Ed: Witness, a word not found in the original Hebrew, nor in the LXX. and
Vulgate, but added by the translators in the Authorized Version, also
in the Revised Version, of
(Joshua 22:34) The words are literally
rendered: "And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named
the altar. It is a witness between us that Jehovah is God." This
great altar stood probably on the east side of the Jordan, in the
land of Gilead, "over against the land of Canaan." After the division
of the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe
of Manasseh, on returning to their own settlements on the east of
Jordan
(Joshua 22:1-6) erected a great altar, which they affirmed, in
answer to the challenge of the other tribes, was not for sacrifice,
but only as a witness ('Ed) or testimony to future generations that
they still retained the same interest in the nation as the other
tribes.
