An Altar Called Witness
Introduction: A Holy Misunderstanding
We come now to a passage that is crackling with tension. The long wars for Canaan are over. The land has been allotted. The trans-Jordanian tribes, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, have fulfilled their promise to fight alongside their brothers and are now returning home. It should be a time of celebration, a time of settling into the long-awaited rest. But instead, we are immediately confronted with a crisis that very nearly plunges Israel into a bloody civil war. This is a story about a massive misunderstanding, a case of righteous zeal colliding with what appears to be outrageous apostasy. And in our day, a day drowning in misunderstandings, manufactured outrage, and tribal suspicions, this text has much to teach us.
The central issue is an altar. But it is more than just a pile of stones. In the economy of Israel, an altar was the place where Heaven and Earth met. It was the place of sacrifice, the place of atonement, the place of worship. And God had been explicitly clear: there was to be one central altar, one place where He would put His name. This was Shiloh. Any other altar was, on its face, an act of rebellion, a schismatic horror, a direct violation of the covenant that bound them all together as one people before Yahweh. When word gets back to the tribes west of the Jordan that their brothers have erected a "large altar in appearance" on the border, they do not form a committee or send a strongly-worded letter. They gather the entire congregation for war.
We live in an age that prizes tolerance above truth and unity above purity. The modern evangelical impulse would be to say, "Well, they have their altar, and we have ours. Let's just agree to disagree. Can't we all just get along?" But that is not the spirit of old Israel, and it is not the spirit of the New Testament either. They understood something that we have forgotten: doctrinal and liturgical purity is the very foundation of true unity. To compromise on the exclusive worship of God at the place He appointed was to sever the covenant itself. Their zeal was not misplaced; it was born of a holy jealousy for the glory of God and the unity of His people. They were ready to go to war to prevent what happened at Peor from ever happening again. They remembered the plague, and they feared God. This is a story about how to handle conflict within the covenant, how to confront suspected sin, and how appearances can be deceiving. It is a story about the difference between an altar of sacrifice and an altar of witness.
The Text
And they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance. And the sons of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.” Then the sons of Israel heard of it, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh to go up against them in war.
(Joshua 22:10-12 LSB)
A Provocative Construction (v. 10)
The action begins as the eastern tribes reach the Jordan, the great dividing line.
"And they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large altar in appearance." (Joshua 22:10)
Their motives, as we will learn later in the chapter, were born of a godly anxiety. They were afraid that in future generations, the Jordan River would become more than just a geographical boundary. They feared it would become a theological boundary. They feared their children would be told, "You have no part in the LORD." So, they built a memorial, a witness. But look at what they built. They built an altar. And not just any altar, but a "large altar in appearance." The Hebrew suggests it was great to look at, a conspicuous and impressive structure.
This was, to put it mildly, a public relations blunder of the first order. They knew the law. They knew that God had commanded a single, central sanctuary (Deut. 12:5-14). To the eyes of their brothers across the river, this action could mean only one thing: rebellion. It looked like they were setting up a rival center of worship, a schismatic high place, an open defiance of the God who had just given them victory. They were creating their own access point to God, thumbing their noses at the one He had established at Shiloh. This is how idolatry begins. It begins with unauthorized worship, with man deciding for himself how, when, and where he will approach God. The road to Baal Peor was paved with such intentions.
Their hearts were in the right place, but their execution was clumsy. They built the right thing (a memorial) but in the wrong shape (an altar). It is a standing lesson for the church. Good intentions are not enough. We must not only pursue righteous ends, but we must do so with wisdom and a keen awareness of how our actions will be perceived by our brothers. What might be a matter of conscience for you might be a stumbling block for another. What you intend as a witness, another might see as a provocation. And when you build something that is "large in appearance," you had better be prepared to explain yourself.
The Inflammatory Report (v. 11)
News travels fast, especially bad news. And the report that reaches the western tribes is stripped of all nuance and context.
"And the sons of Israel heard it said, 'Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.'" (Joshua 22:11)
Notice what the report contains: just the bare facts, which in this case are the most damning kind of facts. "Behold, they have built an altar." The location is also significant. It's right on the border, "at the entrance of the land of Canaan," but on the western side, the side belonging to the main body of Israel. From their perspective, it looked like a territorial claim and a spiritual usurpation all in one. It was as if they were setting up a customs gate for a different god, right on the frontier of the holy land.
There is no mention of motive in the report. There is no "they built an altar, and we think it might be a memorial." There is only the bare, scandalous action. This is how gossip and slander work. They often deal in truths, but truths stripped of their context, truths presented in the worst possible light. The report was factually accurate, but it communicated a damnable lie. The lie was that their brothers had forsaken the covenant.
We see this same pattern in the church today. A brother does something questionable. A report flies through the congregation, through emails, through text messages. "Did you hear what he did?" The bare action is reported, but the heart, the motive, the context, the full story, is left behind. And because we are fallen creatures, our default assumption is almost always to believe the worst. We are far quicker to assume rebellion than we are to assume a clumsy attempt at faithfulness. The sons of Israel heard the report, and their hearts immediately went to the darkest possible interpretation.
A Righteous Overreaction (v. 12)
The response of the western tribes is immediate, corporate, and severe.
"Then the sons of Israel heard of it, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at Shiloh to go up against them in war." (Joshua 22:12)
Let us first give them their due. Their zeal was commendable. They were not apathetic. They did not shrug and say, "That's their business." They understood that the covenantal faithfulness of two and a half tribes was the business of all twelve. An infection in one part of the body politic threatened the whole. They rightly saw this reported action as a potential act of treason against Yahweh, the great King. And the penalty for idolatry, for leading the nation astray, was death (Deut. 13:12-16). They gathered at Shiloh, the place of true worship, the very place whose authority had been challenged, in order to declare a holy war.
Their zeal was right. Their theology was right. An alternative altar was an abomination that had to be purged from the land. But their process was wrong. They assembled for war before they assembled for a parley. They were ready to kill their brothers based on a report. They did not send messengers first to ask, "What is this you have done?" They strapped on their swords first. This is the danger of zeal without knowledge. It is a holy fire, but one that can burn down your own house if not handled with wisdom.
Thankfully, cooler heads would prevail. Before the swords were drawn, they did send a delegation, led by Phinehas, a man who had a history of executing righteous judgment with his own hands. But the initial impulse was war. This stands as a permanent warning to the church. When we hear a report of a brother's sin, our first impulse must not be to assemble for war, to load up the cannons of condemnation for our next blog post. Our first impulse must be to go to that brother, privately at first, to get the whole story (Matt. 18:15). We must be zealous for the purity of the church, yes. We must be willing to fight for the truth. But we must also be patient, careful, and committed to assuming the best until all the facts are in. The western tribes were right to be horrified by the thought of a rival altar, but they were wrong to assume it was a rival altar without first asking.
Conclusion: Zeal, Wisdom, and the One True Altar
This near-disaster was averted because, in the end, the Israelites did talk to each other. The delegation went, the accusation was made, and the trans-Jordanian tribes gave their defense. They explained that the altar was not for sacrifice, but was a "witness" (the meaning of the name they gave it, Ed) between them, a memorial to their shared inheritance in the Lord. The misunderstanding was cleared up, and the war was called off. Unity was preserved because truth was sought.
This whole episode is a powerful illustration of the tensions we must manage in the Christian life. We are called to have a fiery zeal for the purity of God's worship. Apathy in the face of doctrinal error or liturgical compromise is not a virtue; it is a sin. At the same time, we are called to be wise, patient, and charitable toward our brothers, not jumping to the worst conclusions based on secondhand reports.
But ultimately, this story points us to the one true Altar, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the place where God's justice and mercy meet. He is the one sacrifice for sins forever. Any attempt to establish another altar, another way to God, another sacrifice, is an act of spiritual treason. Whether it is the altar of our own good works, the altar of a false religion, or the altar of secular self-worship, it is an abomination. There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).
And like the altar Ed, Christ is also our Witness. He is the faithful witness (Rev. 1:5). He is the great memorial of God's covenant faithfulness. By His cross and resurrection, He stands as a perpetual sign, a "large altar in appearance," declaring to all generations that we who are in Him have a part in the LORD. He is the one who bridges the great Jordan between a holy God and sinful man. And because of Him, there is no longer east or west, for we are all one in Him, gathered not at Shiloh, but at the heavenly Mount Zion, to worship the one true God through the one true Altar, forever.