Joshua — Chapter 22

Lapide: \"Take diligent heed to love the Lord your God... and to cleave unto Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.\" Joshua's farewell command to the Transjordanian tribes — the love of God is the axis of all the Law; all external observance must proceed from interior love.

Lapide: The Transjordanian tribes build a great altar by the Jordan — the other tribes prepare for war, fearing apostasy; but embassy reveals the altar was built as a monument of fraternal union (witnesses that the Transjordanian tribes share in the inheritance of Israel and the worship of the Lord), not for illicit sacrifice. Phinees the priest leads the embassy with wisdom. Peace preserved.