March 30: Joshua 22:1 – Joshua 24:33

The Eastern Tribes Return Home – Joshua 22

• Joshua calls to himself the tribes of Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh and tells them that they have fulfilled their duties to the tribes now west of the Jordan. He instructs them to return to their lands and to remember all of God's statutes. Joshua blesses them and sends them home. The tribes return home.

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

• When the Gadites, Reubenites, and half tribe of Manasseh return home, they build a large altar on the western shore of the Jordan. When the people of Israel on the western side see it, they meet at Shiloh to plan to go to war against them (misunderstanding the purpose of the altar). They send Phinehas (son of Eleazar the priest) as well as ten other men to the three tribes, who question them about the "breach of faith" they have committed against God and remind them of the breaches of faith in the past.
• The people of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh proclaim that if they did this as a breach of faith, may the Lord not spare them. They claim that they build the altar in fear of the Lord and so their children would see it and worship Him—an altar of witness.
• Phinehas and the ten men return to the other tribes of Israel and report what they learned. The people bless God, and the tribes of Reuben and Gad call the altar "Witness."

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders – Joshua 23

• A long time afterward, after God had given Israel rest from their surrounding enemies, Joshua (who is now old) summons all Israel. He tells them that he is advanced in age and that God has given them what he promised, and tells them to keep all the statutes listed in the Book of the Law of Moses. They are not to mix with other nations or worship their gods. He exhorts them to love the Lord, and then tells them that he will soon die. He again warns them not to serve or bow down to other gods.

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem – Joshua 24

• Joshua gathers all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summons the elders, heads, judges, and officers. Joshua reminds them how God gave Abraham Canaan, and Isaac and Jacob and Esau lived there. Then Jacob and his children went to Egypt (by way of Joseph's selling into slavery), until He brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Joshua goes on to recount how God finally brought them to the Promised Land and drove out all the people there. God gave them land that they had not labored and cites that they hadn't built.

Choose Whom You Will Serve

• Joshua exorts Israel to fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. The people respond that far be it from them that they would forsake Him and worship other gods, because of all He has done for them.
• Joshua reminds Israel that they are witnesses that they have chosen to choose God and tells them to put away the foreign gods among them and incline their hearts to God. He makes a covenant with the people and writes this in the Book of the Law of God, then sends the people back to their homes.

Joshua's Death and Burial

• Joshua dies, being 110 years old. The people bury him in his own inheritance in Timnah-serah. Israel has served the Lord throughout Joshua's time as leader. 
• The people bury the bones of Joseph, brought from Egypt, in Shechem, on the piece of land that Jacob had bought from Hamor, the father of Shechem.
• Eleazar, the son of Aaron, dies, and they bury him at Gilbeah, the town of Phinehas his son.