Joshua 22:1-9

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

1 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

2 and said to them, "You have kept ¹all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you ²and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you.

3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the LORD your God.

4 ³And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ⁴which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

5 ⁵Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, ⁶to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."

6 So Joshua ⁷blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ⁸but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them,

8 he said to them, "Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ⁹Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers."

9 So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ¹⁰to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the LORD through Moses.

Joshua 22:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 22

The war with the Canaanites being ended, Joshua called to him the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who came over Jordan with him to assist in it, and commended them for their obedience to Moses and to himself, and to God by them; and then dismissed them, with some instructions to keep the ways and worship of God, and with his blessing upon them, Jos 22:1-8; upon which they returned to their country, and when they came to the borders of it set up an altar by Jordan, Jos 22:9,10; which, when the children of Israel heard of, it gave them great offence, they fearing they were going to make a revolt from the pure worship of God, and therefore sent a deputation of princes to them, with the son of the high priest, to inquire into the matter, and expostulate with them about it, who did, Jos 22:11-20; and who received from them a very satisfactory answer, Jos 22:21-31; with which they returned and reported to the children of Israel, and which gave them pleasure, Jos 22:32-34.

Cross References

• 1. See Numbers 32:20-22; Deuteronomy 3:18-20
• 2. Joshua 1:16, 17
• 3. See Joshua 11:23
• 4. See Joshua 13:8
• 5. Deuteronomy 6:6, 17; Deuteronomy 11:22
• 6. Joshua 23:11; Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 11:1, 13, 22
• 7. Joshua 14:13
• 8. Joshua 17:5
• 9. Numbers 31:27; 1 Samuel 30:24
• 10. Num. 32:1, 26, 29