Joshua 22:18

Jos 22:18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, [seeing] ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

Ver. 18. That tomorrow he will be wroth,] i.e., Ere long: punishment treadeth upon the heels of sin. Peccantes sequitur ultor a tergo Deus.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jos 22:18. But ye must turn away this day — Commit more sins of that nature. For whether they intended to worship other gods, or to worship the God of Israel in a manner he did not allow, it was idolatry, in the judgment of Phinehas. Ye rebel to-day, to-morrow he will be wroth — That is, soon and suddenly, as the expression often signifies. With the whole congregation — With you for doing so, and with us for suffering or not punishing it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean,.... That is, if it was judged to be so by them, because not cleansed from the sins of the former inhabitants of it by sacrifice, or because there was no altar in it to offer up sacrifice for the expiation of sin:

then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord,

wherein the Lord's tabernacle dwelleth; if you repent of the choice you have made of a country to dwell in, quit it, and come over into the land of Canaan, which the Lord has taken possession of, and residence in, and where his tabernacle is fixed, the place of his presence and worship, and where an altar is erected to sacrifice upon:

and take possession among us; they were willing to quit possession of their own, and make room for them in each of their tribes, and even though they straitened themselves, and parted with much of their estates, rather than they should make a schism, or go into idolatrous practices; which was a brave, noble, spirit indeed, and showed their great concern for the honour and glory of God, and his worship, and their love to their brethren, and affectionate regard for their spiritual welfare, above their own private, personal, and temporal good:

but rebel not against the Lord: the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, either Christ the essential Word, the Angel of Jehovah's presence, or his word of command:

nor rebel against us; by breaking off from us, and setting up another religion or form of worship:

in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God: which ought to be common to both, and no other to be set up against it, or used beside it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To-morrow, i.e. suddenly, as that word is oft used, as Mat 6:30; 1Co 15:32.

He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel; with you for doing so, and with us for suffering, or not punishing it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. To-morrow he will be wroth — The moral universe is pervaded by laws as inflexible as those of the physical world, or, rather, more certain in their consequences; for the physical laws may be suspended for moral ends.

With the whole congregation — And not with you eastern tribes only. Such are our social and political relations that the crimes of a part are punished on the whole of the nation.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But that ye must turn. The original has the imperfect, of an action not completed, and ye are turning." There is no need to give the adversative sense to! The ye also is emphatic. Ye are turning against the Lord today, tomorrow ye will involve the whole congregation in calamity." That tomorrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. This passage also is quite consistent with the circumstances and with the position of the speaker. Not merely anger but fear is visible throughout fear of His wrath who had manifested His power so signally of late. There was no longer any temptation to rebel against Him. The Israelites were no longer suffering the daily pressure of comparative privation and distress, such as it was impossible to avoid in the wilderness. While, on the contrary, there was every reason to remember His power Who had driven the heathen out before them and planted them in, Who had not failed to punish them when they deserved it, and Who, by the fate of their enemies, had made it clear that His hands were not waxen short. Thus the heads of the tribes, and Phinehas especially, were alarmed lest Israel should forfeit the prosperity they at present enjoyed, and exchange it for those terrible woes that God had shown He could inflict when His people rebelled against Him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tomorrow - That is, suddenly, as that word is often used. Congregation - With you for doing so, and with us for suffering, or not punishing it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

"And to-day ye turn away from the Lord again," and are about to bring His wrath upon the whole congregation again through a fresh rebellion.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)