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John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Joshua 12:1
INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 12
This chapter gives a short account of the conquests made by the Israelites, both in the times of Moses and of Joshua, and first of the kingdom of Sihon and Og on the other side Jordan, in the times of Moses, and which he gave to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and which are particularly described,
Jos 12:1; and then of the kings and the countries on this side Jordan whom Joshua conquered, Jos 12:7; and the names of the thirty one kingdoms are recited, that so it might be exactly known and observed what were afterwards divided among the tribes and possessed by them, Jos 12:9.
Ver. 1. Now these [are] the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote,.... In the days of Moses, as Jarchi remarks, and as it clearly appears from what follows:
and possessed, their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun; on the east of the land of Canaan:
from the river Arnon unto the mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east; Arnon was the border of Moab between them and the Amorites,
Nu 21:13; and from hence to Hermon, a mountain adjoining to Lebanon, lay the country of the two kings of the Amorites after mentioned, De 3:8; and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan.
Joshua 12:2
Ver. 2. Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,.... Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, Nu 21:26;
[and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river of Arnon; a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:
and from the middle of the river; that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:
and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border of the children of Ammon; so it is said to be, De 3:16; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in
Jos 12:5; and so Jarchi remarks.
Joshua 12:3
Ver. 3. And from the plain,.... Or rather, "and the plain", the plains of Moab, which, before possessed by the Israelites, belonged to the kingdom of Sihon; and the plains of Jordan, which reached
to the sea of Cinneroth on the east; the same with the lake of Gennesaret, and sea of Tiberias, mentioned in the New Testament,
Mt 14:34:
and unto the sea of the plain; where stood the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.;
[even] the salt sea on the east; the same with the dead sea, into which the plain the above cities stood on was converted:
the way to Bethjeshimoth; which was a place in the plains of Moab,
Nu 33:49;
and from the south under Ashdothpisgah; or the springs of Pisgah, which flowed from the mount of that name, De 3:17.
Joshua 12:4
Ver. 4. And the coast of Og king of Bashan,.... The country that he reigned over, who was another king of the Amorites, smitten by Israel in the times of Moses:
[which was] of the remnant of the giants; See Gill on "De 3:11":
that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei; of which two places see De 1:4; it seems as if Og had a palace in each of those cities, and sometimes was at one and sometimes at another, as is usual with kings.
Joshua 12:5
Ver. 5. And reigned in Mount Hermon,.... That is, over all the people that inhabited that mount or dwelt under it, Jos 11:17, and adjacent to it, of which mountain, See Gill on "De 3:8" and
See Gill on "De 3:9";
and in Salcah: which was a city belonging to the kingdom of Og, De 3:10;
and in all Bashan; or Batanea, a country famous for pasturage, Mic 7:14, and for fat cattle, Eze 39:18, and for oaks, Isa 2:13, frequently mentioned in Scripture:
unto the border of the Geshurites, and the Maachathites; which were two nations the Israelites never expelled, Jos 13:13; of which see De 3:14;
and half Gilead; which belonged to Og, as the other half did to Sihon, before observed, which was as follows:
the border of Sihon king of Heshbon; here the two kingdoms joined, even in the midst of Gilead, which was divided between them, but now wholly fell into the hands of Israel.
Joshua 12:6
Ver. 6. Them did Moses the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel, smite,.... That is, the inhabitants of those kingdoms they smote with the edge of the sword, and took possession of them, the history of which see in Nu 21:1;
and Moses the servant of the Lord gave it; the whole dominion of the two kings before mentioned:
[for] a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh: of which grant, and the conditions of it, see
Nu 32:1.
Joshua 12:7
Ver. 7. And these [are] the kings of the country,.... After particularly named, Jos 12:9:
which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west; that is, on the west of Jordan:
from Baalgad, in the valley of Lebanon, even unto the mount Halak,
that goeth up to Seir; of which see Jos 11:17;
which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel [for] a possession,
according to their divisions; as after related in this book.
Joshua 12:8
Ver. 8. In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country,.... Which is a description of the whole land of Canaan; some parts of which were hills and mountains, others vales and champaign fields; others were dry and barren, and others well watered; some part of it lay to the north, as towards Lebanon, and others to the south, towards Seir:
the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; which were the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan before it was taken and possessed by the Israelites.
Joshua 12:9
Ver. 9. The king of Jericho, one,.... Who was first taken, and so named first, Jos 6:21;
the king of Ai, which [is] beside Bethel, one; who was next taken and though Bethel was so near Ai, it had a king of its own, after mentioned, see Jos 7:1.
Joshua 12:10
Ver. 10. The king of Jerusalem, one,.... Whose name was Adonizedek, and was one of the five kings taken and hanged, Jos 10:1;
the king of Hebron, one; another of the five kings, whose name was Hoham, Jos 10:3.
Joshua 12:11
Ver. 11. The king of Jarmuth, one,.... Whose name was Piram, a third of the five kings before observed, Jos 10:3;
the king of Lachish, one; another of them, whose name was Japhia,
Jos 10:3.
Joshua 12:12
Ver. 12. The king of Eglon, one,.... The last of the five kings, and his name was Debir, Jos 10:3;
the king of Gezer, one; who came up to help Lachish, and his name was Horam, Jos 10:33.
Joshua 12:13
Ver. 13. The king of Debir, one,.... The same with Kirjathsepher, of which place, See Gill on "Jos 10:38";
the king of Geder, one: Jerom {h} seems to confound this with the tower of Eder, beyond which Jacob pitched his tent, Ge 35:21; and he speaks of a Gaddera in the tribe of Judah, in his time a village belonging to the country about Aelia or Jerusalem, and of Gahedur in the tribe of Judah, a large village, ten miles from Diospolis or Lydda, as you go to Eleutheropolis: it seems to be the same with Gederah, Jos 15:36, or Gedor, Jos 15:58.
{h} De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A. B.
Joshua 12:14
Ver. 14. The king of Hormah, one,.... Which was formerly called Zephath, Jud 1:17; see Jos 15:3;
the king of Arad, one; perhaps the same with Arath, which, Jerom {i} says, is the border of the land of Judah, and is twenty miles distant from Hebron to the south; see Nu 21:1.
{i} De Loc. Heb. fol. 92. L.
Joshua 12:15
Ver. 15. The king of Libnah, one,.... Taken at the same time as the kings of Makkedah, Debir, and of other places were, Jos 10:29;
the king of Adullam, one; a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:35; Jerom says {k} there was a village in his time, not a small one, called by this name, ten miles to the east of Eleutheropolis: near to this place was a cave where David hid himself when he fled from Saul, 1Sa 22:1;
See Gill on "Mic 1:15".
{k} De loc. Heb. fol. 88. F.
Joshua 12:16
Ver. 16. The king of Makkedah, one,.... In a cave near to which five kings hid themselves, and were taken out and hanged, and the city afterwards was taken by Joshua, Jos 10:16; which fell to the lot of the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:41;