Joshua 22:10-34

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.” The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the princes of the tribes of Israel: “YAHWEH is the God of all gods! YAHWEH is the God of all gods! We appeal to God Almighty as our witness. He knows why we did this, and we want you to know too! If we rebelled or betrayed YAHWEH, then you may take our lives today. But we built this altar with no intention of burning any kind of sacrifices on it. If we built this altar in rebellion against YAHWEH or to break our covenant with him, then may YAHWEH himself punish us. No! We love YAHWEH! We were afraid that in the future your descendants will say to our descendants, ‘Who are you? What right do you have to worship YAHWEH, the God of Israel? He has placed the Jordan River as a barrier between our people and your people. You Reubenites and Gadites have no part in the worship of YAHWEH.’ And your descendants may prevent ours from worshiping him. We did build an altar, but not for burning sacrifices or making offerings. We built this altar to show to our people and to your people and to the generations to come that we will worship YAHWEH at his tabernacle. We will bring all our offerings into YAHWEH’s presence there so that your children may never say to our children in the future, ‘You have no part in the worship of YAHWEH.’ We have decided among us that if that day should ever come, our descendants would reply: ‘See the replica of the altar of YAHWEH, which our fathers made here at the border between us—not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness that we both serve the same God.’ Far be it from us to rebel against YAHWEH or to turn away from following him this day by building an altar on which to present offerings or make sacrifices to YAHWEH our God. We would never build an altar to take the place of the altar which stands before his tabernacle, the place of his presence.” When Phineas the priest, and the princes of the tribes heard the explanation of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, they were satisfied. Phineas son of Eleazar the priest said to them, “Now we know that YAHWEH is among us! Since you have not rebelled against him, you have indeed saved the Israelites from YAHWEH’s punishment.” Then Phineas and the ten princes of the western tribes returned to the land of Canaan and told the people of Israel everything that happened. The outcome pleased the Israelites and they praised God. They spoke no more of going to war against the eastern tribes to destroy the land where they had lived. The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness, for they said, “The altar stands as a witness to us all that YAHWEH is God.”