Joshua 22 Study Notes

22:17 The iniquity of Peor refers to the time when Israel joined Midian in worshiping the Baal or god of the region of Peor, east of the Jordan River. In Nm 25:1-13 Phinehas executed God’s judgment for this sin by killing an Israelite man and a Midianite woman who were engaged in this carnal ritual.

22:20 Mention of Achan son of Zerah (8:1-29) explains the concern of the ten tribes. They feared that God’s judgment for what the Trans-jordanian tribes had done would also fall on them all.

22:21-25 The two and a half tribes explained they had built the altar as a way to maintain the unity of all the tribes in future generations.

22:26,29 Repeatedly the Transjordanian tribes denied any intent to use the altar as a place of sacrifice.

22:27-28 The altar bore witness that those on both sides of it worshiped the same God at the same tabernacle. When Abram first came into the promised land, he built altars from north to south as a testimony that the land belonged to God and was his to give to Abram and his descendants (Gn 12:6-8; 13:18). Now the Transjordanian tribes had done the same thing. Although their land was not part of the promised land, they wanted to identify with the God of the promised land and to show that their land was a place where God was worshiped.

22:30-34 With the conflict resolved, the altar was named in recognition of the confession of the Transjordanian tribes.