Judges 2, The Rise of Judges

We continue to follow up on the early days of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.

Judges 2:1-5, Sin and anger

The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, `I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' 

Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be [thorns] in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."

When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.

The sins of the people are linked to the persistence of pagan natives remaining in the land. The incomplete conquest leads to the Israelites assimilating the local idolatry, initiating a cycle of idolatry and renewal that defines the book of Judges.

The name Bokim (בֹּכִים) means "the weepers", from the verb bakah (בָּכָה), "to weep." The town is named after the reaction of the people.

Judges 2:6-9, Death of Joshua

After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

This repeats a summary of the conquest given at the end of Joshua. The age of Joshua at death, 110, is ten less years than the age given for Moses at his death.

Judges 2:10-15, Serving Baal

After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

So begins a cycle: follow YHWH, slowly fall away, serve the local Baals, experience defeat, repent.  Repeat.

A generation of people have grown up who "did not know YHWH" -- this echoes Exodus 1:8, when a new king arose who "did not know Joseph".

Judges 2:16-18, Idolatry and judges

Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands.

The ruling of the tribes will now fall on various judges, of differing quality. This will be the story of this book; this paragraph summarizes the cycles of idolatry/defeat and renewal/victory that follow.

Judges 2:18-19, The judges will give justice, but only temporarily

Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

The judges give justice, die, and the people return to sin and the idols of the Baals. We will read of a series of judges, in a depressingly downward spiral. 

Judges 2:20-23, The other nations as a test

Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did." The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

This chapter summarizes the time of the judges and repeats some of the earlier information, such as the death of Joshua.

After this summary chapter on the judges, we meet the first judges, Othniel and Ehud, in the next chapter.

First published June 24, 2023; updated June 24, 2026

Judges 1, An Incomplete Conquest

Israel has conquered the land under Joshua's leadership. Now Joshua has died.

Judges 1:1-7, Tribes of Judah and Simeon fight the Canaanites

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?"

    

The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."

    

Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, "Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours." So the Simeonites went with them.

When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 

Then Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

The tribes of Judah and Simeon attack the Canaanites and Perizzites at a place called Bezek. There they capture Adoni-Bezek.

It is not clear how the Israelites got such a precise answer from their question of YHWH. Was the answer verbal? Or a lottery choice among 12 images?

The passage records Adoni-Bezek's confession of justice.

Judges 1:8, Destruction of Jerusalem

The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

Jerusalem now belongs to the tribe of Judah. This city will need to be conquered several times, finally by David several centuries later. At the time of the conquest of Canaan, Jerusalem is given to the tribe of Benjamin (see Joshua 18:21-28) and was on the border of the possessions of Benjamin and Judah. Here the tribe of Judah is reported as completing the conquest of the city. 

Judges 1:9-11, Driving out Canaanites

After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills. They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

The nation continues to try to drive out (or assimilate) the other people groups living there.

Judges 1:12-13, Offering Caleb's daughter

And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher." Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

Othniel is identified as Caleb's younger brother. (Commentaries say that the Hebrew allows other interpretations of the relationship but "brother" of Caleb is the most likely.) Like Caleb, Othniel is a hero in the early days of Israel. He will be the first judge mentioned in this book (Judges 3:7-11.) Here Othniel wins Caleb's daughter. My reaction to this "win" is a mixture of admiration, from the fairy tale trope of the king offering his daughter's hand in marriage, to horror that a daughter is viewed as a prize to give away. 

So Acsah is given to her nephew, Othniel. This repeats an account appearing in Joshua 15:13-19. 

Judges 1:14-15, Caleb's daughter acquires a field.

One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, "What can I do for you?"

She replied, "Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water." 

Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

There is apparently a conflict here between some ancient manuscripts: does Acsah urge Othniel to ask her father for a field? Or does Othniel urge Acsah to make the request? The NIV apparently follows most ancient manuscripts in reporting that Acsah initiated this request for land, with Othniel following her lead. Do other manuscripts "sanitize" the assertiveness of Acsah?

Judges 1:16-18, Conquests of Judah

The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad. Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah. 

The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron--each city with its territory.

Here are more recordings of conquests, following the traditions of the book of Joshua. The Kenites are Midianites, not Hebrews, but here they cooperate with the people of Judah. (A Midianite woman, Jael, will play an important role in Judges 5.)

(NIV Footnotes: The City of Palms is Jericho. Hormah, in verse 17, means "destruction."

In verse 18, the NIV is following ancient Hebrew manuscripts; the Septuagint  apparently says that Judah did not take Gaza.)

Judges 1:19, YHWH with Judah

The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.

If YHWH is on your side, you are good. But the people of Judah apparently feared the new technology, the iron chariots. (We are in the early Iron Age.)

Judges 1:20-21, Success and failure

As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.

The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

We have a first mention of failure. It is at Jerusalem. (The Jebusites stay in that region despite the sacking of that town described earlier?)

Judges 1:22-25, Bethel sacked

Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well."

So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.  He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

We get an explanation of the founding of Luz, separate from Bethel. (See Jacob's naming of that place in Genesis 28:11-19.) The capture of Bethel involves recruiting a resident to show them the way into the city.

Judges 1:27-36, Failures

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor.

Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land.

Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.

The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

Despite the claims in Joshua that these various tribes were "totally destroyed" or "completely devoted over to God", the Amorites and various tribes persist in the land.  The conquest of Canaan was only partial.

From Wikipedia comes this map of the presumed possessions of Israel at the start of the time of the Judges.

The rest of this book will deal with issues raised by an incomplete conquest.

First published June 23, 2023; updated June 23, 2026

Joshua 24, Death of Joshua

Joshua has been giving final admonitions to the people of Israel.

Joshua 24:1-4, God's actions with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. 

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

(The River is the Euphrates.) Joshua recounts Abraham's journey from "beyond the River" into Canaan, and reminds the people of the long ago promises for this land.

Joshua 24:5-13, God's action in Egypt and afterwards

"`Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.

"`I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 

"When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

"`Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.  I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you--also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.

"So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.'

Joshua repeats God's past actions and stresses that they have been given the land with little of their own toil and sweat. After being saved from Egypt, they have been able to move into this land, into cities they did not build.

Joshua 24:14-15, "Fear the Lord and serve Him!"

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

"You gotta serve somebody."  "Make a choice", says, Joshua. There is always, in the background, a choice between the path of "blessing" and the path of "curse".

Joshua 24:16-18, The people respond

Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!  It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.  And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."

"We choose YHWH!" say the people. (Spoiler alert: Now they need to teach their children to make the same choices.)

Joshua 24:19-24, Witnesses

Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."

But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD."

Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." 

"Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.

"Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."

Joshua challenges the people, emphasizing their human weaknesses!

Joshua 24:25-28, A covenant renewed

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.  And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.

"See!" he said to all the people. "This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God."

Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

What is the Book of the Law of God?  Is it part of the Torah? Here Joshua seems to be adding to it.

Joshua 24:29-33, Death of Joshua

After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.

And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.

And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

One hundred and ten was the historically "ideal" age of death in Egypt.

(NIV footnotes: In verse 30 Timnath Serah is also known as Timnath Heres (see Judges 2:9) In verse 32, the Hebrew is literally a hundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.)

We have here a final recording of the deaths and burials of ancient leaders, bringing the wandering days of the Israelites to an end. In the next book, Judges, we will see how well these wanderers can hold the land YHWH gave them.

First published June 22, 2023; updated June 22, 2026

Complete Chaos, An Introduction to Judges

The book of Deuteronomy prepares us -- and the nation of Israel -- for the entrance into Canaan and the  conquest of the Promised Land. The book of Joshua then describes the conquest of Canaan. The book of Joshua, like its namesake, is upbeat, with an emphasis on miraculous events as YHWH, working through Joshua's leadership, delivers the land over to Israel. But after the leadership of Joshua comes the Old Testament book of Judges. In this book, the line of leadership, from Moses to Joshua, dies out. Israel is ruled by a chaotic collection of leaders called "judges". As these various judges reign in Israel, over two or three centuries, Israel's commitment to YHWH decays.

I find Judges a depressing book. Whereas Joshua has upbeat passages about the successes of the Israelites against a corrupt pagan populace, Judges counters this with episodes describing decay and corruption within the people of Israel. The book is rated PG-13. That last act of the blinded Samson may make it into Vacation Bible School curriculum but Samson's constant dalliance with prostitutes does not. The judge Gideon lays a fleece and with a small band conquers the Philistines, but later he makes offerings to idols. The violence in the book includes a nail driven through an enemy soldier's head and a brutal gang rape followed by a massacre.

The theme of the book is repeated four times in the book, 

"In those days Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes." 

The anarchy of these centuries of judges explains why the people were eventually interested in having a king, an event that is described in 1 Samuel, the book that follows (after the brief interlude of Ruth.)

As described in this Bible Project video, the book of Judges is very disturbing. The point of this disturbing book is that when the Israelites moved away from submission to YHWH and absorbed the idols and morals of the people around them, their nation deteriorated. This is emphasized in a sequence of downhill spirals of idolatry, oppression, repentance, deliverance and renewal, followed later by idolatry.

Problems and Questions

In addition to the repeated violence of the book, a number of questions arise in the study of the text. One of these is the dating of events. This issue with dates goes back to the Exodus -- one has to make different date assumptions depending on whether one has an early or a late date for the Exodus from Egypt and those dates depend on how precisely one interprets time periods such as "forty years".  Is "forty years" sometimes used to mean a generation or a similarly long period of time? And do some of these time periods overlap?

A similar problem arises with the Old Testament use of large numbers. At times an extremely large number of people are reported killed in a battle. For example, according to Judges 12:6, forty two thousand Ephraimites are killed in a dispute between Jepthah of Gilead and the tribe of Benjamin. If the NIV translation of the text is accurate then not only is this fight a massive battle larger than any in the American Civil War, but the Ephraimite dead exceed the total population of that tribe as given a generation or two previously in Numbers 26:37. Similar examples abound in this book -- and also in subsequent Old Testament histories such as the book of Samuel or Kings. Some of these problems challenge our understanding of the ancient Hebrew. I will try to devote a Sunday essay to this.

Resources and References

My practice is to read through the text from the New International Version (NIV), copied into the blog and italicized in blue. At the head of each blue paragraph of text I place a short title; after the text I place my thoughts or comments in black. I begin this process with my own reactions and thoughts and then supplement these comments with gleanings from a commentary or two. 

The real goal of this blog is to force me to read every verse thoughtfully. My comments are part of that process, creating a certain accountability for me in this study. I hope that you, too, read the passages thoughtfully!  Feel free to disagree -- or to react in other ways! I place hyperlinks in pink, created so that one can click on a link and see the linked site open in another window... and go down a rabbit hole if one wishes!

(I also send out these posts on Substack. The colors blue and pink used in the blogposts does not carry through to the Substack posts.)

For the book of Judges I have found two commentaries helpful. 

• The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (published by Eerdmans) has a commentary on Judges by Barry Webb.  I have that on my Kindle. (This the same series of commentaries that has Hubbard's beautiful commentary on Ruth.)  
• I have also used a commentary by Herbert Wolf found in the third volume of the Expositor's Bible Commentary.

In addition, in the online commentaries provided by EasyEnglishBible, is one online commentary on Judges. (The Easy English Bible commentaries are easy to read, with deliberately simple language intended for those for whom English is a second language. The Old Testament text is included in the commentary.) 

There are a variety of free short courses or studies on Judges available online. I note a few below. (All of these seem to have a high view of Scripture but I have not investigated these very seriously.)

• The Gospel Coalition has a free ten-week online class (ten separate printed lectures) on the book. 
• There is an extensive written summary at a biblestudytools.com website.  
• Another summary, a shorter one, is at this Crossways.org website.
• There is an Agape Catholic Bible Study here. 
• There is an inductive study (a study led by questions) here.
• A study from Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee (from the 1990s) is available here.
• A study, apparently from Matthias Media, is available here as a pdf download. It includes this map (from Wikipedia) of the presumed possessions of Israel at the start of the time of the Judges.

We will begin the book of Judges next week!

First published June 18, 2023; updated June 9, 2026

Joshua 23, Joshua's Epitaph

Canaan has been conquered. Now Joshua is dying.

Joshua 23:1-5, Joshua calls the tribes together

After a long time had passed and the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then old and well advanced in years, summoned all Israel--their elders, leaders, judges and officials--and said to them: "I am old and well advanced in years. You yourselves have seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the LORD your God who fought for you. Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain--the nations I conquered--between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. 

The LORD your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.

Joshua wants the nation to continue as before, in the tradition of Moses and of Joshua and of the Sinai Covenant. It is possible that Joshua is only addressing the nine-and-a-half tribes west of the Jordan, as he describes them as being between the Jordan and the Great Sea. Or he is merely describing the land that he, not Moses, conquered.

Joshua 23:6-11, Be very strong

"Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.

"But you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now. 

"The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.

"So be very careful to love the LORD your God.

"Be very strong..."  Classic Joshua.  "Be strong and courageous!" If the people rely on YHWH, they cannot be stopped.

Joshua 23:12-16, But if you turn away...

"But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.

"Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.

"If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."

Joshua's message is a mixture of pride and warning, of blessing and curse.

There is a real concern about the Israelites allying themselves with the people of the land. The people of land have grown wheat and barley, figs, grapes and olives. They have agricultural knowledge that the Israelites might lack and so it will be tempting to absorb the local farming culture. But embedded in the Canaanite agriculture practices are fertility rites, worship of the Baals and Ashteroths, the various male and female gods.

First published June 21, 2023; updated June 20, 2026

Joshua 22, An Altar at Geliloth

There are still more conversations required about land distribution. One of them will be viewed as a threat to one group.

Joshua 22:1-9, The transjordan tribes released

Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and said to them, "You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. For a long time now--to this very day--you have not deserted your brothers but have carried out the mission the LORD your God gave you.

"Now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

Then Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes.

(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan with their brothers.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, saying, "Return to your homes with your great wealth--with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing--and divide with your brothers the plunder from your enemies."

 

So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the LORD through Moses.

The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and some from Manasseh have been given land east of the Jordan. (The area east of the Jordan is the "transjordan".) They have aided the other tribes in conquering the land west of the Jordan. Now they are allowed to return home with the blessing of Joshua and the other Israelites.

Joshua 22:10-14, Confusion about an altar

When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

 So the Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead--to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. With him they sent ten of the chief men, one for each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.

On the way home the transjordan tribes build an altar.  There is a misunderstanding about the reason for this.

The Israelites have been instructed to worship YHWH in one place, where the ark resides. They are not to follow the Canaanite custom of placing altars on every hilltop, regardless of whom they worship. That one place of worship  moved as the people invaded Canaan, first stopping at Gilgal outside Jericho (Joshua 5:10), then at Mount Ebal after the victory at Jericho (Joshua 8:30-33), and then at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1.) The location will change again, eventually settling on Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. Later Jeroboam will bring Israel to ruin by setting up a competing altar at Bethel (1 Kings 12:25-33.)

Joshua 22:15-20, Accusations against the transjordan tribes

When they went to Gilead--to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh--they said to them: "The whole assembly of the LORD says: `How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the LORD and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now?

"Was not the sin of Peor enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the LORD! And are you now turning away from the LORD? "`If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel.

"If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the LORD's land, where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building an altar for yourselves, other than the altar of the LORD our God.

"When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things, did not wrath come upon the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.'"

The majority of the twelve tribes warn the transjordan tribes, "Why do you do this?  Remember, if you sacrifice to other gods, there is destruction!"

Joshua 22:21-29, Reassurance

Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: "The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the LORD, do not spare us this day. If we have built our own altar to turn away from the LORD and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD himself call us to account.

"No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, `What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?  The LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you--you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the LORD.' So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

"That is why we said, `Let us get ready and build an altar--but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.' On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, `You have no share in the LORD.'

"And we said, `If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD's altar, which our fathers built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.'

"Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle."

The transjordan tribes explain their reasoning. This altar is dedicated only to worshiping YHWH. The altar is intended as an act of unity with the other tribes, not a breakaway. 

The two-and-a-half transjordan tribes have a legitimate concern; the "Promised Land" has been viewed as the land west of the Jordan and as they have settled east of the Jordan, there is a real possibility that they will be left out. (Today that territory mostly belongs to the country of Jordan with a far northern portion claimed by Syria.)

Joshua 22:30-34, Approval

When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community--the heads of the clans of the Israelites--heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not acted unfaithfully toward the LORD in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the LORD's hand."

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. They were glad to hear the report and praised God. And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.

The priests are relieved.  This is not a threat. They support the actions of the transjordan tribes.

First published June 20, 2023; updated June 19, 2026

Joshua 21, Levite Inheritance

The distribution of the land has been made for the tribes. Now we need to make sure the Levites have places to live.

Joshua 21:1-3, Towns for the Levites

Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, "The LORD commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock."

The Levites approach the leaders and remind them of their need. The leaders are at Shiloh, which acts as the capitol of Israel at this time; the high priest and the ark of the covenant are there.  

Joshua 21:3-8, Towns distributed by lot

So, as the LORD had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance: The first lot came out for the Kohathites, clan by clan. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. The rest of Kohath's descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.

The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

The descendants of Merari, clan by clan, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.

So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

We see described the precise towns for various Levite clans. The land requirements for Levite families in each town is described in Numbers 35:1-5 and comes out to about a square kilometer of land.

Joshua 21:9-12, Towns from Judah and Simeon

From the tribes of Judah and Simeon they allotted the following towns by name (these towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them): They gave them Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) But the fields and villages around the city they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

Some land is given to Caleb, as described previously in Joshua 14:6-15. Madvig identifies a "village" as a small settlement outside the walls of a city.

Joshua 21:13-19, For the descendants of Aaron

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah and Beth Shemesh, together with their pasturelands--nine towns from these two tribes.

And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth and Almon, together with their pasturelands--four towns. All the towns for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were thirteen, together with their pasturelands.

And some land is given specifically for the descendants of Aaron.

Joshua 21:20-26, For the Kohathites

The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim: In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer, Kibzaim and Beth Horon, together with their pasturelands--four towns.

Also from the tribe of Dan they received Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Aijalon and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands--four towns. From half the tribe of Manasseh they received Taanach and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands--two towns. All these ten towns and their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.

The distribution of land for the Kohathite clans (in the tribe of Levi) are given land from that of Ephraim, Dan and Manasseh.

Joshua 21:27-40, Additional distributions

The Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Be Eshtarah, together with their pasturelands--two towns; from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion, Daberath, Jarmuth and En Gannim, together with their pasturelands--four towns; from the tribe of Asher, Mishal, Abdon, Helkath and Rehob, together with their pasturelands--four towns; from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Hammoth Dor and Kartan, together with their pasturelands--three towns. 

All the towns of the Gershonite clans were thirteen, together with their pasturelands.

 

The Merarite clans (the rest of the Levites) were given: from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah and Nahalal, together with their pasturelands--four towns; from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer, Jahaz, Kedemoth and Mephaath, together with their pasturelands--four towns; from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Mahanaim, Heshbon and Jazer, together with their pasturelands--four towns in all.

All the towns allotted to the Merarite clans, who were the rest of the Levites, were twelve.

Land distributions are described for the Gershonites and Merarites (subtribes of Levi.)  The distribution includes sanctuary cities.

Joshua 21:41-45, Summary

The towns of the Levites in the territory held by the Israelites were forty-eight in all, together with their pasturelands. Each of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it; this was true for all these towns.

So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them.

Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

The anticipated result now is "rest on every side" -- the Israelites have literally taken over the promised land and so have the Promised Rest that YHWH gives them. This ending, with its emphasis on rest, echoes the last sentence in Joshua 14:15, where the land distributions of Caleb were previously described.

First published June 19, 2023; updated June 18, 2026