0 Chapters0 Books0 People0 Places

The Altar That Almost Started a War.

Joshua 22 — A homecoming, a monument, and the confrontation that nearly tore Israel apart

10 min read

Key Takeaways

What looked like rebellion was devotion — the eastern tribes built the altar because they feared their grandchildren would one day be told they didn't belong.

Israel went from blessing their brothers to mobilizing for war in hours — all because they assumed the worst before asking a single question.

📢 Chapter 22 — The Altar That Almost Started a War ⚔️

For years, the tribes of , , and the half-tribe of had been fighting alongside the of . They'd already received their land — east of the Jordan, back before the conquest even started — but had made them a deal: you can have that territory, but you fight with your brothers first. Every battle. Every campaign. Until it's done.

Inside this Chapter

Faith Peace Community Integrity Relationships

Share this chapter

Link copied!

Now it was done. called them in, thanked them, them, and sent them home. What should have been a , celebratory homecoming was about to spiral into one of the tensest moments in history — all because of a misunderstanding that nearly started a civil war.

You Kept Your Word 🤝

gathered the two and a half eastern tribes and spoke to them directly. After years of watching them fight, he had nothing but respect:

"You've done everything Moses commanded you. You've obeyed everything I asked of you. You haven't abandoned your brothers — not for a single day, through all of this — and you've been faithful to the charge of the Lord your God.

Now the Lord has given your brothers rest, just like he promised. So go home. Head back to your land on the other side of the Jordan — the territory Moses gave you. Just be careful. Hold on to the law Moses gave you. Love the Lord your God. Walk in all his ways. Keep his commandments. Cling to him. Serve him with everything you've got — heart and soul."

Joshua them. And then, as they turned to leave, he added one more thing:

"Go back to your homes with your wealth — and you're going home with a lot. Livestock, silver, gold, bronze, iron, clothing. Divide the spoil from your enemies with your brothers back home."

(Quick context: Half the tribe of had land in , east of the Jordan, given by . The other half settled west with the main group, given by Joshua. So the tribe was literally split across the river — a detail that's about to matter.)

Here's what's worth noticing: Joshua didn't just dismiss them. He honored them publicly. These tribes had left their families, their homes, their land — for years — to fight battles that were never about their own territory. They'd already secured their . They were fighting for everyone else's. And Joshua made sure that didn't go unrecognized. Sometimes the people who show up most faithfully are the ones who had the least personal reason to be there.

The Monument That Changed Everything 🏛️

The eastern tribes said their goodbyes at and headed home to . But before they crossed the Jordan, while they were still in the border region on the side, they did something unexpected. They built an by the — and it wasn't small. It was massive. Imposing. Impossible to miss.

Word traveled fast. When the of heard about it — "The tribes of , , and half of have built an altar at the frontier of the land, right along the Jordan, on our side" — the reaction was immediate.

The entire assembly of gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

Let that sink in. Twelve hours ago, these were brothers in arms. had just them and sent them home with honor. Now the whole nation was mobilizing to attack them. No investigation. No phone call. No "hey, what's going on over there?" Straight to war.

It's a jarring reaction — until you understand why they were so alarmed. In , there was one altar for . One. Building a second altar wasn't just a construction project. It looked like the beginning of a rival religion. It looked like rebellion against God himself. And Israel had learned the hard way that when one group rebels, the consequences fall on everyone.

The Confrontation 😤

To their credit, didn't just attack. They sent a delegation first — , the son of the high , along with ten tribal chiefs, one from each tribe. Eleven leaders total. This wasn't a casual check-in. This was a formal intervention.

They arrived in , stood before the eastern tribes, and delivered the accusation. Phinehas spoke for the whole congregation:

"Here's what the entire assembly of the Lord wants to know: what is this? What breach of faith have you committed against the God of Israel? You're turning away from the Lord — today, of all days — by building yourselves an altar in rebellion against him.

Haven't we had enough of the sin at Peor? We still haven't fully cleansed ourselves from that, and a plague hit the whole congregation because of it. And now you're going to rebel too? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow his anger falls on all of Israel. Not just you. All of us.

Look — if the land you've settled is somehow unclean, then come over. Come live on this side, where the Lord's tabernacle stands. We'll make room. Take a portion among us. Just don't rebel against the Lord. Don't drag us into it by building a rival altar.

Remember Achan? He broke faith with the devoted things, and wrath fell on the entire congregation of Israel. He didn't perish alone for his sin."

(Quick context: The " at Peor" refers to an earlier disaster where worshiped foreign gods at -peor and 24,000 people died in a . secretly kept plunder that God had dedicated for destruction, and it cost a military defeat and multiple lives. Both incidents proved the same terrifying principle: one group's unfaithfulness could bring consequences on the whole nation.)

Phinehas wasn't being dramatic. He was genuinely terrified. He'd seen what happens when people drift from God, and he believed the survival of the entire nation was at stake. The accusation was severe — but the fear behind it was real.

It's Not What You Think 🕊️

Now the eastern tribes got their turn. And their response is one of the most passionate defenses in the entire Old Testament. They didn't get defensive. They didn't get sarcastic. They appealed directly to God:

"The Mighty One — God — the Lord! The Mighty One — God — the Lord! He knows. And let Israel know too. If this was rebellion — if we built this altar to turn away from the Lord — then don't spare us. If we built it to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or sacrifices on it, let the Lord himself take vengeance on us.

But that's not why we built it.

We built it because we were afraid. We were afraid that someday, in the future, your children would say to our children: 'What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Jordan is the boundary between us. You people of Reuben and Gad — you have no portion in the Lord.' And your children would make our children stop worshiping the Lord.

So we said: let's build an altar. Not for burnt offerings. Not for sacrifice. As a witness. A witness between us and you, and between our children and yours, that we do serve the Lord — with our offerings, our sacrifices, and our peace offerings — so that no one can ever say to our descendants, 'You don't belong.'

We thought: if anyone ever says that to us or to our children in the future, we can point to it and say, 'Look — there's the copy of the Lord's altar that our fathers built. Not for sacrifice. For a witness between us and you.'

We would never rebel against the Lord. We would never turn away from him by building an altar for offerings or sacrifice apart from the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle."

Read that again. The whole crisis — the mobilization, the delegation, the accusation — was based on a misunderstanding. The eastern tribes didn't build a rival . They built a monument. They weren't pulling away from God. They were terrified of being cut off from God's people. They weren't rebelling. They were building proof that they belonged.

There's something painfully relatable about that. The thing that looked like betrayal was actually devotion. The action everyone interpreted as pulling away was actually an attempt to stay connected. How many relationships — how many friendships, families, communities — have been damaged because someone assumed the worst about an action they never bothered to understand? The eastern tribes didn't build an altar because they'd stopped caring. They built it because they cared so much they were afraid their grandchildren would be forgotten.

Crisis Averted ✨

When and the ten chiefs heard the explanation, everything shifted. The text says simply: it was good in their eyes. The accusation evaporated. The war drums stopped.

Phinehas responded:

"Today we know that the Lord is in our midst — because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. You have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord."

Think about that last line. "You have delivered from the hand of the Lord." By not rebelling, the eastern tribes had protected the whole nation from the that would have followed. Their didn't just save themselves. It saved everyone.

Phinehas and the chiefs went home to and reported back. The news was good. God. And they didn't speak of war against their brothers again.

The tribes of and gave the a name: Witness. "For," they said, "it is a witness between us that the Lord is God."

That's how the story ends. Not with a battle, but with a conversation. Not with division, but with an altar standing by the Jordan as a permanent reminder: we're still family. We still serve the same God. The river between us doesn't change that. And the monument that almost started a war became the very thing that proved they were still one people.