Joshua 22:31

22:30-34 It is well that there was on both sides a disposition to peace, as there was a zeal for God; for quarrels about religion, for want of wisdom and love, often prove the most fierce and difficult to be made up. Proud and peevish spirits, when they have passed any unjust blame on their brethren, though full evidence be brought of its unfairness, can by no means be persuaded to withdraw it. But Israel was not so prejudiced. They looked upon their brethren's innocence as a token of God's presence. Our brethren's zeal for the power of godliness, and faith and love, notwithstanding the fears of their breaking the unity of the church, are things of which we should be very glad to be satisfied. The altar was called ED, a witness. It was a witness of their care to keep their religion pure and entire, and would witness against their descendants, if they should turn from following after the Lord. Happy will it be when all professed Christians learn to copy the example of Israel, to unite zeal and steady adherence to the cause of truth, with candour, meekness, and readiness to understand each other, to explain and to be satisfied with the explanations of their brethren. May the Lord increase the number of those who endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace! may increasing grace and consolation be with all who love Jesus Christ in sincerity!

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,.... As the mouth of the deputation, and in their name: said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh; the representatives of them assembled together on this occasion: this day we perceive that the Lord is among us; his Shechinah, as the Targum; his powerful Presence in preserving their brethren from committing a trespass, as they feared; his gracious Presence smiling upon them; and as the God of peace and order, and not of confusion, uniting and cementing their hearts in love to one another: because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord; which they were fearful and jealous of they had, but they found that the Lord had been good and gracious in preserving them from it: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord; into which they would have fallen, had that been the case, and would have felt the effects of the divine resentment, but now they were secure from them.

(31) We perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass . . . —The best token of the Divine presence among men is the Divine likeness and holiness in men. “if we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie . . . but if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another.”

31 . is among us ] Phinehas recognises the presence of God in the congregation, because His Providence had restrained their brethren from even the semblance of idolatry. out of the hand of the Lord ] As otherwise a punishment like that in Numbers 25:9 might have again fallen on the whole people.

The Lord is among us, by his gracious presence and preventing goodness, in keeping you from so great an offence, and all of us from those dismal calamities that would have followed upon it. Out of the hand of the Lord, i.e. from the wrath and dreadful judgments of God; by avoiding that sin which would have involved both you and us in a most bloody war, you have delivered us from the evils we feared. He that prevents an unexpected or approaching disease or mischief, doth as truly deliver a man from it, as he that cures or removes it after it hath been inflicted.

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the LORD is {q} among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the LORD: now ye have {r} delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD. (q) By preserving and governing us. (r) Whom if ye had offended; he would have punished with you.

The repeated invocation of God, and that by His three names - אל 'êl, אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym, יהוה yehovâh: compare Psalm 50:1 - marks the earnestness of the protestation. The conduct of the two tribes and a half has often been noted as exemplary. They had had a grave and capital crime most unexpectedly laid to their charge, of which they were entirely innocent. Yet there is no word of reproach or recrimination in their vindication of themselves. They are contented simply to repudiate the false accusation and to explain the real motives of conduct perhaps suggested to them by a precedent set by Moses Exodus 17:15 . Save us not this day - The words are a direct appeal to God, exactly equivalent in effect to our form "So help me God."

Verse 31. - Now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord. The word here rendered "now" is rather then. But the Hebrew word, like our own, is used as implying not only consecution of time, but consequence of action (see Psalm 40:8 ; Psalm 69:5 ; Jeremiah 22:15 ). Thus the meaning here is, "We see, then, that instead of bringing upon us heavy chastisement, as we had feared, ye have acted in a way which secures us from the punishment of which we were afraid." Joshua 22:31

This explanation pleased the delegates of the congregation, so that Phinehas bore this testimony to the tribes on the east of the Jordan: "Now (to-day) we perceive that Jehovah is in the midst of us; because (אשׁר, quod, as in Genesis 31:49 , etc.) ye have not committed this unfaithfulness towards Jehovah, since (אז, then, if ye had only this intention) ye have saved the children of Israel out of the hand of Jehovah," i.e., preserved them from His judgments.

31 . The effects of the great deliverance thus wrought for Israel: an increased fear of God, and belief in God, and also in Moses’ Divine commission. work ] Heb. hand , fig. for act or work ; cf. Deuteronomy 34:12 , Psalm 78:42 . believed in ] ‘The idiom rendered “he believed in” ( האמין ב ) is a very striking one: the belief intended is, not merely a crediting of a testimony concerning a person or a thing (this would be האמין ל ), but a laying firm hold morally on a person or a thing, without the help of any intermediate agency’ (Cheyne, s.v. Faith in EB. ). Cf. Genesis 15:6 . The root idea of האמין is to shew firmness or steadiness towards ( ל ) or on ( ב ) a person or a word: cf. Job 39:24 RVm., and the cognate subst. in ch. Exodus 17:12 ( Lex. ‘Moses’ hands were firmness ’). his servant ] A title applied to Moses elsewhere in the Pent. only Numbers 12:7-8 , Deuteronomy 34:5 (both JE). It is very common in the book of Joshua (mostly in parts which are the work of the Deuteronomic editor): Joshua 1:1-2 ; Joshua 1:7 ; Joshua 1:13 ; Joshua 1:15 , Joshua 8:31; Jos 8:33 , Joshua 9:24 , Joshua 11:12; Jos 11:15 , Joshua 12:6 , Joshua 13:8 , Joshua 14:7 , Joshua 18:7 , Joshua 22:2 ; Joshua 22:4-5 .

25 . The family of Aaron’s son, Eleazar ( v. 23). Puṭiel ] not mentioned elsewhere. Seemingly ‘an Egyptian name, of a type very common from b.c. 1000 onward, but with the Heb. El , “God,” instead of the name of an Egyptian deity, meaning “He whom God gave” ’ (F. Ll. Griffith); cf. Poṭiphar = ‘He whom Ra gave’ (see DB. iv. 22). Phineḥas ] See Numbers 25:7-13 (P) [cf. Psalm 106:30 ], Exodus 31:6 ; Joshua 22:13 ; Joshua 22:30-32 ; Joshua 24:33 ; Eleazar’s successor in the priesthood, Jdg 20:28 . The name, like that of his grandfather, may be of Egyptian origin, and signify ‘the ’ (i.e. the Ethiopian, Jeremiah 13:23 ). The name ( Pi-neḥas ) is very common in Egyptian ( EB. iii. 3304). heads of the fathers ] for ‘heads of the fathers’ houses ’ ( v. 14); so Numbers 31:26 ; Numbers 32:28 ; Numbers 36:1 , Joshua 14:1 ; Joshua 19:51 ; Joshua 21:1 (all P); and frequently in Chr. Ezr. Neh.