And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.
And the children of Israel heard say. Fame speedily spread intelligence of what the trans-Jordanic tribes had done. The act being suspected of some idolatrous design, "the whole congregation - i:e., not the whole nation, but only the representatives-repair to the tabernacle at Shiloh, resolved to declare war against the two tribes and a half as apostates from God. On calmer and more mature considerations, however, they determined, in the first instance, to send a deputation, consisting of the son of the high priest and 10 eminent persons from each tribe, to make inquiry into this rumoured rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 13:13-15). The quality of the deputies evinced the deep solicitude that was felt on the occasion to maintain the purity of the divine worship throughout Israel. In the presumptive belief that the two tribes and a half had really built an altar, the deputies expressed astonishment at their so soon falling into such a heinous crime as that of violating the unity of divine worship (Exodus 20:24; Leviticus 17:8-9; Deuteronomy 12:5-13), reminded their eastern brethren of the disastrous consequences that were entailed on the nation at large by the apostasy at Peor, and by the sin of Achan, and finally exhorted them, if they felt the want of the tabernacle and altar, and repented of their rash choice in preferring worldly advantages to religious privileges, to remove to the western side of the Jordan, where the whole tribes would form a united and obedient community of worshippers.