Josue 22 — Church Fathers

Deuteronomy

Chapter 21

Chapter 23

Judges

Chapter 22

1 The same time Josue called the Rubenites, and Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses,

2 and said to them: You have done all things that Moyses the servant of our Lord commanded you: me also have you obeyed in all things,

3 neither have you left your brethren a long time, until this present day, keeping the commandment of our Lord your God.

4 Therefore because our Lord your God hath given your brethren quietness and peace, as he promised: return, and go into your tabernacles, and to the land of your possession, which Moyses the servant of our Lord delivered to you beyond Jordan:

5 always so that you keep attentively, and in work fulfill the commandment, and the law which Moyses the servant of our Lord commanded you, that you love our Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and observe all his commandments, and cleave to him, and serve him in all your heart, and in all your soul.

6 And Josue blessed them, and dismissed them. Who returned into their tabernacles.

7 And to the half tribe of Manasses Moyses had given possession in Basan: and therefore to the half that remained Josue gave a lot among the rest of their brethren, beyond Jordan at the West side. And when he dismissed them into their tabernacles, and had blessed them,

8 he said to them: In much substance & riches return to your seats, with silver and gold, brass and iron, and variety of raiment: divide the prey of your enemies with your brethren.

9 And the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses returned, and went from the children of Israel in Silo, which is situated in Chanaan, to enter into Galaad the Land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the commandment of our Lord in the hand of Moyses.

10 And when they were come to the little banks of Jordan, into the Land of Chanaan, they built beside Jordan an altar of an infinite greatness.

11 Which thing when the children of Israel had heard, and certain messengers had reported to them that the children of Ruben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses had builded and altar in the Land of Chanaan, upon the little banks of Jordan, against the children of Israel:

12 they assembled all in Silo, that they might go up, and fight against them.

13 And in the mean time they sent to them into the Land of Galaad, Phinees the son of Eleazar the Priest,

14 and ten Princes with him, one of every tribe.

15 Who came to the children of Ruben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses into the Land of Galaad, and said to them:

16 This message doth all the people of our Lord send to you: What is this transgression? Why have you forsaken our Lord the God of Israel, building a sacrilegious altar, and revolting from the worship of him?

17 Is it a small thing to you that you sinned in Beelphegor, and until this present day the spot of this abomination abideth in us? And many of the people fell dead.

18 And you today have forsaken our Lord, and tomorrow his wrath will rage against all Israel.

19 But if you think the land of your possession to be unclean, pass to the Land wherein is the tabernacle of our Lord, and dwell among us: only that you depart not from our Lord, and from our company, an altar being built beside the altar of our Lord God.

20 Did not Achan the son of Zare transgress the commandment of our Lord, and his wrath lay upon all the people of Israel? And he was one man, & I would he alone had perished in his wicked fact.

Josue 22:21-34

THE ALTAR OF THE WITNESS

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21 And the children of Ruben, and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses answered the Princes of the legacy of Israel: 1 note

22 The most mighty God our Lord, the most mighty God our Lord, himself knoweth, and Israel together shall understand: If with the mind of prevarication we have erected this altar, let him not keep us, but punish us presently: 1 note

23 and if we did it with that mind, that we might lay upon it holocausts, and sacrifice, and pacific victims, let himself examine it and judge: 1 note

24 and not rather with that meaning and deliberation, that we said: Tomorrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with our Lord the God of Israel? 1 note

25 Our Lord hath put a border between us and you, O ye children of Ruben, and children of Gad, the river Jordan: and therefore you have no part in our Lord. And by this occasion your children shall avert our children from the fear of our Lord. We therefore thought it better, 1 note

26 and said: Let us build us an altar, not for holocausts, nor to offer victims, 1 note

27 but for a testimony between us and you, and our issue and your progeny, that we may serve our Lord, and it may be our right to offer both holocausts, and victims, and pacific hosts: and that your children tomorrow say not to our children: You have no part in our Lord. 1 note

28 And if they will say so, they shall answer them: Behold the altar of our Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, nor for sacrifice, but for our testimony and yours. 1 note

29 God save us from this abomination that we should revolt from our lord, & leave his steps, erecting an altar to offer holocausts, and sacrifices, and victims, beside the altar of our Lord God, which is erected before his tabernacle. 1 note

30 Which things being heard, Phinees the priest, and the princes of the legacy, which were with him, were pacified: and they admitted most willingly the words of the children of Ruben, and Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses. 1 note

31 And Phinees the Priest the son of Eleazar said to them: Now we know that our Lord is with us, because you are not culpable of this prevarication, and have delivered the children of Israel from the hand of our Lord. 1 note

32 And he returned with the Princes from the children of Ruben and Gad, out of the Land of Galaad, into the Land of Chanaan, to the children of Israel, and reported to them. 1 note

33 And the saying pleased all that heard it. And the children of Israel praised God, and they did no more say, that they would go up against them, and fight, and destroy the Land of their possession. 1 note

34 And the children of Ruben, & the children of Gad called the altar which they had built, Our testimony, that our Lord he is God. 1 note

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Josue 22:21-34 1 entry

THE ALTAR OF THE WITNESS

THE TRUE ALTAR.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254)

But let us see what sacrament lies within this deed. The former people of the circumcision are represented in Reuben,^[1] who was the firstborn; but also in Gad, who also is the firstborn out of Zilpah;^[2] and Manasseh, no less a firstborn.^[3] But insofar as I say firstborn, I speak chronologically. Therefore, these things are said not that it might be evident some division and separation is between us and those who were righteous before the coming of Christ, but that they might reveal themselves to still be our brothers even if they existed before the coming of Christ. For although they possessed an altar then before the coming of the Savior, nevertheless, they knew and perceived that it was not that true altar but that it was a form and figure of what would be the true altar.^[4] Those persons knew this because the true victims and those who were able to take away sins were not offered on that altar that the firstborn people possessed but on this one where Jesus was. Here the heavenly victims, here the true sacrifices are consumed. Therefore, they are made one flock and one shepherd,^[5] those former righteous ones and those who are now Christians.

Homilies on Joshua 26.3