Delegitimizing a Witness: Composition and Revision in Joshua 22

Abstract

In Joshua 22, after the Transjordanian tribes fulfill their obligations they construct an altar by the River Jordan. In response, the Cisjordanian tribes assemble to wage war, yet a civil war is averted when they learn that this altar serves no sacrificial purpose. This article argues that Joshua 22 is the product of a base layer, an account of the Transjordanian tribes erecting an altar by the River Jordan, and a supplemental layer that revises and reshapes the cultic function of this altar.