Joshua 22

CHAPTER 22THEME: The two and one-half tribes are sent home; they build the altar of witnessAs you will recall, the two and one-half tribes did not take their inheritance in the land with the other tribes. They remained on the east side of the Jordan River. They could have the inheritance they wanted only if they sent their armies into the land to help conquer it. This is what they did and, when the battle was won, they were free to return home.

Joshua 22:1

Just before the two and one-half tribes leave, Joshua calls them together and commends them for a job well done. He tells them that they have done a fine thing by helping their brethren. Then he gives them a warning.

Joshua 22:5

These tribes are warned that even though they have chosen to dwell on the wrong side of the Jordan, they are still to follow the Mosaic system. After Joshua warns them about their duty, he dismisses them with a blessing.

Joshua 22:6

The two and one-half tribes returned home.

Joshua 22:10

They apparently built this altar on the west side of the Jordan River. It was an altar “to see to.” This is a strange expression. Literally it means an altar “great to sight.” This means that it could be seen from a great distance. It was an imposing structure. Bible scholars searched for the ruins of this altar on the east side of Jordan. But finally an archaeologist discovered the ruins on the west side of Jordan, and they are there today, located in a prominent place, a great altar in appearance. They built this monument to remind them of something. When the rest of the children of Israel heard what they had done, they became upset and gathered at Shiloh.

Joshua 22:12

The children of Israel believed the two and one-half tribes were building an altar upon which to offer sacrifices. They thought it was an attempt to divide the nation.

Joshua 22:16

The children of Israel accused the two and one-half tribes of building an altar to Baal. They remembered the time that Balaam had caused Israel to sin by seducing them to marry Moabite women and commit spiritual adultery. At that time God had judged them severely, and they were afraid it was going to happen again. However, the two and one-half tribes give a good explanation for what they had done.

Joshua 22:21

They had not built an altar for purpose of offering sacrifices. The altar was simply a reminder that they still belonged to the nation Israel. It may have been an enlarged model of the altar of burnt offering found in the tabernacle, but it was not intended for sacrifices.

Joshua 22:24

The two and one-half tribes were sincere in what they had done, and the nine and one-half tribes accepted their explanation.

Joshua 22:31

The children of Israel realized that they had been hasty in accusing the two and one-half tribes. They remind me of some of us who are sometimes a little hasty. We say and do things we should not say and do, and we are sincere in thinking we are defending the Word of God when in reality we are not. The children of Israel made a mistake in coming against their brethren with thoughts of war.

Joshua 22:34

On the surface, the building of this altar sounds like a good idea, and many commentators have placed their seal of approval upon it. However, let’s take more than a cursory look at this altar called “Ed.” In the tabernacle was the brazen altar for sacrifices. There was to be no other. Deu_12:27 says, “And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.” Israel was told to destroy all other altars. “But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves” (Exo_34:13). There was to be but one exception, in Deu_27:4-8, where Israel is told to take twelve stones out of the Jordan River and put them up as a memorial. The two and one-half tribes never crossed over Jordan, and the river actually divided them from their brethren.

This altar recognized that division. This altar was prima facie evidence that they were divided. It made way for the division later on. Right now Israel is divided east and west. It is nine and one-half tribes versus two and one-half tribes at this point, but later on it will be a north and south division with ten tribes in the north against two tribes in the south. The brazen altar in the tabernacle, typifying the redemptive work of Christ, was a place of unity. And friend, I can meet with any man who will exalt Jesus Christ. In Joh_17:20-21 Jesus prayed, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” There is an organic unity of those who are in Christ. The altar speaks of the death of Christ as a sacrifice. As the two and one-half tribes built a bloodless altar which had divided Israel, today those who are liberal in their theology have divided the church. They have accused fundamentalists of being schismatic, but it is liberalism that has departed from the cross and the deity of Christ. They do not like an altar with blood. They have put up an “Ed,” if you please. They worship at an altar where no sacrifice is to be offered. They have a “bloodless” Christ.

Like the two and one-half tribes, their conduct reveals that they have departed from the truth. Our Lord said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits …” (Mat_7:16). Several hundred years later the Lord Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to the country of the Gadarenes. The people living there were from the tribe of Gad, and they were still living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. Our Lord came upon a demon-possessed man dwelling in the tombs, and He cast the demons out of the man and gave them permission to enter a herd of pigs nearby. The Gadarenes were in the pig business!

Can you imagine an Orthodox Jew in the pig business? They had failed to follow the commandments of God. They were on the wrong side of Jordan. Liberalism has indeed divided the church. It has erected a beautiful altar, a “bloodless” Christ, one who never actually lived, one without deity, one without ability to save humanity. My friend, have you crossed over Jordan? Have you entered into the rest of redemption which Christ offers?