Joshua 22:27

27 but into witnessing betwixt us and you, and betwixt our children and your generation, that we serve the Lord, and that it be of our right to offer burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices; and that your sons say not tomorrow to our sons, No part in the Lord is to you. (but as a witness between us and you, and between our children and your children, that we serve the same Lord, and that it be our right to offer burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and peace offerings, or grain offerings; and so your children shall not be able to say to our children tomorrow, and the next day, There is no part for you in the Lord.)

Joshua 22:27 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 22:27

But [that] it [may be] a witness between us and you, and our
generations after us
That we are one people, worship one God, and serve at one altar, of which this built was a resemblance, and would put them in mind of it:

that we might do the service of the Lord before him;
in the tabernacle, and at the altar, in the place where he had chosen to put his name and dwell:

with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace
offerings;
to be brought at stated times, or as occasion required:

that your children may not say to our children, in time to come, ye
have no part in the Lord;
nor right to his altar, and so forbid them offering their sacrifices on it; or

``have no part in the Word of the Lord,''

as the Targum; the Messiah, whose sacrifice was typified by the sacrifices of the legal dispensation, and all such, who offered theirs in the faith of that, had a part in it, and their sins were expiated by it.

Joshua 22:27 In-Context

25 O! ye sons of Reuben, and ye sons of Gad, the Lord hath set a term, the flood Jordan, betwixt us and you; and therefore ye have no part in the Lord; and by this occasion your sons shall turn away our sons from the dread of the Lord. (and they say, O! ye sons of Reuben, and ye sons of Gad, the Lord hath set a border, the Jordan River, between us and you; and so ye have no part in the Lord; and in this way your sons and daughters shall turn away our sons and daughters from the fear of the Lord/from reverence for the Lord.)
26 Therefore we guessed (it) better, and we said, Build we an altar to us, not into burnt sacrifices, neither to sacrifices to be offered, (And so we thought about it, and we said to each other, Let us build an altar for ourselves, not for burnt sacrifices, nor for sacrifices to be offered,)
27 but into witnessing betwixt us and you, and betwixt our children and your generation, that we serve the Lord, and that it be of our right to offer burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices; and that your sons say not tomorrow to our sons, No part in the Lord is to you. (but as a witness between us and you, and between our children and your children, that we serve the same Lord, and that it be our right to offer burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and peace offerings, or grain offerings; and so your children shall not be able to say to our children tomorrow, and the next day, There is no part for you in the Lord.)
28 And if your sons will say this, our sons shall answer (to) them, Lo! the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not into burnt sacrifices, neither into slain sacrifices, but into our and your witnessing everlasting (not for burnt sacrifices, nor for slain sacrifices, but for an everlasting witness between us and you).
29 Far be this trespass from us, that we go away from the Lord, and forsake his steps, by an altar builded to burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, and sacrifices of praising to be offered thereon, besides the altar of the Lord our God, that is builded before his tabernacle. (So let this trespass be far from us, that we would ever go away from the Lord, and forsake to follow his steps, with an altar built for burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, and grain offerings to be offered on it, in addition to the altar of the Lord our God, that standeth before his Tabernacle.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.