Joshua 22:30

"And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh spake, it pleased them well. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we know that Jehovah is in the midst of us, because ye have not committed this trespass against Jehovah: now have ye delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Jehovah. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again. And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spake no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and the children of Gad dwelt. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed, said they, it is a witness between us that Jehovah is God."

Manasseh is dropped out of the last few repetitions of the names of the Trans-Jordanic tribes; and, from this, some have supposed that perhaps Reuben and Gad were the principals in the building of that altar.

"Gilead ..." as used here is applied to all of the Trans-Jordanic area.

Note that Phinehas dutifully reported to his superiors in Shiloh and that he thus properly fulfilled his mission as one sent on a task that was then accomplished.

It was the plan of God outlined fully in the Pentateuch that three times in the year: (1) at Passover; (2) at Pentecost; and (3) at the feast of Tabernacles, all of Israel was to report at the one and only general sanctuary for the purpose of observing those special national feasts. This, of course, was designed to cultivate and preserve the unity of all Israel. The need for this unity existed a thousand times more urgently in the times of the wilderness wanderings and during the conquest and afterward, than it did, either in the times of the monarchy or in post-exilic times. How UNTENABLE, therefore, is the notion that this conception of "only one sanctuary" did not happen in Israel until centuries after the need for such unity no longer existed. As stated earlier, this noble chapter buries forever the false theories whose advocates have tried so diligently to silence it by their denials. But the chapter lives on. We have never seen a Bible that did not include it.

We rejoice in the unity of Israel under Joshua, a unity they never again fully achieved. Unity of God's people is the crying need of all generations. As Unger stated it, "How desperately the Lord's people need to exemplify that unity before men in a genuine testimony of the power of the gospel, not by a man-made monument, but by the outshining of genuine faith in God's Word exemplifying spiritual vitality from within the heart."[23]

We conclude this chapter with the following comment from Jamieson:

"This episode reflects honour upon all parties, and shows that piety and zeal for the honour and worship of God animated the people that entered Canaan to an extent far beyond what was exemplified in many other periods of Israel's history"[24]