And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the Lord is God.

 Joshua 22:21-34

Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.

No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord.

It is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord. “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.

And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.”

And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness Between Us—that the Lord is God.

The fear that, once they are across the Jordan, Israel may at some future time disown them prompts the building of the altar which caused such misunderstanding. This was neither a sign of idolatry nor a second sanctuary. It was a token of solidarity with the rest of Israel to whom they were bound by faith and worship of the one God.

Why?

The tribes of Gad the Manasseh built this altar is for a witness to their future descendant and the Israelites in West Jordan. To remind them to have the same God, The Lord. And this altar does not offer any burnt offerings and sacrifices.

At this time Israelites on both sides of  Jordan have the same faith in the Lord, and we sware obey the Lord and worship the Lord forever.

Even though a few generations later, both of the Israelites turn away from the Lord. These are the sins of men.

-----------

人總是用自己的想法強加在別人身上，以為別人也知道。

築壇是為了合一，若是如此，為什麼不先說。如果留在河東本來就會有分開的後遺症。既然如此為何不要河西的應許之地，卻要河東地。

神本來就不要人另外築壇，如此行本身就不對了。以後難免被人拿來祭拜。過約旦河上已經立石為記，同時也在河中放12個石頭。他們為何不立石碑，石塊，人總是喜歡找一些理由，為自己保留一點點。明明知道這個不好，以後會有後遺症，以後再來補破洞。既然要奉獻為什麼不百分之百。為什麼還要留一點破洞?

-----------

How?

Worship the Lord and keep faith in the Lord, need the experience the grace of the Lord and be humble myself.