Joshua 22:3

3 you have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the mitzvah of the LORD your God.

Joshua 22:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 22:3

Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day,
&c.] For the space of fourteen years, which is the commonly received notion of the Jews F6; seven years according to them the land was subduing, and seven more spent in dividing it, and then these tribes were sent for and dismissed; all this time they stayed close by their brethren, and assisted them in their wars, and never offered to return to their wives and children, until they had an order from their general:

but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God;
for what both Moses and Joshua commanded them was from the mouth of the Lord; so that, in obeying them, they obeyed him.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 11. p. 32.

Joshua 22:3 In-Context

1 Then Yehoshua called the Re'uveni, and the Gadi, and the half-tribe of Menashsheh,
2 and said to them, You have kept all that Moshe the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you:
3 you have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the mitzvah of the LORD your God.
4 Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them: therefore now turn you, and get you to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moshe the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Yarden.
5 Only take diligent heed to do the mitzvah and the law which Moshe the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his mitzvot, and to cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.