Joshua 22:13-29 - Explanation Of The Altar

¹³ The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁴ He was accompanied by ten leaders, one from each of the Israelite tribes, each one a family leader among the Israelite clans. ¹⁵ They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them: ¹⁶ "The entire community of the Lord says, 'Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord. ¹⁷ The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord. ¹⁸ Now today you dare to turn back from following the Lord! You are rebelling today against the Lord; tomorrow he may break out in anger against the entire community of Israel. ¹⁹ But if your own land is impure, cross over to the Lord's own land, where the Lord himself lives, and settle down among us. But don't rebel against the Lord or us by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰ When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city's riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!'"

²¹ The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans: ²² "El, God, the Lord! El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, don't spare us today! ²³ If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering tokens of peace on it, the Lord himself will punish us. ²⁴ We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, 'What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? ²⁵ The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.' In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying the Lord.

²⁶ So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²⁷ but as a reminder to us and you, and to our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, 'You have no right to worship the Lord.' ²⁸ We said, 'If in the future they say such a thing to us or to our descendants, we will reply, "See the model of the Lord's altar that our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you."' ²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!"