While the minds of Joshua and other leaders were still oppressed with anxious forebodings, strange tidings reached them. Beside the Jordan, near the place of Israel's miraculous passage of the river, the two and a half tribes had erected a great altar, similar to the altar of burnt offering at Shiloh. The law of God prohibited, on pain of death, the establishment of another worship than that at the sanctuary. If such was the object of this altar, it would, if permitted to remain, lead the people away from the true faith.

Mens Josua og de øvrige israelitiske ledere endnu gik med disse tunge tanker, fik de en mærkelig meddelelse. De hørte, at rubenitterne, gaditterne og Manasses halve stamme havde bygget et stort alter i lighed med brændofferalteret i Silo i nærheden af det sted, hvor israelitterne foretog deres mirakuløse overgang over Jordanfloden. Ifølge Guds lov var det forbudt at tilbede andre steder end ved helligdommen, og overtrædelse af dette forbud straffedes med døden. Hvis det var hensigten at tilbede ved dette alter, ville folket blive ledt bort fra den sande tro, hvis der ikke blev grebet ind.