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The Altar by the Jordan
Joshua 22 sends the eastern tribes home after they fulfill their military obligation. A large altar by the Jordan nearly causes civil war until the eastern tribes explain that it is a witness to shared covenant identity, not a rival sacrificial altar.
Joshua 22 also names Phinehas son of Eleazar as the priest sent to investigate the eastern tribes’ altar, strengthening the canonical identification of the Phinehas ministering in Judges 20.
The western tribes’ alarm over the Jordan altar makes sense against Deuteronomy’s insistence that sacrificial worship be centered at the place YHWH chooses, while the eastern tribes deny creating a rival altar.
Joshua 22 explicitly recalls Achan’s trespass as a warning that one household’s covenant breach can bring consequences on the wider congregation, interpreting the earlier Joshua 7 crisis from within the book itself.
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