Joshua 22:7

"Now, to the one-half tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but unto the other half gave Joshua among their brethren beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away unto their tents, he blessed them, and spake unto them, saying, Return with much wealth unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses."

Here we have another instance of the constant repetition that characterizes so much of the O.T. Here in Joshua 22:7 is the fourth time since Joshua 13 that we have been told that the half-tribe of Manasseh had been settled east of Jordan through the commandment of God by Moses, and that the other half received their portion west of Jordan! See Joshua 13:8; Joshua 14:3, and Joshua 18:7. That this salient feature of the O.T. is found here in this chapter is an important evidence that the chapter is not spurious, that it belongs, that it lies here in the usual style of Joshua, and that we can count on it as true history.

Despite the fact that the eastern tribes already held vast possessions beyond Jordan, they were not denied their portion of the spoils of conquest. Consequently, they were loaded down with great wealth at the time Joshua sent them away.

Now, the next portion of this chapter deals with what those returnees decided on the way home to do. This whole story is synchronized together and dove-tailed with all of the known facts pertinent to those times, giving us the kind of narrative of which even the critics have said, "The story is skillfully composed, and the time skillfully chosen for the purpose."[9] It is simply impossible that some imaginative creator of Midrash could have produced a narrative like this.