Joshua 22:25

25 The LORD has made the Jordan River a dividing line between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no connection with the LORD!' So your descendants would stop our descendants from worshiping the LORD.

Joshua 22:25 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 22:25

For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you,
&c.] And by it separated them from them, as if they were a distinct people; not that this was really the case, but so they feared it would be represented in time to come; for though Jordan was the border of the land of Canaan, strictly so called, eastward, ( Numbers 34:12 ) ; yet it did not exclude the land of the two tribes and a half from being part of the land of promise; for the Amorites, which before inhabited it, and were driven out of it, were Canaanites, and were one part of the people, whose land the Lord promised to Abraham, ( Genesis 15:18-21 ) ;

ye children of Reuben, and children of Gad, have no part in the Lord;
in his covenant and promises, in his worship, word, and ordinances; these are things you have nothing to do with, being separated from us his peculiar people; or "have no part in the Word of the Lord", as the Targum, the promised Messiah, being without, or separated from him, as the Gentiles are said to be, ( Ephesians 2:12 ) ;

so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord;
from worshipping the Lord, the fear of the Lord being often put for the whole worship of God, external and internal, ( Ecclesiastes 12:13 ) ; by behaving in the above manner towards them, they would be the cause and occasion of their apostasy from the true God, and it would be in effect to say to them, "go, serve other gods", ( 1 Samuel 26:19 ) .

Joshua 22:25 In-Context

23 don't spare us today. If we built an altar with the intention of no longer following him, and if we built it for making burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings, let the LORD punish us.
24 "We were worried because of the situation we're in. We thought sometime in the future your children might say to our children, 'What relationship do you have with the LORD God of Israel?
25 The LORD has made the Jordan River a dividing line between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no connection with the LORD!' So your descendants would stop our descendants from worshiping the LORD.
26 Then we said, 'Let's build an altar for ourselves. It will not be for burnt offerings or sacrifices,
27 but it will stand as a witness between us for generations to come. It will stand as a witness that we may worship in the presence of the LORD with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings.' Then your descendants cannot say to our descendants, 'You have no connection with the LORD!'
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