And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.
Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, along with the leaders, returned from meeting with the tribes of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead. They came back to the other Israelites in the land of Canaan and reported what had happened.
The writer is showing how Phinehas and the leaders returned from their peace mission to report back to the rest of Israel about resolving the conflict with the eastern tribes.
📚 Historical Context
This verse concludes a tense situation where the western tribes of Israel thought the eastern tribes (Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh) had built an unauthorized altar and were rebelling against God. Phinehas, as the high priest's son, led a delegation to investigate what turned out to be a misunderstanding. The eastern tribes had built the altar as a witness to their faithfulness, not for forbidden worship.
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