I suppose since Joshua followed Moses in the chain of command, it would be expected to have to take care of unfinished business. Joshua seems to be getting a lot of people coming to him and telling him what they were promised by the Lord through Moses. So, Joshua is still dividing up the land among the people. Today, it happens to be the Levites. They were promised land with lots of pasture for their livestock, so Joshua gave it to them. This is where they settled and made their homes. The very last verse of chapter 21 says that "Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed, every one was fulfilled." God defintiely keeps His promises...big or small!
In Ch. 22, Joshua blesses the tribes of Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and sends them to their land. He said they fulfilled all of their commands from the Lord and they would now be blessed with great wealth, livestock, clothing, etc... Joshua told them to continue walking in the way of the Lord and all would be good. However, as soon as they crossed over to their land on the other side of the Jordan, what do they do? Built an "imposing altar" right there by the Jordan. Once the Israelites caught wind of this, they marched right on over there ready to fight. They question the intentions of the Reubenites, Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, accusing them of disrespecting the Lord. The three tribes explained their intent. There was absolutely no malicious intent in the building of the altar. It was simply built in case the tribes on the other side of the Jordan tried to say that these three tribes had no "share of the Lord." They wanted to have an altar there to worship the Lord and for the generations to come, just in case the Israelites turned on them. This pleased everyone and they all lived happily ever after...for now, at least.
Their altar was named: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.
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