Joshua 22: When an altar isn't an altar

Joshua 22: The Eastern Tribes Return to Their Territory / A Memorial Altar East of the Jordan


Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
-Freud

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar - and sometimes an altar is not quite an altar. In today's reading we analyze the meaning of symbols. Does an altar necessarily have to be for sacrifice? Could it be simply cosmetic or symbolic? Is an altar on which no sacrifice is offered still an altar after all?

The Eastern Tribes Return to Their Territory: Joshua 22.1-9
Because of their observance of all the commands of Joshua and Moses, and because the Lord has bestowed peace on the current generation, Joshua allows the Reubenits, Gadites, and half of the Manassites to return to their land east of the Jordan. Joshua blesses them and sends them away to their tents, urging them:

Take good care to observe the commandment and instruction that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
(Joshua 22.5)

This exact command will be important later on, creating tension between the Israelites east and west of the Jordan.

The author then tells us that Moses gave one half of the tribe of Manasseh land in the east, but Joshua gave possession to the other half in the west. This is likely an etiological note to explain the placement of the tribe of Manasseh at the time of writing.

The eastern tribes return to their families across the river carrying a wealth of metals, livestock, and clothing - the spoils of war.

A Memorial Altar East of the Jordan: Joshua 22.10-34
The narration then switches to follow the eastern tribes as they make their way home. When they come to the Jordan, they build a large altar on the west side, in Canaan. Thought these tribe were commanded above to observe the commandments of the Lord, they have seemingly failed to heed the command of centralized worship that outlaws other altars.

When the Israelites to the west of the Jordan see the altar, they prepare for war against the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The people send Phinehas and ten chiefs to speak with the eastern tribes. The congregation accuses the eastern tribes of apostasy - rebelling against the word of God by creating their own second altar. This is an important time for Israel indeed; violence and bloodshed have stopped, and the people are not quite yet cleansed of the sin of Peor. This would be a bad time to anger God, who would destroy all of Israel for the wrongdoing of a few. [Interestingly God as a character is entirely absent from this story - so God's view on this cannot be not known]

The eastern tribe respond that God knows the true meaning of the altar - remembrance. No sacrifices will be made on the altar. Rather, it is built as a witness between the eastern and western tribes that they all perform service before the Lord. The Jordan may divide the two parts of Israel, but they are united under God. The eastern tribes fear that the western tribes will forget this and treat those across the Jordan differently, so this altar is to serve as a witness between the two.

The response is quite repetitive, which you might have gleaned from my description. It is structured around the three-fold repetition of sacrifice, which is precisely what is outlawed by God and precisely what the eastern tribes wish to convince the western tribes that they will not do.

Phinehas and the priests are satisfied with the answer, as are the rest of the Israelites when word returns to them. The altar is called "Witness," for "it is a witness between us that the Lord is God."

Clearly the Israelites east of the Jordan believe that altars can be symbolic. They do not have to be altars at all, but an altar-shaped structure that serves as a witness, a reminder of the cohesion between the two tribes. I would not even call this an altar at all, but an altar-shaped symbol between tribes on either side of the Jordan.