Joshua 22:17

17 Whether the sin of Peor is little to you, of which we (still) be not clean till to this day, and many of the people felled down (there)?

Joshua 22:17 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 22:17

[Is] the iniquity of Peor too little for us
The worshipping of that idol, when in the plains of Moab; the history of which, see in ( Numbers 25:2 Numbers 25:3 ) , was that so small a sin, that another must be added to it, or a greater committed? since building an altar seemed designed not for a single action of idolatrous worship, but for the continuance of it, whereas the sin of Peor was only committed at one time, and not continued in:

from which we are not cleansed until this day;
not cleared from the shame and disgrace of it, or the guilt of it expiated or removed; but it might be expected, as in the case of the golden calf, that God would still at times punish for it, when provoked by new crimes; or the sense is, that there were those among them that were infected with the same contagion, and whose inclinations were to commit the same, or like sin of idolatry:

although there was a plague in congregation of the Lord;
of which twenty four thousand died, ( Numbers 25:9 ) .

Joshua 22:17 In-Context

15 The which came to the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and to the half lineage of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, and they said to them, (And they came to the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,)
16 All the people of the Lord sendeth to you, (and asketh) these things; What is this trespassing? Why have ye forsaken the Lord God of Israel, and have builded a cursed altar, and have gone away from the worshipping of him?
17 Whether the sin of Peor is little to you, of which we (still) be not clean till to this day, and many of the people felled down (there)?
18 And today ye have forsaken the Lord, and tomorrow, that is, in time to coming (that is, in the time to come), the ire of him shall be fierce against all Israel.
19 That if ye guess that the land of your possession is unclean, pass ye (over) to the land, in which the tabernacle of the Lord is, and dwell ye among us, only that ye go not away from the Lord, and from our fellowship, by an altar builded beside the altar of our Lord God. (But if ye think that the land of your possession is unclean, then come ye back here to the land where the Tabernacle of the Lord is, and live ye among us, so only that ye go not away from the Lord, and from our fellowship, with an altar built in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.