Context No. 2733 of 4322 · Joshua

Joshua 22:26-34: in context

26“Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; 27but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the LORD.’ 28“Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of the LORD’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.”’ 29“Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the LORD our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!” 30When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. 31Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the LORD’s hand.” 32Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. 33The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived. 34The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.”

The tribes settling east of the Jordan built a large altar by the river, and the western tribes, fearing idolatry, gathered for war before anyone had asked a single question. Here the eastern tribes finally explain themselves. The altar is not for sacrifice at all. It is a witness, so that generations from now no one on the far side can tell their children, you have no share in the LORD.

Phinehas and the leaders listen, and it pleases them. Today, they say, we know the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass. The threat of civil war simply dissolves. A whole nation was one misreading away from bloodshed, and what dispersed it was that someone finally asked and someone honestly answered. The eastern tribes had acted out of loyalty, not rebellion, and the alarm was built entirely on an assumption.

When someone's action alarms me, do I go and ask what they meant, or assume the worst and prepare for battle?

Sources

Joshua 22:31: "Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD."
Proverbs 18:13: "He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him."
Matthew 18:15: "If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone."