Joshua 22 Sin of Peor allover again?

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Joshua 22:9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.

10 When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. 11 And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, 12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

13 So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.

15 When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: 16 “The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now? 17 Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! 18 And are you now turning away from the Lord?

“‘If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. 19 If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things,[a] did not wrath come on the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’”​

a. Joshua 22:20 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

I had to read ahead to remind myself how this turns out! The heart of the question here is in verse 17. The whole story is in Numbers 25. To summarize, the Israelites started to worship the gods of the Moabites. The man-made idols were convenient and shiny little objects that attract humans.... and Israelites are suckers for shiny little objects. God got mad and sent a plague that killed 24,000 right away. So that's what they're referring to in verse 17.

Now they have a lot more to lose than they did while they were running around the desert. They have homes in the Promised Land. They have valuables fixed to a permanent location with maximum resources theirs for the taking.... why would those transjordanians mess that up?

This is from the Bible.org site.

"built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance" We learn from Jos. 22:28-29 that it was a large replica of (1) the altar of sacrifice which was in the tabernacle or (2) the altar on Mt. Ebal (cf. Jos. 8:30-35). Apparently it was not for the purpose of sacrifice, but for a memorial like so many others (stone heaps) in Joshua.

Phinehas and the delegation confronted the eastern tribes to take decisive action.

1. "cross into the land," BDB 716, KB 778, Qal imperative

2. "take possession among us," BDB 28, KB 31, Niphal imperative

3. "only do not rebel against the Lord," BDB 597, KB 632, Qal imperfect used in a jussive sense

4. "or rebel against us," same verb as above​

The rebellion is characterized as "building the altar." There was to be only one Hebrew altar of sacrifice, which was to be located at the tabernacle (Deut. 12:11).​

The whole gist of this part of the story is that the transjordanian Israelites [those who lived on the east side of the Jordan] built a replica.... and the rest of the Israelites freaked out.... an army has been called up to wipe them out, understandably. Things were just getting good for them.... all the land was allotted.... people were settling down.... and now these transjordanians were out their building something that was really going to get God upset again.... please.... those people west of the Jordan definitly don't want those on the east side of the Jordan to do something that would upset God again....

:coffee:
 
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