Joshua 22 · a question people ask
Was the land east of the Jordan part of the land God gave Israel?
The chapter sets two things side by side. It calls the west "the land of Canaan" and the east "the land of Gilead" (22:9). When Numbers set out "the land of Canaan according to its borders" (Numbers 34:2), its east border (Numbers 34:10) went "down to the Jordan" (Numbers 34:12). The western tribes call the west "the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s tabernacle dwells", and offer the eastern tribes room there "if the land of your possession is unclean" (22:19). Yet the east was theirs "according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses" (22:9), and Joshua calls it "the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan" (22:4). The chapter doesn't say whether the east was part of the land promised to the fathers. What it shows is the eastern tribes' fear that the river would one day be taken as a line between them and the LORD: "For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you… You have no portion in the LORD" (22:25).
The verses
“Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.”
“The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.”
“However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the LORD our God’s altar.”
“For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.”’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing the LORD.”