurry unexampled. Events succeed each other so rapidly that one impression overlays, and perhaps effaces, its predecessors. Anything that will help us to keep in mind great deeds done for God and man, and their influence on subsequent events, will preserve the rich treasure of our spiritual heritage.
3. But, again, those fathers were anxious for a link with the past. They were unwilling that the continuity of their history should be broken. They, and their children after them, would be impoverished if the memories of the past should be lost. Some of them might be memories of shame, but even therein were precious lessons of warning; and many of them were memories of triumph invaluable for the inspirations to duty and to enterprise which they conveyed. Those old heroes were unwilling that the past with its lessons should fade away and disappear, and they were right. How much we owe to the past, though we are often unconscious of the debt! Our position, our mental quality, the balance of our faculties, our peculiar character, have come to us through the mingling of many strains and the influence of a thousand varying circumstances. Our mental conceptions arise out of the heritage of ideas which we find before us when we come into the world, possessed by all minds as a common endowment and embodied in a multitude of forms, literary, mechanical, social, religious. What magnificent possessions the past hands on to us!
4. And, especially, these people were anxious for their children; they were anxious that their share in the toils and risks of the campaigns of Israel should not be forgotten. They were fearful lest their children should lose their part in the original heritage of the covenant. Many causes would favour this: distance, which made it impossible for them to attend the great national festivals; difference of habits occasioned by the different surroundings of their life; the influence of neighbouring idolatry; intermarriage with the tribes hard by--all these things would make it only too likely that, after one or two generations, their children would fall away from the faith of Israel. If by the sight of this great altar overlooking the Jordan they could be reminded of Gods claim upon them and Gods covenant with them and Gods dealing with their fathers, perhaps they might be preserved from the apostasy which would otherwise ruin them. Who does not sympathise with this anxiety of the fathers of the ancient days which has always been a marked characteristic of truly godly men, that they have been anxious for their childrens salvation? Oh, that Ishmael might live before Thee! is a prayer which has often found echo in the hearts of men. Love itself becomes more true and tender when, with all the other passions, it is sanctified by the indwelling Spirit. Then, too, the successes or failures of life become properly discriminated. Men who see the invisible estimate the more correctly the things temporal and the things eternal. And the chief solicitude for their children comes to be, not that they should be rich or fashionable, but that they should be good. (T. R. Stephenson, D. D.)
The altar of testimony
Suppose we call the Israelites who built the altar the Eastern Church, and those who found fault with them the Western Church. We shall hope to get instruction from both. From the builders of the altar of testimony we shall ask you to learn a lesson in Christian doctrine; from their brethren of the west, who found fault with them, a lesson in Christian practice.
I. Now the story of the altar on the banks of the Jordan appears to me remarkable as a perfect illustration of what may be called a great spiritual ambiguity, common (in fact, universal) throughout the church of the moderns. It certainly is something above and beyond a mere theological refinement when we discuss one with another the right province of duty and work in the system of Christianity. It enters into every judgment we form of other mens Christianity or our own. The hard-toiling Christian, is he a Pharisee or not? The idle and the use less Christian, is he a humble believer in the sacrifice of Christ? Here, then, it is that the Reubenites will come in and render us a valuable service as teachers of sound doctrine. We dwell, said they, in the near neighbourhood of idolatrous tribes. There is nothing now--there will be less when we are dead and gone--to mark us out from the heathen and to rank us with the chosen of the Lord. And therefore up went the altar--a memorial, a lasting memorial, in the style of it, or the inscription it bore, that the builders were they who had come up out of Egypt, and belonged to the seed of Abraham according to the promise. And is it not for this very same purpose that we Christians are commanded to let your light so shine before men? The offerings of the silver and the gold, the building of churches, the visiting of the widow and the fatherless, the carrying of the gospel to foreign climes, the reclaiming of untaught and neglected childhood from misery and guilt--there are lesser motives for doing these things, but the chief motive is that we may adorn the doctrines we profess, that men may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus, and that all the world may discover that ours is no barren or unprofitable faith. Or perhaps, like the Reubenites, our motives may stretch out into other generations. We may build, with our money, and our toils, and our example, and our lives, that our children and our childrens children may say of our memory, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made. But now, mark you. It was an altar that the Church east of the Jordan built up for their memorial. Were the Reubenites wrong in rearing their memorial in the form of an altar? It came out, Not at all. It was not designed for a victim: no sacrifice, in the proper Shiloh sense of sacrifice, was ever to be offered up from it. Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord. That was all they intended by the erection. They would tell the heathen, and their children would tell the children of the heathen, that the Jordan made no difference between them and the seed of Abraham on the other side. They must build something. What shall it be? Why, let it be a model, a copy, of the altar that is at Shiloh. What more fitting? What more pregnant with meaning? It reminds them whilst they live of the one solitary spot where the blood must be shed for the remission of sin; it will prove to friends and enemies, when they themselves are no more, that they too were blessed in faithful Abraham. The altar was a tribute, not a rival, to the tabernacle that dwelt in Shiloh. Oh, beautiful picture this of what a Christians good works are, and what a Christians good works are not. They are a memorial, a demonstration. They must take some form. What form shall they have? What? Why the form of patterns, copies, models of the sacrifice of Christ. To be trusted in? To be looked to for salvation? To supplant the offering on the Cross? Nay, indeed, not so. But to do homage to that Cross by imitation, to remind us of it while we live, and to point our descendants to it when we are gone.
II. Learn, then, from the warm-hearted Israelites on the east of the Jordan that a good mans toils are not the good mans atonement, but that they may be reared, and must be reared, in the shape and on the model of Christs atonement--an altar, but an altar of witness or testimony, reminding both yourselves and your neighbours of the one sacrifice for sin which, though none can ever repeat, all are commanded to copy. But now it seems hardly possible to make the Reubenites and the Gadites our only teachers in this story. They may render a lesson upon Christian doctrine, but certainly their brethren across the water match them with a lesson on Christian practice. Just think for a moment of the spirit and manner wherein, from the days of the apostles, the Church has carried on the innumerable controversies that split up the Catholic Church into parties. Grace and good works. What a happy thing it would have been for every one but the booksellers if the champions on both sides had only had the charity and good sense to do what the men of Western Israel did towards the men of Eastern Israel three thousand years ago. They condescended first to find out whether, in point of fact, there was any heresy to fight against. Strike, then, in your controversies, but hear first; and when you strike, let it be only with the strong argument, and never with the frenzy of the persecutor. Remember the words of Bishop Taylor: Either the disagreeing person is in error, or he is not. In both cases to persecute is extremely imprudent. If he be right, then we do open violence to God and to Gods truth; if he be wrong, what stupidity it is to give to error the glory of martyrdom. Besides which, there is always a jealousy and a suspicion that persecutors have no arguments, and that the hangman is their best reasoner. No, no, we will not hastily bear false witness against our neighbour, but we will speak one to another, and judge other mens servants no longer; and may the very God of peace and love give to all of us to build up everywhere humble models and copies of His great work for our salvation, and help us to do all that we do in the spirit of charity. (H. Christopherson.)
The purity and unity of the Church
I. The state of mind which the erection of this altar excited in the other tribes.
1. Zeal for the honour of God.
2. Fear lest they should incur the Divine displeasure.
II. THE real design for which the altar was erected.
1. It was a memorial that they were one people.
2. It was a memorial that they had one God and one religion.
Lessons:
1. These Israelites, by setting up this altar, show their love to the service and worship of God. Had they not valued their privileges, it would not have occurred to them to provide against the possibility of losing them: that which we value we endeavour to keep.
2. They show their love to their brethren. Had they not felt a regard for them, they would not have sought means to preserve the know ledge of their common relation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They who sincerely love God will love their brethren, and love will secure unity; but not at the expense of purity. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
A supposed wrong explained
1. How little reliance can be placed upon hearsay! It is always so difficult to give a true report of what has happened, that to draw inferences from, and institute action upon mere rumour, is a dangerous course. A fact is not necessarily the truth, because it may be but part of the truth. Part of the truth is often the most dangerous, subtle, and wicked lie. A fact is after all but the expression of a motive; so that to grasp the bearing of a fact the motive must be first of all understood. Consequently, hearsay must always be an unsafe, and often a mischievous guide.
2. Notice how a religious symbol, employed with the most innocent design and for a praiseworthy end, was interpreted as a signal of idolatry and rebellion. At the present day, what excites the worst passions so powerfully, and that, too, in the name of religion, as some devout act or pious sign, of which the meaning is not quite clear to the uninitiated, or which prejudice associates with heresy or superstition.
3. If all would follow the example of the Israelites, and, before going to war, as it were, to right a supposed wrong, would first seek an explanation, how often the wrong would be found to have no existence, and how clear of discord the atmosphere of the world would become!
4. Never assume the guilt of those whom you suspect. It creates a prejudice in ones own mind, which it is hard to overcome. It makes ones own manner severe and condemnatory, instead of being conciliatory and impartial. The effect upon the opposite party is to create an attitude of resentment, to excite irritation, to give a sense of injury, to predispose to a perpetuation of the quarrel, instead of seeking to remove it.
5. The eastern tribes behaved with exemplary self-control. They were the grossly injured party. Yet, smarting as they were under the sense of injustice, they did not resent the indignity. You hear no reproaches or recriminations. They simply state their innocence and disclose their real motives.
6. Phinehas and the people blessed God that war was averted. Are we not sometimes disappointed when we find there is no cause for quarrel? (T. W. M. Lund, M. A.)
Misunderstanding
1. Prepossessions and misunderstandings are too often the occasion of great divisions in the world, and of such as, if not prevented, draw after them very pernicious and fatal consequences.
2. There ought to be the speediest and most effectual care taken for preventing the ill-consequences of such misunderstandings, and to rake up the case before it comes to the utmost extremity.
3. The most proper method for preventing such misunderstandings, and for composing differences arising from such misunderstandings, is examination and inquiry into the cause with deliberation and meekness, that they may see where the difference lies, and take the best course for the composing of it.
4. It is a comfortable evidence of Gods presence with a people to bless, defend, and prosper them when mistakes are removed, differences happily composed, and they are at union and peace among themselves. (John Williams, D. D.)
Misconstruction
Thus quarrels among brethren oft arise from mere mistakes, as betwixt Cyril and Theodoret, who excommunicated one another for heresy, &c., yet afterwards coming to a better understanding of each others meaning, and finding they both held the same truth, they were cordially reconciled. We must justly wonder at the over-hasty jealousy of the ten tribes against their brethren, whose faithfulness and valour for God and His people they had so long experience of in the Seven Years War; yet now to find fault, when themselves were foully faulty of a rash censure, having only Allegatas, or matters alleged, but no Probatas, or things proved; but alas I how oft doth inconsiderate zeal transport even religious men to uncharitable censures. Would to God all such differences upon mistakes in our day may be as happily ended as this was here, then God is among us (Jos_22:31), perceivingly; but dissension drives God from us, and will let in dissolution among us if we avoid not all giving offence carelessly and all taking offence causelessly. Oh, that the Lord would take away that morosity and malignity of a censorious spirit from us, and give to us more meekness of wisdom (Jam_3:13). The Reubenites, &c., here were really to be commended not only for their care in building this altar for the spiritual good of their posterity (lest they should forsake the sincere service of the true God in their following generations), but also for their meekness when thus foully calumniated. They did not bristle and set up the crest in a way of scornful defiance, but they calmly sought to give due satisfaction to their offended brethren; and the ten tribes were verily more blameworthy for misconstruing their religious meanings and doings upon such slender grounds as a bare report (without any solid proof), misrepresenting the matter to them. Yet herein were they truly praiseworthy, not only that they were so blessedly blown up with a zeal for Gods glory, in preparing war against idolatry, yea, even in one half of the tribe of Manasseh against the other half beyond Jordan, when the purity of their religion came in competition with brotherly affection, like Levi in that heroic act of Divine justice (Exo_32:26-29), would not spare their own brethren (Deu_33:9), but also, and more especially, that the ten tribes first sent Phinehas, so famous for his heroic act against Zimri and Cozbi, whereby Gods wrath was appeased (Num_25:8-11; Psa_106:30), to compromise the controversy, which he happily effected without any imbruing their hands in one anothers blood. Sure I am we want such a Phinehas in our day to put an happy end to our unhappy differences. (C. Ness.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Jos_22:1. Then Joshua called] “As the return of the…
THE GOING HOME OF THE EASTERN TRIBES
CRITICAL NOTES.—
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Jos_22:1. Then Joshua called] “As the return of the armed men belonging to the two tribes and a half is only described in general terms, by ‘âz,’ as occurring somewhere about the same time as the events related before, it would not be at all at variance with the text to suppose that they were dismissed immediately after the conclusion of the wars. But such an assumption is disproved by Jos_22:9, where they are said to have been dismissed from Shiloh, to which the Israelites only proceeded during the distribution of the land (chap. Jos_18:1), by Jos_22:12, and also by the fact that their presence was necessary when the Levitical cities were selected, for this concerned them as much as the other tribes.” [Keil.]
Jos_22:4. Get you unto your tents] It is not necessary to suppose that the cities of Eastern Palestine needed rebuilding before the two and a half tribes could exchange their tents for houses. The people had been so long used to dwelling in tents, that very many years elapsed before this phrase was entirely discarded (1Ki_8:66; 1Ki_12:16, etc.). The families of these 40,000 men, we are specially told in Num_32:10, were to retire to the fenced cities.
Jos_22:5. The commandment and the law]=“The mitsvah and the torah.” Probably the former referred to special commandments given through Moses, Joshua, and other individual teachers; the latter, to the written law. given for their ordinary religious guidance.
Jos_22:8. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren] Those who had remained in Eastern Palestine were to share in these riches. This was as God had already ordained (Num_31:27), and as David again instructed the people in after years (1Sa_30:24).
Jos_22:9. The land of Canaan … the country of Gilead] Canaan is here put for Canaan proper, in opposition to Gilead, which stands for Gilead and Bashan, inclusively.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jos_22:1-9
THE FAITHFUL PAST AND THE IMPORTUNATE FUTURE
The war being substantially over, Joshua proceeded to dismiss the two and a half tribes to their homes. The exact time of this dismissal is not recorded, but it was evidently after the setting up of the tabernacle at Shiloh (cf. Jos_22:9, chap. Jos_18:1). Although the Canaanites were subdued, so that they could not stand before the children of Israel, yet they were not conquered entirely. The two and a half tribes had promised Moses that they would not return to their homes on the east of Jordan until their brethren had received “every man his inheritance.” If this promise had not been completely fulfilled, that was not the fault of the eastern tribes, but of their brethren, who were “slack to go to possess the land.” Thus, considering that they had honourably discharged their engagement through Moses, Joshua freely dismissed these forty thousand men to their own inheritance.
This passage brings under our notice the following points of interest:—
I. Arduous service faithfully rendered. These men had striven year after year, keeping “all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded them.”
1. Faithful service given, irrespective of either sphere or time. The sphere was the field of battle. The labour was the toil of war. It was amid perils and carnage and blood that these men continued true. They knew not when they might be free to meet again their fathers and mothers, their wives and children. Campaign followed campaign, and still the grim strife went on. None knew when it would be finished. All of them must often have been weary. Notwithstanding things like these, no one is said to have deserted. Each waited till he was discharged. Men often excuse themselves from the service of the Lord, who might find a rebuke in the conduct of these faithful soldiers. “There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his Master.” The taunt of Nabal, undeserved by David, is often merited by others. Men get disappointed with their sphere. It is not what they expected. They forget that they too stand pledged to a battle-field. Men get wearied with the long term of their service. They think it is high time that their place in the ranks should be filled by others. For such it is written, “Be thou faithful unto death.”
2. Faithful service maintained in view of that which was fair and right. The western tribes had helped to win the inheritance of the eastern tribes (cf. Num_21:21-35). Thus this service which the eastern tribes had been rendering to their brethren of the west was the discharge of a debt. The debt was fairly due; it was just and right that it should be paid. How much do we owe to others? How much of the estate which we enjoy to-day has been won for us by men who have gone before us, and by men who are about us now? (a) Think of our inheritance of property and position. Much of that which most men possess has come from others. The position in which men are able to earn their livelihood is generally owing very much to the labour and endurance of predecessors. No man has any right to spend all his money on himself. Much is owing to men. (b) Think of our inheritance as citizens. Our liberties are born of the labours, and imprisonments, and bereavements, and death of many who have gone before. Others are toiling now, that we may inherit and enjoy our privileges as citizens. Some Christian people look on political activity as almost sinful. The true state of the case is exactly the opposite; it is sinful not to render such political service as we can. It is a debt we owe. God has given us no more right to be selfish and idle here than elsewhere. (c) Think of our inheritance in social life. Our family mercies, and our privileges in our own circle of friends are, in many instances, so much that has been won for us and preserved to us by our fellows. Something is owing to men here. (d) Think of our inheritance in the world of literature and science and art. “Other men have laboured,” etc. Our joy in this great realm represents so much toil and brain, so much weariness and pain and disease in the lives of our brethren. Something is owing from us to those who are ignorant. Where we can pay a little of this great debt back, there our service is due. (e) Think, above all, of our inheritance in the realm of religion. Every conscientious man should sometimes have visions of the suffering servants of Christ who have preceded him in the conflicts of this glorious kingdom. What a panorama of smitten and wounded men might well pass before us all! Bunyan in his prison; Milton deprived of office and comforts; Knox confronting his sovereign; Luther journeying wearily, but with tremendous energy, to Worms; the generations of ardent workers and patient sufferers; the imprisoned fugitives of the catacombs; the gory forms, torn of beasts, or smitten with swords, bleeding for us in the amphitheatre; the noble army of martyrs, fighting for our inheritance; and then, back of all this, the cross of Jesus. “O Lord God, truly I am Thy servant!” “We are not our own; we are bought with a price.” The two and a half tribes fought to pay a debt; our debt is far greater than theirs.
3. Faithful service continued in view of a promise which had been given. These men had pledged themselves to this conflict (Num_32:16-19; Num_32:25-27). That pledge they had faithfully kept. “Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day.” Time should make no difference to promises. Unexpected toil should make no difference. Neither many years nor sore conflicts should ever wear our promises threadbare.
4. Faithful service rendered not for personal gain, but for the welfare of brethren The inheritance of the two and a half tribes was won already, at the time of crossing the Jordan. Every march they made was for the inheritance of others. Every blow they struck was for a brother. Every victory they helped to win was a victory to add to the possessions of some one else. There is no more honourable service in the whole record of the seven years’ war in Canaan, than this which speaks of the steady faithfulness of these eastern tribes. Our conflicts for our own inheritance are necessary; it is our strife for the inheritance of our brethren which is noble.
5. Faithful service given in view of what was expected by God. It was not simply that they had promised Moses, or that duty to their brethren imposed upon them this arduous task. God also required of these men that they should be found faithful. Not to help their brethren would be sinful. “If ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out” (Num_32:23). Thus did these forty thousand helpers of the brethren go on with their patient task. Not only did men deserve this service; God expected it. Gratitude to Him would allow of nothing less. How much do we owe to God? What is God expecting from us? How far, in the past, have we fallen short of that which God required at our hands?
II. Faithful service gratefully acknowledged. When men serve their fellows, they not seldom are left to reflect on the unthankfulness of their fellows; when men serve God, they are never left to feel that they have served in vain. The true servant of God manifests the spirit of God.
1. Joshua acknowledges the services of these men in words of sincere commendation. He praised them for having obeyed Moses, obeyed himself, for having been steadfast to their brethren, and for having kept faithfully the commandments of the Lord (Jos_22:2-3).
2. Joshua acknowledges their services by generous gifts (Jos_22:8). The two and a half tribes seem to have had allotted to them a fair share of the spoil. It was so abundant that even these forty thousand warriors might share it with their brethren. They who serve the Lord’s true servants will not be suffered to serve in vain; much more will they who serve the Lord Himself be abundantly repaid. Even the cup of cold water, given in the name of Christ, shall “in no wise lose its reward.” “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love.”
III. Indebtedness to the future arising out of the faithful past.
1. The past gave new obligations to watchfulness. “Take diligent heed” (Jos_22:5). They who had been so careful not to fail were to feel more constrained to watchfulness than ever.
2. The past gave new obligations to obedience. “Take heed to do the commandment,” etc. No child of God is allowed to take relaxation in sin. He who has been faithful for long must never say, “I will now rest awhile.” A good past must never be a motive to an indifferent present. Instead of this, it is ever written, in some way or other, “Hold fast that which thou hast.”
3. The past gave new obligations to love God. “Love the Lord your God.” Love never remits any of her claims. If we have loved God, His love can suffer no diminution in ours. True love has an infinity of room for increase, but no mind for decrease. God desires that we love Him more; He is never willing that we should love Him to-day any less than we loved Him yesterday.
4. The past gave new obligations to be generous to men (Jos_22:9). “Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.” The men who had given generous service were to go on and crown the edifice of an exalted character by bestowing generous gifts.
The man who has a good past stands committed to goodness through all eternity. Every good day of life makes the obligations of to-morrow so much more onerous. Character is so much moral stock, and he who recklessly throws away a fortune is poor indeed. Spiritual life is so much spiritual property, and he who rushes from such riches to bankruptcy must know an agony of loss, of which a poorer man could have no conception. The gipsy might burn his ragged tent, and walk on, thinking himself not much the poorer; the owner of a mansion, with many perishable treasures within, could not leave the ruins of his similarly destroyed abode saving with a heavy heart. The thief of many years commits one more theft, and seems to add but little to his pain; but woe to the man convicted of stealing, who has behind him a long and honest life. It goes hard with obedient Moses when he once turns rebel, and the ardent and loving Peter cannot deny Christ with as little cost in tears and anguish as can Caiaphas or Herod. God proposes to forget our sins. He never proposes to forget our faithfulness and love, and we never can forget them either. We may get cold for a season, forgetting the claims of bygone prayers and ardent worship, of former earnest service and fervent love. No man can do that with impunity. He who has been true will presently discover that his falseness is so much terrible sorrow. He too will find himself saying:
“Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?”
He who begins to serve his brethren is beginning that which, while strength and opportunities continue, he can never leave off. The man who begins to serve God is beginning that which in eternity itself he can never lay aside. This is no bondage, saving the bondage of love. The path of the just “shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” He who fights the battles of the Lord can know nothing of retreats. He may change the field; he must go on with the conflict. Canaan or Gilead, it matters not which; the very faithfulness that has been calls urgently, “Be diligent.” The noble past ever cries importunately for a still nobler future.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Jos_22:2.—OBEDIENCE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TRIUMPH. Our conflicts with the enemies of our life are God’s opportunities, in which He would see us triumph over ourselves.
GOD’S LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION OF OUR OBEDIENCE. He who says of our sin, “He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all,” says no less of even our feeble and broken services, when they are rendered from loving and true hearts, “Ye have kept all that was commanded you.”
OBEDIENCE AS A DUTY.—“Brethren, what eber de good God tell me in dis blessed book to do, dat I’m gwine to do. If I see in it dat I must jump troo a stone wall, I’m gwine to jump at it. Goin’ troo it belongs to God, jumpin’ at it belongs to me.”—[Negro Preacher.]
OBEDIENCE IN ALL THINGS.—“To obey God in some things of religion, and not in others, shews an unsound heart. Childlike obedience moves towards every command of God, as the needle points in that direction from which the loadstone draws.”—[Watson.]
“A soul sincerely obedient will not pick and choose what commands to obey, and what to reject, as hypocrites do. An obedient soul is like a crystal glass with a light in the midst, which shines forth through every part thereof. A man sincerely obedient lays such a charge upon his whole man as Mary the mother of Christ did upon all the servants at the feast in Cana: ‘Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.’ ”—[Brooks.]
THE BENEFITS OF OBEDIENCE.—“In evil times it fares best with them who are most careful about duty, and least about safety.—[Hammond.]
Jos_22:3.—FIDELITY AND ITS RESULTS.
I. Fidelity to brethren provoking the gratitude of brethren.
II. Fidelity to God eliciting the commendation of God’s servant.
III. Fidelity to men and God the only true fidelity to self.
Jos_22:4.—ENTERING INTO REST.
I. Rest according to the purpose and promise of God. “The Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as He promised them.” This is ever the secret of all true rest. Rest begins in God. Rest is wrought out by God. Rest is completed and given by God. Our efforts are but the channels through which His purposes and promises run into the ocean of accomplishment. The fighting of all the thousands of Israel had still left the land to be obviously and most manifestly a Divine gift. The seven years’ toil of men could hardly so much as begin to obscure the centuries of the mercy of Jehovah. Many promises, steady persistence, and mighty miracles on the part of God, had left no room for a single Israelite to be tempted to say, “We won the land by our gigantic efforts and brilliant strategy and persevering toil.” Probably there was not an Israelite who did not see that this “rest” had in it far more of God’s giving than of man’s getting. It is not less so in that higher rest towards which God’s children are pressing now. The Lord may do His part of the work more hiddenly than of old; His working is none the less actual. The centuries of His preparing mercy can never be shorn of their glory by the few years of our feeble and broken struggles. The secret of true rest is ever in God’s gift.
II. Rest through the service of our fellow-men. “Now therefore return ye.” That is to say, though the rest was God’s gift, He had bestowed it through men.
1. The gift of God comes through human efforts. These forty thousand men had been some of His instruments. Now that the rest was won, they might go home. God left room for these eastern tribes to feel that they had helped to bring about this good issue. God gave occasion for the western tribes to feel that, in part, they were indebted for rest to their brethren. As a father, leaning over the shoulder of his little child, leaves the child some ground to suppose that it is carrying the heavy burden, which is really borne by the strength of the parent; so, in bearing the burdens of life, God leaves us room to suppose that we are doing much ourselves, and that we can do much to help each other. However much we may seem to be lifting, and however many of our fellows may grasp the burden to help us, God’s hand ever reaches over from behind us, and bears the bulk of the load. The child of God who is spiritually sagacious, will sometimes, at least, glance upward, and detecting the heavenly Father’s hand, feel glad to sing, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee.”
2. The efforts of others are made a necessary help to our own. Who can look on the dividing of the Jordan, the overthrow of Jericho, or the miracle at Beth-horon, and not feel how readily God could have dispensed with any services which could be rendered by these eastern soldiers? Yet God would have them to help also. It is God’s way: He loves to make us feel that we can aid our brother: He loves to make our brethren feel that they cannot do without our assistance.
“Needful auxiliars are our friends, to give
To social man true knowledge of himself.
Full on ourselves, descending in a line,
Pleasure’s bright beam is feeble in delight:
Delight intense is taken by rebound;
Reverberated pleasures fire the breast.”
Young.
Thus does God work out our rest by His personal love and might, command our own patient and energetic efforts ere we can enter in, and make us no less dependent on the service of our brethren for a really glad inheritance.
III. Rest won for others, and thereby obtained and established for ourselves. “Therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession.” And these men of the eastern tribes would go home all the more gladly because of the help which they had been able to give to their brethren.
1. Their inheritance would be richer. They would have the joy of a good conscience superadded to the possession of a rich estate.
2. Their inheritance would be more secure. If the western land had not been as fully conquered as it was, the eastern possessions could not have been so safe. In helping to drive out Canaanites from the land west of the Jordan, they had been freeing the eastern territory from powerful foes.
3. Their inheritance would be more complete. The tabernacle was in the western land. The only place of worship was there. Without a well-conquered west, no full religious service could be enjoyed by the east. The eastern contingent had been making provision for the richest portion of their estate. They, too, wanted a “part in Jehovah” (cf. Jos_22:24-25; Jos_22:27). Thus the rest which these men had helped to win for others was so much more rest added to themselves. By serving others, they had secured an estate in safety, an estate in a good conscience, and an estate in the worship of Jehovah. God ever makes us thus dependent on others. To help others is a necessity to ourselves. No man can afford to live without helping some one else. Even of the realm of thought and mental activity, Emerson wrote: “We have social strengths. Our affection towards others creates a sort of vantage or purchase which nothing will supply. I can do that by another, which I cannot do alone. I can say to you what I cannot first say to myself. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.” It is ever “more blessed to give than to receive.” He who imparts possesses. He who helps others much continually enriches his own inheritance. Nowhere is this so true as in spiritual service. To lead many into the rest of Christ, is to be very rich in the peace which passeth all understanding.
LIVING FOR OTHERS
Life is nowhere so beautiful as where it is unselfish. The fairest thing in the world is that which is all and altogether for others,—the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In one sense it is true that “No man liveth unto himself;” in another aspect, men are often profoundly selfish. These men, who formed what has been called “the auxiliary force” in this war, spent seven years of their lives for their brethren. They were in the army on behalf of their brethren, and instead of their brethren. They may represent to us several phases of vicarious life.
I. Vicarious conflicts. They were fighting in the place of their brethren left on the east of Jordan. They were fighting on behalf of all Israel. Life has many vicarious conflicts. Every soldier who fights for his country, fights in the stead of others. Every true soldier of Jesus is fighting the Lord’s battles against sin on behalf of all mankind.
II. Vicarious service. All the work of these men was not on the battle-field. Incidentally, during those seven years. they would have helped their brethren in many other ways. In addition to outward services, they were cheering their brethren by their assistance, and setting an example of self-denial to all. And these were the men whose service stands commended as among the noblest offered during the war. He who lives for others now, will find his name no less honourably commended by Jesus Christ. To him, also, it shall presently be said: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
III. Vicarious suffering. These forty thousand men were suffering self-denial. They were kept from their wives and families. They had to suffer the weariness of arduous marchings and countermarchings. They had to undergo all the privations common to an army actively engaged. They had to risk the dangers of battle, and probably to suffer the pain of wounds, and of disease brought on by exposure. Partly by their sufferings Israel entered into rest. He who suffers for others enters into the peace of Him “who loved us and gave Himself for us.” The Saviour gives us His own glory most fully, when we most completely follow His own example (cf. Joh_17:22). Not as an arbitrary arrangement, but as the outcome of a spiritual law, he who humbly and patiently bears a heavy cross presently possesses a glorious crown.
WAR EXCHANGED FOR PEACE.—There can be nothing more sad than to thoughtfully contemplate an army newly mobilised for war. It is terrible to think of strong men, trained to this grim business, coming together with the deliberate intention of killing as many as they can of other strong men. It is proportionately beautiful to think of an army being disbanded;—thousands of men, marching every one to his home, to keep, and to cultivate, and to enjoy God’s good gift of peace. Among the finest fancies of Nathaniel Hawthorne, none is more beautiful than that rich conception of peace which he has embodied in half a line: “Cannon transformed into church bells.” One is led to think of the very metal, so lately bellowing thunder and pouring death, as taking an almost sentient share in the holy gladness of peace.
Jos_22:5.—REASONABLE SERVICE.
This verse may have special reference to what is known as the “Second Law,” beginning in Deuteronomy 5. It succinctly repeats some of the very phrases of Moses.
God had long fought for the Israelites, and had now given them peace. Joshua pleads with them, very much as Paul pleads with us: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” God’s gift of rest was to be answered by their tribute of obedience.
I. The duty to be done. “Do the commandment and the law.” “Walk in His ways.”
II. The concern to be manifested. “Take diligent heed to do,” etc.
1. Anxious watchfulness.
2. Holy activity.
III. The spirit and power of performance. “Love the Lord your God.” Love would help them to discern the law. Love would quicken their activity in doing the law. Love would make them delight in the law.
IV. The disposition to be cultivated.
1. Dependence and constancy. “Cleave unto Him.” Keeping very near to Him, you will less wish to depart from Him. The force of attraction diminishes with the distance of separation.
2. Humility and fidelity. “Serve Him.” Do not object to serve. Serve Him only.
V. The honour to be rendered.
1. Service with undivided affection. “Serve Him with all your heart.” Love was to render an allegiance wanting nothing in delight and joy.
2. Service with all the strength of the life. “And with all your soul.” (The word used is nephesh, “the breath,” “that by which the body lives;” also, “the mind.” Compare Gr. ψυχή as opposed to πνεῦμα.) Life was to render an allegiance wanting nothing in mind, nothing in will, and nothing in energy.
MORE LIBERTY, AND FRESH OBLIGATIONS TO SERVICE.—“Joshua thus releases and frees them from temporary service, that he may bind them for ever to the authority of the one true God. He therefore permits them to return home, but on the condition that wherever they may be they are to be the soldiers of Jehovah; and he at the same time prescribes the mode, namely, the observance of His law.”—[Calvin.]
Jos_22:6.—BLESSING A MULTITUDE.
I. In this life men are often blessed in the mass, and seemingly are all blessed alike. Some of these soldiers merited every good word that was spoken. Probably some deserved no blessing at all. There may have been those in the host who were idle, and careless, and cowardly; who, although they were formally present, sought not to serve men nor to glorify God. It is not possible that equal merit should have prevailed throughout the multitude. Yet all these men were blessed with the same words. The indifferent were blessed in the same words as the earnest; the brave, in the same words as the cowardly. Blessing must needs be unevenly administered in this life. Men cannot judge each other accurately, nor administer favours impartially. Even God blesses men in this same manner. Were everybody to be blessed according to a set scale of merit, goodness would become artificial.
1. God blesses all men, omitting none. Over all the vast multitude of the sons of men does He pour the mercies of the day, the mercies of the seasons, and the mercies of revolving years.
“Yon sun,
Lights it the great alone? You silver beams,
Sleep they less sweetly on the cottage thatch
Than on the dome of kings? Is mother earth
A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn
Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil;
A mother only to those puling babes
Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men
The playthings of their babyhood, and mar,
In self-important childishness, that peace
Which men alone appreciate?
Spirit of Nature! No.”
Such, too, is the teaching of the holy Saviour, who tells us of the Father: “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
2. In blessing the multitude, God chooses to bless the wicked man too much rather than the faithful man too little. The words of Jos_22:2-3, may have been far above the meed of many individual men of these forty thousand. Joshua, however, does not stint the praise of the deserving, lest he should say too much of the undeserving. He blesses the bad bountifully, rather than the good sparingly. God blesses bad men, and good also, far beyond their merits. God never suffers His words of love, or His works of goodness, to fall below our deserts. He ever deals with us in excess of all that we could expect.
II. The blessings of life, which seem uneven in their distribution, regulate themselves in the act of appropriation. He who had served with sloth and cowardice would not be able to take into his heart the gladness of Joshua’s words. Only he who had been faithful would much care for these words of praise; only he would be well able to appropriate them. Here, again, it is only the pure in heart who are blessed; only they see God. The sun may rise on the evil and the good, but the good find most gladness in its light. The stars mean more to the godly man than to the “undevout astronomer.” The fruitful fields of the wicked never yield so much as even the thinly cropped acres of the righteous. The poverty of God’s true servants has more wealth than the riches of the ungodly. A spiritual mind will find more joy in sickness than a sinful man can ever know in health. “Things are not what they seem.” God’s blessings, scatter them how He will, have a way of righting themselves. It is only by the pious man that they can ever be really gathered.
Jos_22:7.—THE DIVERGENT WAYS OF LIFE.
I. Life’s separations.
1. As a matter of history. Here was one half of the children of Manasseh going east of the Jordan, and one half staying west. Part of the people were henceforth to be in one country, and part in another. Life is full of similar examples. (a) Separated tribes. (b) Separated families. (c) Separated brethren and companions.
2. As a matter of necessity. Numerous families must be forced asunder. The penalty of multiplication is division. Sooner or later, to be many is to be scattered. This is well. Men need that old views and habits should be crossed. New necessities make new minds. New companions form new men. New countries beget new races. The world that makes all her various children needs them all. In their variety they can better help each other.
II. Life’s separations arising imperceptibly. Where did this division in the family of Manasseh begin? What determined it? On what day was it first noted down, that the one family was henceforth to be known in the nation as consisting of these two halves? What was the first diverting cause? Was it a difference of tastes, as between shepherd life and military life? or what was it which began to turn half the family life in one direction and half in another? Between what members of the family was the line of separation drawn? and what determined the precise bearings through the family in which that line was eventually laid down? All these things are more or less hidden. The things which divide families spring up secretly, and work secretly. Peculiar tastes, particular temptations, distinctive habits, strong prejudices; these, and many other things, are causes of separation. The persecution of the Puritans accounts largely for the America of to-day. The persecution of the French Huguenots has been an immense factor in determining the industrial occupation of Englishmen, and the commercial value of their manufactures. The roving habits of the earlier races that settled in Britain, and the ambition of a Norman duke, laid the foundations of our national life and history.
III. Life’s separations in their importance. If small causes are influential in determining the separation of families, the separation itself is often of more consequence still. Thus these eastern Manassites prospered and multiplied exceedingly, and, having turned to idolatry, were, with Reuben and Gad, the first to suffer the penalty of captivity (1Ch_5:18-26). How responsible is life everywhere! The small thing may be pregnant with mighty issues. He resolves wisely who cries, “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel.” “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
IV. Life’s separations in relation to life’s blessings. Only the western half of the family dwelt in the Land of Promise. Yet is it written of the eastern half: “When Joshua sent them away also to their tents, then he blessed them.” The blessing was not limited by the river. God’s blessing is not a mere matter of geography. The members of the family that go, and those that stay, may alike live beneath His smile. There is no place where the Scriptures may not be the power of God unto salvation. There is no country where “the same Lord is not rich unto all that call upon Him.” There is no land yet discovered where believing men may not adoringly say, “The precious blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”
Jos_22:8.—THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE’S GAINS.
I. The firstfruits of the war commanded to be offered to the Lord. This was made imperative at the fall of Jericho (chap. Jos_6:17-19). God says, “My soul desired the first ripe fruit” (cf. Mic_7:1; Exo_22:29; Deu_18:4, etc.). This requisition of the Lord is not to enrich Him, but us. He would increase the wealth of our reverence and love and joy in Himself.
II. The chief spoils of the war permitted to be kept by the people. Since the fall of Jericho, and the devoting of its spoil, the Israelites had been allowed to retain that which they took. Even the share of these eastern soldiers enabled them to return with much riches, with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment.” God has joy in all the possessions that we can hold rightly. He does but demand a little in order to teach us how to retain the abundance which He loves to leave in our possession.
III. The spoils kept by men to be used in cultivating a spirit well pleasing to God. “Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.”
1. A spirit of self-sacrifice.
2. A spirit of generosity.
3. A spirit of pleasure in the joy of others. Life’s gains should be made up of spiritual gettings, spiritual possessions, and spiritual disbursements. The man who so lives can enjoy his capital, not only when he has it, but before it is realized, and after it is paid away.
THE ETHICS OF WAR-SPOIL.—“As it was formerly seen that the greater part of the two tribes were left in their territories beyond Jordan, when the others passed over to carry on the war, it was fair that, as they had lived in ease with their families, or been only occupied with domestic concerns, they should be contented with their own livelihood and the produce of their own labour. And they certainly could not, without dishonesty, have demanded that any part of the booty and spoil should be distributed among them, when they had taken no share in all the toil and the danger. Joshua, however, does not insist on the strictly legal view, but exhorts the soldiers to deal liberally with their countrymen by sharing the prey with them. Here some one may unseasonably raise the question, Whether or not the booty was common? For Joshua does not decide absolutely that it is their duty to do as he enjoins; he admonishes them that, after they have been enriched by the Divine blessing, it would betray a want of proper feeling not to be liberal and kind towards their brethren, especially as it was not their fault that they did not take part in the same expedition. Moreover, when he bids them divide, he does not demand an equal partition, such as that which is usual among partners and equals, but only to bestow something that may suffice to remove all cause of envy and hatred.”—[Calvin.]
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 2. (Jos 22:1-34; Jos 23:1-16; Jos 24:1-33.)
Subdivision 2. (Jos 22:1-34; Jos 23:1-16; Jos 24:1-33.)
Appended Warnings.
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Section 1. (Jos 22:1-34.)
We have in the last subdivision of the book what is plainly supplementary. We have no longer the history of the work of divine power by which the inheritance of the people of God is secured to them, nor the account of the land itself, of which they take possession. Out of this we pass into what is manifestly of another and lower order of testimony, -not to the power of God or His grace and gift, but to the people themselves and to their little competency even to hold the gift which has been made their own.
In fact, we have already had, even in the history of their first establishment in their land, the record of failure. One of the things most strongly insisted on in the charge entrusted to them was that they should dispossess the Canaanites; and herein they fail conspicuously; not merely for lack of strength, but when they have strength. But even the; of strength meant only lack of faith and of heart. Nor is this merely a negative, a defect: it means always the cherishing of what is contrary to God, and thus a positive seed of evil which springs up and spreads, as we shall find it spreading in the Book of Judges. Thus Israel are no sooner planted in the land than they fail in it; and such failure has been found in the history of all dispensations, and equally from the first. In the Christian Church, above all, as its privilege and blessing have been most remarkable, so have been the failure and evil in it: carefully foretold, moreover, as in Moses’ song that of Israel. God is not disappointed -has not deceived Himself; nor, if we will listen to Him, will He allow us to be deceived.
Corruptio optimi, pessima corruptio has been long said: "the corruption of what is best is the worst corruption." And let anything be entrusted to man, it will be corrupted. Thus, with the completion of revelation has gone on the growth of evil, Jezebel and Babylon of old being only types of worse abominations in Christian times, iniquity developing to the day of harvest, when,fully manifested for what it is, it shall be reaped for the fire that shall consume it.
The last three chapters of Joshua are not, however, a formal prophecy of impending evil, such as, for instance, Moses’ song. And the twenty-second chapter is not even a direct warning as to this, as Joshua’s address is afterward. It is but the story of a well-meant attempt to provide against a possible breach, at an after-time, of Israel’s unity. The two and a half tribes, sent back to their inheritance on the east side of Jordan, set up near the river "a great altar to see to," as a witness that they are of one faith with those upon the other side, and that their children of after generations might not be deprived of a place with them in the worship of their common Lord. It is all well, and their brethren (even Phinehas with his unflinching zeal for God) are satisfied with their explanations. Yet it is plain an uneasy sense of insecurity is already haunting them. The danger may never practically present itself from the quarter they anticipate: we do not read that it ever did; yet the sense of danger may be a true presentiment none the less; and while the door is barred in one direction, it may be wide open in another.
They are right in realizing that their one Lord is the bond of unity. They do not anticipate that their danger, in fact, is not from their brethren, but in themselves. Their own slipping away from Jehovah is that which leads to their dispersion and captivity in other lands, after allowing city after city to fall into the hands of Moab. The enemy that they are facing in the west comes up, thus, really from another quarter, and where there is no bulwark erected to keep him out. For us the lesson is all-important. It is not by ability to keep in view the whole horizon of circumstance that we shall be effectually guarded from the approach of evil: it is by that spirit which is manifested in those who are the true circumcision -"no confidence in the flesh." (Php 3:3.) This makes God a practical, continual necessity, and His all-sufficiency our complete safeguard and rest. This is the lesson with which the great altar of Ed impresses us, and a most useful one it surely is.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 Jos 21:43 - Jos 21:45; Jos 22:1 - Jos…
Joshua
THE END OF THE WAR
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Jos 21:43 - Jos 21:45; Jos 22:1 - Jos 22:9.
‘The old order changeth, giving place to new.’ In this passage we have the breaking up of the congregation and the disbanding of the victorious army. The seven years of fighting had come to an end. The swords were to be ‘beaten into plowshares,’ and the comrades who had marched shoulder to shoulder, and shared the fierce excitement of many a bloody field, were to be scattered, each becoming a peaceful farmer or shepherd. A picturesque historian, of the modern ‘special correspondent’ sort, would have overlaid the narrative with sentiment and description; but how quietly the writer tells it, so that we have to bethink ourselves before we apprehend that we are reading the account of an epoch-making event! He fixes attention on two things,- the complete fulfilment of God’s promises {Jos 21:43 - Jos 21:45} and the dismissal to their homes of the contingent from the trans-Jordanic tribes, whose departure was the signal that the war was ended Jos 22:1 - Jos 22:8}. We may consider the lessons from these two separately.
I. The triumphant record of God’s faithfulness {Jos 21:43 - Jos 21:45}. These three verses are the trophy reared on the battlefield, like the lion of Marathon, which the Greeks set on its sacred soil. But the only name inscribed on this monument is Jehovah’s. Other memorials of victories have borne the pompous titles of commanders who arrogated the glory to themselves; but the Bible knows of only one conqueror, and that is God. ‘The help that is done on earth, He doeth it all Himself.’ The military genius and heroic constancy of Joshua, the eagerness for perilous honour that flamed, undimmed by age, in Caleb, the daring and strong arms of many a humble private in the ranks, have their due recognition and reward; but when the history that tells of these comes to sum up the whole, and to put the ‘philosophy’ of the conquest into a sentence, it has only one name to speak as cause of Israel’s victory.
That is the true point of view from which to look at the history of the world and of the church in the world. The difference between the ‘miraculous’ conquest of Canaan and the ‘ordinary’ facts of history is not that God did the one and men do the other; both are equally, though in different methods, His acts. In the field of human affairs, as in the realm of nature, God is immanent, though in the former His working is complicated by the mysterious power of man’s will to set itself in antagonism to His; while yet, in manner insoluble to us, His will is supreme. The very powers which are arrayed against Him are His gift, and the issues which they finally subserve are His appointment. It does not need that we should be able to pierce to the bottom of the bottomless in order to attain and hold fast by the great conviction that ‘there is no power but of God,’ and that ‘from Him are all things, and to Him are all things.’
Especially does this trophy on the battlefield teach a needful lesson to us in the Christian warfare. We are ever apt to think too much of our visible weapons and leaders, and to forget our unseen and ever-present Commander, from whom comes all our power. We ‘burn incense to our own net, and sacrifice to our own drag,’ and, like the heathen conqueror of whom Habakkuk speaks, make our swords our gods {Hab 1:11, Hab 1:16}. The Church has always been prone to hero-worship, and to the idolatry of its organisation, its methods, or its theology. Augustine did so and so; Luther smote the ‘whited wall’ {the Pope} a blow that made him reel; the Pilgrim Fathers carried a slip of the plant of religious liberty in a tiny pot across the Atlantic, and watered it with tears till it has grown a great tree; the Wesleys revived a formal Church,-let us sing hallelujahs to these great names! By all means; but do not let us forget whence they drew their power; and let us listen to Paul’s question, ‘Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but servants through whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?’
And let us carve, deep-cut and indelible, in solitary conspicuousness, on the trophy that we rear on each well-fought field, the name of no man save ‘Jesus only.’ We read that on a pyramid in Egypt the name and sounding titles of the king in whose reign it was erected were blazoned on the plaster facing, but beneath that transitory inscription the name of the architect was hewn, imperishable, in the granite, and stood out when the plaster dropped away. So, when all the short-lived records which ascribe the events of the Church’s progress to her great men have perished, the one name of the true builder will shine out, and ‘at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.’ Let us not rely on our own skill, courage, talents, orthodoxy, or methods, nor try to ‘build tabernacles’ for the witnessing servants beside the central one for the supreme Lord, but ever seek to deepen our conviction that Christ, and Christ only, gives all their powers to all, and that to Him, and Him only, is all victory to be ascribed. That is an elementary and simple truth; but if we really lived in its power we should go into the battle with more confidence, and come out of it with less self-gratulation.
We may note, too, in these verses, the threefold repetition of one thought, that of God’s punctual and perfect fulfilment of His word. He ‘gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give’; ‘He gave them rest, . . . according to all that He sware’; ‘there failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken.’ It is the joy of thankful hearts to compare the promise with the reality, to lay the one upon the other, as it were, and to declare how precisely their outlines correspond. The finished building is exactly according to the plans drawn long before. God gives us the power of checking His work, and we are unworthy to receive His gifts if we do not take delight in marking and proclaiming how completely He has fulfilled His contract. It is no small part of Christian duty, and a still greater part of Christian blessedness, to do this. Many a fulfilment passes unnoticed, and many a joy, which might be sacred and sweet as a token of love from His own hand, remains common and unhallowed, because we fail to see that it is a fulfilled promise. The eye that is trained to watch for God’s being as good as His word will never have long to wait for proofs that He is so. ‘Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.’ And to such a one faith will become easier, being sustained by experience; and a present thus manifestly studded with indications of God’s faithfulness will merge into a future still fuller of these. For it does not need that we should wait for the end of the war to have many a token that His every word is true. The struggling soldier can say, ‘No good thing has failed of all that the Lord has spoken.’ We look, indeed, for completer fulfilment when the fighting is done; but there are ‘brooks by the way’ for the warriors in the thick of the fight, of which they drink, and, refreshed, ‘lift up the head.’ We need not postpone this glad acknowledgment till we can look back and down from the land of peace on the completed campaign, but may rear this trophy on many a field, whilst still we look for another conflict to-morrow.
II. The disbanding of the contingent from the tribes across Jordan {Jos 22:1 - Jos 22:8}. Forty thousand fighting men, of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half of Manasseh, had willingly helped in the conquest, leaving their own newly-won homes on the eastern side of Jordan, and for seven long years taking their share in the hardships and dangers of their brethren. It was no small tax which they had thus cheerfully paid for the sake of brotherly unity. Their aid had not only been valuable as strengthening Joshua’s force, but still more so as a witness of the unbroken oneness of the nation, and of the sympathy which the tribes already settled bore to the others. Politically, it was wise to associate the whole people in the whole conquest; for nothing welds a nation together like the glories of common victories and the remembrance of common dangers survived. The separation of the trans-Jordanic tribes by the rapid river, and by their pastoral life, was a possible source of weakness, and would, no doubt, have led to more complete severance, if it had not been for the uniting power of the campaign. If the forty thousand had been quietly feeding sheep on the uplands while their brethren were fighting among the stony hills of Canaan, a great gulf would have opened between them. Even as it was, the eastern tribes drifted somewhat away from the western; but the disintegration would have been still more complete if no memories of the war, when all Israel stood side by side, had lived on among them. Their share in the conquest was not only a piece of policy,-it was the natural expression of the national brotherhood. Even I Joshua had not ordered their presence, it would have been impossible for them to stop in their peacefulness and let their brethren bear the brunt of battle.
The law for us is the same as for these warriors. In the family, the city, the nation, the Church, and the world, union with others binds us to help them in their conflicts, and that especially if we are blessed with secure possessions, while they have to struggle for theirs. We are tempted to selfish lives of indulgence in our quiet peace, and sometimes think it hard that we should be expected to buckle on our armour, and leave our leisurely repose, because our brethren ask the help of our arms. If we did as Reuben and Gad did, would there be so many rich men who never stir a finger to relieve poverty, so many Christians whose religion is much more selfish than beneficent? Would so many souls be left to toil without help, to struggle without allies, to weep without comforters, to wander in the dark without a guide? All God’s gifts in providence and in the Gospel are given that we may have somewhat wherewith to bless our less happy brethren. ‘The service of man’ is not the substitute for, but the expression of, Christianity. Are we not kept here, on this side Jordan, away for a time from our inheritance, for the very same reason that these men were separated from theirs,-that we may strike some strokes for God and our fellows in the great war? Dives, who lolls on his soft cushions, and has less pity for Lazarus than the dogs have, is Cain come to life again; and every Christian is either his brother’s keeper or his murderer. Would that the Church of to-day, with infinitely deeper and sacreder ties knitting it to suffering, struggling humanity, had a tithe of the willing relinquishment of legitimate possessions and patient participation in the long campaign for God which kept these rude soldiers faithful to their flag and forgetful of home and ease, till their general gave them their discharge!
Note the commander’s parting charge. They were about to depart for a life of comparative separation from the mass of the nation. Their remoteness and their occupations drew them away from the current of the national life, and gave them a kind of quasi-independence. They would necessarily be less directly under Joshua’s control than the other tribes were. He sends them away with one commandment, the Imperative stringency of which is expressed by the accumulation of expressions in Jos 22:5. They are to give diligent heed to the law of Moses. Their obedience is to be based on love to God, who is their God no less than the God of the other tribes. It is to be comprehensive-they are ‘to walk in all His ways’; it is to be resolute-they are ‘to cleave to Him’; it is to be wholehearted and whole-souled service, that will be the true bond between the separated parts of the whole. Independence so limited will be harmless; and, however wide apart their paths may lie, Israel will be one. In like manner the bond that knits all divisions of God’s people together, however different their modes of life and thought, however unlike their homes and their work, is the similarity of relation to God. They are one in a common faith, a common love, a common obedience. Wider waters than Jordan part them. Graver differences of tasks and outlooks than separated these two sections of Israel part them. But all are one who love and obey the one Lord. The closer we cleave to Him, the nearer we shall be to all His tribes.
We need only note in a word how these departing soldiers, leaving the battlefield with their commander’s praise and benediction, laden with much wealth, the spoil of their enemies, and fording the stream to reach the peaceful homes, which had long stood ready for them, may be taken, by a permissible play of fancy, as symbols of the faithful servants and soldiers of the true Joshua, at the end of their long warfare passing to the ‘kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world,’ bearing in their hands the wealth which, by God’s grace, they had conquered from out of things here. They are not sent away by their Commander, but summoned by Him to the great peace of His own presence; and while His lips give them the praise which is praise indeed, they inscribe on the perpetual memorial which they rear no name but His, who first wrought all their works in them, and now has ordained eternal peace for them.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 These chapters form a section by themselves, and give…
These chapters form a section by themselves, and give some closing scenes of Joshua's life, as well as his two farewell discourses to the people.
Dismissal of the Two and a Half Tribes. The Axtar set up at Ed, and the Controversy it Raised
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1-9. The dismissal of the tribes.
10-34. The controversy at Ed. Here, as in Num_25:7-9, 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. Psa_106:30); here, on the other hand, though not unmindful of that crisis (Jos_22:17), he shows tact and gentleness, and under circumstances of the utmost delicacy and tension, helps to avert a disastrous civil war.
12. At Shiloh] the natural place to assemble for so solemn an undertaking. The idea of the tribes is that their brethren are falling into the sin of apostasy (cp. Jos_22:16; Lev_17:8-9; Deu_12:5-7), and that therefore it is incumbent on them to enforce the provisions of Deu_13:12-18. These provisions, however, included a careful and searching investigation (Deu_13:14) before the declaration of exterminating war upon the offenders.
17. The iniquity of Peor] the occasion of Phinehas' former intervention: see Numbers 25.
22. The Lord God of gods] the original most impressively combines Hebrew names of God: El Elohim Jehovah.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Two and One-half Tribes and the Altar…
III. THE FINAL WORDS OF JOSHUA AND THE EPILOGUE
1. The Two and One-half Tribes and the Altar Ed
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CHAPTER 22
1. Joshua’s address (Jos 22:1-6)
2. The tribes dismissed and their return (Jos 22:7-9)
3. The great altar erected (Jos 22:10)
4. War proposed (Jos 22:11-12)
5. The mission of Phinehas and the explanation (Jos 22:13-29)
6. The explanation accepted (Jos 22:30-31)
7. The altar Ed (Jos 22:32-34)
A beautiful scene is before us. Joshua, the aged servant of God, called the Reubenites, the Gadites and half of Manasseh. Their selfish choice is selecting their portion on this side of Jordan is found in Numbers. They had, however, to pass over Jordan with the other tribes and help them in the conflict (Jos 1:12-18). The promise they had made was conscientiously kept and the time for their return to their habitations had come. Joshua commends them for their faithfulness, and exhorts them to love the Lord, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to cleave unto Him and to serve Him. May we also heed these words. Only as we walk in all His ways and are obedient to His Word can we enjoy the fellowship and the spiritual blessings which belong to us. They returned with great riches, with silver, gold, brass, iron and raiment.
They erected, after their homegoing, a great altar (Hebrew: An altar great to the sight). It was of immense size, so that it might be seen far and wide as a silent witness. When the rest of Israel heard of this altar, and thinking that it meant a separate worship, instituted by these two and a half tribes, they were ready to go to war. They exhibited great zeal for the Lord and were ready to carry out His Word. See Exo 20:24; Lev 17:8-9; Deu 7:5-13; Deu 8:7-13. But while they were zealous, they also exhibited wisdom and sent Phinehas with ten princes to investigate the supposed apostasy. The explanation follows and is accepted. The altar was then called Ed, which means “witness.” It was to bear witness between them, that the Lord is God, and that the tribes, though separated by Jordan, are one people. But where is today the witness in Christendom that there is one body? That witness seems to have been lost.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Dismissal
The Dismissal
v. 1. Then, namely, at some time after the conquest of Canaan, probably after the division of the land was completed, Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, the soldiers out of these tribes, who had served in the army of Israel during these years of conquest, Jos 1:12-15,
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v. 2. and said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, Num 32:20; Deu 3:18, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you, to which they had agreed before the people passed over Jordan.
v. 3. Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, having been thoroughly loyal to the obligations of relationship, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord, your God. All this the praise of Joshua duly acknowledges, as an encouragement to further efforts in unselfish assistance.
v. 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, a standing expression for returning home, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the other side Jordan, Num 32:33; Deu 29:8.
v. 5. But take diligent heed, watch with the greatest carefulness, to do the commandment and the Law, both that of the general Moral Law and that of the special precepts given to Israel, 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 serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. This parting admonition of Joshua shows his understanding of the human heart with its changeableness, deceitfulness, and wickedness. Cf Deu 4:2-29; Deu 6:5; Deu 8:6.
v. 6. So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away, dismissed them honorably; and they went unto their tents, they started for their homes on the east side of Jordan.
v. 7. Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, to the children of Machir, Moses had given possession in Bashan; but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. This is here repeated in order to make the situation perfectly clear, according to the ancient style of Hebrew narrative. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them,
v. 8. and he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches, their share of the booty of the wars, unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment, for the cities of the Canaanites which they had captured, beginning with Ai, had contained great treasures, all of which fell into the hands of the invaders. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren, namely, the sixty to seventy thousand who had remained to garrison the cities east of Jordan and to protect the homes and the herds of the two and one half tribes while the conquest of Canaan proper was going on.
v. 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, Num 32:20-22. That is the important thing, not only to come to the Lord, but to continue in His Word, to love Him with all one’s heart, and with all one’s soul, and with all one’s mind, and to show this love in one’s entire life.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 7 people of the tribe of Reuben (See: How to…
Reubenites
people of the tribe of Reuben (See: How to Translate Names)
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Gadites
people of the tribe of Gad (See: How to Translate Names)
obeyed my voice
Here "my voice" refers to the things that Joshua had said. AT: "obeyed everything I said" (See: Metonymy)
You have not deserted your brothers
This can be stated in a positive way. AT: "You have remained with your brothers" (See: Litotes)
translationWords
Joshua
Manasseh
Moses
servant
Yahweh
command
obey
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 22:1–24:33 Israel completed the conquest and allotment of the…
22:1–24:33 Israel completed the conquest and allotment of the land, but much of the hard work of actually settling it still lay ahead. However, all that remained for Joshua in his role as leader of Israel was to say farewell.
22:1-34 Joshua’s first farewell was to the tribes east of the Jordan as he sent them home. Characteristically, he exhorted them to remain faithful.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.