Joshua 22:24
And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel? And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?
The verse expresses the anxiety of Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh over living east of the Jordan at a distance from the sanctuary. Those tribes had taken their inheritance before crossing the Jordan, selecting the wide upland plains and rich forests of Gilead and Bashan as grazing for their flocks and herds. They had pledged their proportion of armed men to go with their brethren across the Jordan and share their battles until those brethren also entered upon their inheritance. That pledge was faithfully kept through years of brave fighting beside their brethren, after which they returned to the land of their possession with much riches, very much cattle, silver, gold, brass, iron, and very much clothing to divide with those who had stayed behind with the families and flocks. Their isolated and wandering life far from the sanctuary exposed them to strong temptations to adopt the customs of the heathen tribes on their borders, so their departure was watched with an anxious heart.
What they dreaded was that in time to come the Jordan would be treated as a dividing line cutting their children off from Israel. The Israelites west of the Jordan might then deny that the eastern families belonged to Israel, telling their children they had nothing to do with the Lord God of Israel. In that way their children would be shut out from worship at the tabernacle. To guard against that exclusion they built the altar as a witness that they and their descendants worshiped the living God. Their aim was to preserve their children's connection to God and to Israel's shared worship, not to turn them away from Him.
The same dread of future religious division moved the other tribes to fear that the altar would draw descendants away from the Lord. They therefore acted swiftly against what they mistakenly took for rebellion, and misunderstanding brought grave danger of conflict. Zeal to guard against sin can in this way produce groundless suspicion. The lesson is that before judging, brethren should courteously ask for the facts.