Joshua 22:29, commentary and pictures

The words belong to the men of Gad and Reuben with half Manasseh as they returned to their inheritance east of the Jordan in the upland plains and forests of Gilead and Bashan, which had been chosen for grazing for their flocks and herds. They had pledged to furnish armed men to cross the Jordan and share the battles until their brethren entered their inheritance, and forty thousand of them passed over to battle to the plains of Jericho and fought bravely for years. They then returned with much riches in cattle, silver, gold, brass, iron and raiment to be shared with those who had stayed with the families and flocks. They were then to dwell at a distance from the sanctuary, where their isolated and wandering life brought strong temptation to fall into the customs of the heathen tribes on their borders.

The ten tribes rebuked their supposed defection from following the Lord to build a rival altar, acting from fear lest the people God had accepted should become divided in interest and worship and from zeal to maintain the honor of God and the purity of Israel. That zeal had been prompted by the earlier lesson of Achan's sin, when failure to deal with wrongdoing brought God's rebuke. Yet that prompt rebuke rested on ungrounded suspicion and a simple misunderstanding that might have brought serious and even fatal results. For Israel condemned on suspicion instead of first courteously asking their brethren for the facts.

The accused courteously let the rebuke finish without anger or resentment. They then sincerely and solemnly declared their innocence before the Lord who knows their hearts, appealing to Him to testify against them if at fault and admitting their lives would justly be forfeited if guilty of the rebellion charged against them. By the verse they deny turning that day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, meat offerings, or sacrifices beside the altar before the tabernacle or intending to rebel against God. They explain they built an altar only after the pattern of the altar at Shiloh as a witness that they also worship the living God, from fear that in future years their children might be excluded from the tabernacle by their brethren as having no part in Israel.

Their candid explanation was readily accepted with great joy that their hearts were still true to the God of Jacob. The tidings were carried back to the congregation, all thoughts of war were dismissed, and the people united in heartfelt rejoicing and praise to God. The wisdom and forbearance they showed under trying circumstances is a forcible lesson worthy of imitation, for great evils might be averted if the same course were followed. An individual unjustly suspected or censured should not yield to anger or cherish retaliation but use the occasion to develop meekness and forbearance.