What is the meaning of Joshua 22:17? Was not the sin of Peor enough for us - The delegation from the western tribes reminds Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh of the shocking events in Numbers 25:1-15, when Israel “began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab” and bowed to Baal of Peor. - By asking if it was “enough,” they press the point that one past act of rebellion was already more than sufficient to teach Israel never to trifle with idolatry again. - Psalm 106:28-29 recalls that moment: “They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices to lifeless gods; so they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.” The collective memory of such discipline is meant to curb any new compromise. - The concern fits Joshua’s charge only a few chapters earlier: “Be very strong… so that you do not turn aside… or serve their gods” (Joshua 23:6-7). Israel’s leaders connect the current situation—an altar whose purpose they do not yet understand—with the old sin that brought disaster, warning that God’s standards have not changed. from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day - Though the plague ended, the consequences lingered: • Twenty-four thousand graves (Numbers 25:9). • A perpetual lesson embedded in Israel’s collective conscience (Deuteronomy 4:3-4). - “Not cleansed” does not mean God withheld forgiveness; rather, the scar remained. Like the stones taken from the Jordan (Joshua 4:6-7), the memory served as a standing testimony to future generations. - The statement underscores communal accountability: even Israelites who did not personally bow to Baal still shared in the national guilt and its aftereffects. Paul draws on the same incident to warn the Corinthian church: “Now these things took place as examples for us… We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did” (1 Corinthians 10:6-8). - By referencing an unremoved stain, the leaders appeal to holy fear: if the covenant community repeats such sin, the mark deepens. It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD - The phrase recalls the swift judgment that “the LORD said to Moses, ‘Take all the leaders… and execute them… that My fierce anger may turn away’” (Numbers 25:4-5, 9). - God’s response proved that idolatry is never an individual matter; it spreads like contagion, requiring decisive intervention (compare Joshua 7:1-12 with Achan’s hidden sin). - Phinehas, now leading this delegation, had once stopped the plague by his zeal (Numbers 25:7-8). His presence reinforces the warning: the same God who judged then will judge again if covenant boundaries are crossed. - The western tribes fear collective punishment: “But if you rebel today, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel” (Joshua 22:18). Remembered judgment motivates present obedience. summary Joshua 22:17 is a sober reminder that past transgressions carry ongoing lessons. The leaders invoke the sin of Peor to highlight how one compromise with idolatry invited national calamity and a divine plague. Although forgiven, Israel still bears the memory of that wound, compelling vigilance against any repeat. The verse teaches that God’s people must learn from history, guard the covenant, and recognize that individual choices can endanger the entire community. |
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