It is time for farewells and a parting of the ways. The occasion has arrived in Joshua 22 for those tribes that had settled east of the Jordan (Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh) to return home. Canaan having been pacified and divided among the other tribes, these easterners had now fulfilled their vow to fight for Israel and were free to return to the region known as Gilead. Along the way, however, a major misunderstanding threatened to bring war between the tribes!
What happened was this: before the 2 and a half tribes took their trip back across the Jordan, they built a massive stone altar on Canaan's side of the river. The first thought among the Israelites to the west of the Jordan was that their cousins had slipped into idolatry! Having zero tolerance for idolatry after their experiences over the last 46 years, the Israelites in Canaan are ready to take up arms against the Israelites in Gilead - lest the curse of the Lord break out against them.
When approached by Phinehas and the senior leaders of each tribe, however, Reuben, Gad and Manasseh quickly try to explain their intentions. It wasn't for idolatry or competitive worship that they had erected the altar; instead, it was left as a symbol to Israel that the people across the River should be remembered as fellow countrymen. The worry was that, in generations to come, the Israelites in Canaan would disinherit the Israelites in Gilead from coming to worship the Lord at the Tabernacle (vs. 24-27).
Rather than being an attempt to worship something other than God, the altar was a sign that the River wasn't a border between God's people and outsiders. Thus enlightened, the Israelites were appeased. The altar was named "Witness" as a memorial to the relationship shared among the tribes, east and west. The parting of the ways proved peaceful after all.
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