So the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh left their fellow Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan and returned to Gilead, their homeland. For Moses had told them before he died, “YAHWEH wants you to take this land for your own.”
On their way home, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh came to the town of Geliloth near the Jordan River. So they built their own large, impressive altar there. When the rest of the Israelites heard that the people of the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh had built an altar at Geliloth at the entrance to the land of Canaan, they gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.
The Israelites of the ten western tribes sent a delegation to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh in the land of Gilead. They sent Phineas son of Eleazar the priest, together with ten respected clan leaders, princes from each of their ten tribes. So they came to the people in the land of Gilead, to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. Phineas and the men with him said, “We speak to you on behalf of all YAHWEH’s people. Why did you rebel against YAHWEH and build this altar for yourselves? Why did you quit following the God of Israel and do such an evil thing? Haven’t we had enough trouble from the terrible sin we committed at Peor? There a plague came upon us even though we belong to YAHWEH. To this day, our conscience is stained and we still suffer from our atrocious deeds. How dare you turn back from following YAHWEH! If you rebel against him today, he will be angry with everyone in Israel tomorrow. If you think your land is defiled, then come back to YAHWEH’s land, where his tabernacle stands at Shiloh. But don’t rebel against YAHWEH or us by building for yourself an altar. Don’t forget what happened to Achan! YAHWEH told us, ‘Destroy everything in the city of Jericho.’ But Achan son of Zerah did not obey YAHWEH’s command regarding the devoted things, and so YAHWEH punished us all. Achan died because of what he did, and so did many other Israelites because of Achan’s sin.”
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