The men of the tribes living across the Jordan River had stayed with the Israeli army ever since crossing the river and had fought against the heathen nations in Canaan. They received a full share of the cattle, gold, silver, and anything else taken from the enemy.
Joshua called these men to him and thanked them for their help. “You have obeyed me, whatever I told you to do,” he said. “You have not let your brothers fight alone, but have stayed with them and helped them. Now go back to your homes on the other side of the Jordan. But be very careful, after you get there, to obey all the commandments Moses gave us, and to love and to serve the Lord your God with all your hearts.”
So they started back home. When they came to the Jordan River, they stopped and built a great altar, shaped like God’s altar at Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was. But God had told the Israelis not to sacrifice on any other altar but the one at the Tabernacle. When the men of the other tribes heard that they had built another altar, they were angry, and sent their armies to fight them.
Phinehas, the high priest, and ten Israeli leaders arrived ahead of the army to ask why they had built this altar.
“We want to know,” they said, “why you have built another altar to offer sacrifices on, when the Lord said we should have only one altar, the one at Shiloh. Don’t you remember how God sent a great plague on us for worshipping the idols of the Midianites and the Moabites? Don’t you remember how He punished us when Achan took the silver and gold for himself, in direct disobedience to God?”
The Tribes from across the river were very surprised. They said they had never dreamed of using the altar for sacrifices. It was just a monument, in the form of the altar at Shiloh. In years to come, they said, the people on Joshua’s side of the Jordan River might say that the tribes on their side of the Jordan River weren’t really Israelis, because they didn’t live in the Promised Land of Canaan. They could then point to the Monument as proof that they were truly people of Israel, just like the others. They fully understood, they said, that there must be no sacrificing except at Shiloh.
So then everyone was happy again.
Joshua had become an old man One day he summoned the leaders of Israel and and reminded them of all the Lord had done for them and urged them always to honor God in everything they did. Then the Lord would greatly bless and prosper them, he said.
The Lord has driven out your enemies and given you cities, fields, vineyards, and a land of your own to live in, “Joshua reminded them, “Fear the Lord and worship Him. If you don’t want to worship Him, then choose the idols you would rather worship. But as for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”
The people answered, “God forbid that we should leave the Lord to worship idols. For it was He who brought us out of Egypt and gave us this land. We will worship the Lord, for He is our God.”
Then Joshua took a great stone and set it up beneath an oak beside the Tabernacle in Shiloh. That stone, he said, would be a witness to remind them of the promises they had made to worship only the Lord.
So, Joshua died. This godly man had lived for 110 years; and they buried him on the side of a hill.
During the forty years since they had left Egypt, the Israelis had been carrying Joseph’s bones with them. Now at last they buried them at Shechem. (It had been more than four hundred years since Joseph, wearing his coat of many colors, had gone to Shechem to find his brothers.)
Questions:
Why was everyone so angry about the new altar?
Where was the only place that sacrifices could be made?
Whose bones had been brought all the way from Egypt to be buried?
How long before this had the boy Joseph looked for his brothers at Shechem?
Joshua Chapters 16 & 17 & 18
"Only Life Changes" 