Joshua 22:24

Fear of this thing. The word for “fear” is rather “anxious care,” and literally the passage would read, “if not from anxious care from a word [thing].” The two and a half tribes proceeded to relate what was the cause of this fear or anxiety. In the process of time their posterity, being situated so far from the tabernacle, might be looked upon and treated as strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. As these tribes were on their way home the idea of this memorial probably suggested itself to their mind. Had they thought of the plan before, they probably would have informed Joshua. They were concerned lest their children should be looked upon by the other tribes as having no interest in the altar of God. True, for the time being, the eastern tribes were considered as brethren and were as welcome at the tabernacle as any other tribe, but what if their children after them should be disowned? Because of the distance, they could not make so frequent visits to the tabernacle as the others, and gradually they might be rejected as not members at all. This would lead to carelessness on the part of their children, and soon they would sink into a state of comparative irreligion. To forestall such a tendency and to be a constant witness of the fact that they were a part of Israel, the tribes decided to erect this large altar near the Jordan, so that it could be seen from both sides.