Joshua 22:11
And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.
The report reached the rest of Israel that Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had built an altar opposite the land of Canaan in the borders of the Jordan at the crossing place of the children of Israel. The builders were the two and a half tribes that had received their inheritance before crossing the Jordan, choosing the upland plains and rich forests of Gilead and Bashan as grazing land for their flocks and herds. They had kept their pledge to supply their proportion of armed men for the conquest west of the Jordan, with forty thousand prepared for war passing over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho and fighting bravely for years. They then returned with very much cattle and with silver and gold and brass and iron and very much clothing, to divide and share with those who had remained behind with the families and flocks.
Their settlement left them to dwell at a distance from the sanctuary in an isolated life on the borders of heathen tribes, where temptation to fall into heathen customs would be strong and caused anxious concern for their faithfulness. The report made the other tribes fear a break in the unity and worship of Israel, suspecting the altar was intended for sacrifice and worship in place of the tabernacle at Shiloh that would draw Israel away from God and bring judgment on the nation. Their zeal to confront the suspected unfaithfulness was sharpened by the earlier lesson of Achan's sin, when failure to confront sin within Israel had brought divine rebuke.
The altar was in fact intended only as a witness of shared faith and equal standing in Israel, not as a rival place of sacrifice. In acting on the alarming report the tribes judged before learning the facts and went too far, showing how sincere zeal to defend true religion can become unjust suspicion and censure with grave and even fatal consequences. The episode therefore teaches the need to oppose sin without groundless suspicion, to make courteous inquiry and seek an explanation before censuring others. It also teaches those unjustly censured to meet such treatment with meekness and forbearance rather than anger or retaliation.