Joshua 22:17

"Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, although there came a plague upon the congregation of Jehovah, that ye must turn away this day from following Jehovah? and it will be, seeing ye rebel today against Jehovah, that tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Howbeit, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of Jehovah, wherein Jehovah's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against Jehovah, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar besides the altar of Jehovah our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity."

"The iniquity of Peor ..." (Joshua 22:17). The full account of this is in Numbers 25, all of which is presupposed by Phinehas' statement here.

"From which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day ..." (Joshua 22:17). This indicates the long-lasting influence of the events at Baal-Peor. What Phinehas said here, is that there were a lot of people in Israel still around who were hankering after the sinful and sensuous worship of Baal.

"Jehovah will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel ..." (Joshua 22:18). This truth is the key to Israel's fear, and their determination to root out the evil they supposed to have occurred. They feared that God would be angry with all Israel. Phinehas reinforced that argument, by pointing out that although only one man had sinned in the instance of Achan and the devoted thing, yet God was angry with all Israel, and that Achan did not perish alone. Others also died because of his sin. This also presupposes all of the events regarding the repulse of Israel at Ai and the execution of Achan. In fact every line of the preceding Five Books of Moses cast their long shadow over Joshua from the first verse of it to the last.

"If the land of your possession be unclean ..." (Joshua 22:19). Phinehas in this, apparently, was seeking to give the Trans-Jordanic group some kind of an excuse.

If their erecting an altar had been due to their fear that the eastern Jordan tribes did not share in the promises concerning the "land of Canaan," due to their not being, in fact, in the land of Canaan, then, very well, Phinehas suggested, it would be better for them to abandon the Trans-Jordanic territories and come over to the western side and inherit with all the others. The meaning of this verse is considered to be somewhat ambiguous.