On The East Side of Jordan

v. 1. Now, these are the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon, the northern boundary of Moab, unto Mount Hermon, in the Anti-Lebanon range, and all the plain on the east, the valley of Jordan with its eastern tributaries:

v. 2. Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, that is, from the middle of the valley, from the city of Ar, or Areopolis, and from half Gilead, the hilly section on the south side of Jabbok, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon, that is, in its upper reaches;

v. 3. and from the plain, the Arabian Desert, to the sea of Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the Salt Sea, on the east, the way to Bethjeshimoth, which was located near the mouth of the Jordan; and from the south, under Ashdothpisgah, under the foothills of the range flanking the Dead Sea on the east, all this country, as thus bounded, being included in the kingdom of Sihon, who was defeated by the army of Israel, Numbers 21; Deuteronomy 2;

v. 4. and the coast of Og, king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, a descendant of the ancient giant races, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, Deu 1:4; Deu 3:11; Num 21:33,

v. 5. and reigned in Mount Hermon and in Salcah, Deu 3:10, on the southern border of the Hauran, and in all Bashan, the Hauran proper, the entire upper valley of the Hieromax River, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, the former located on the southeastern, the latter on the southwestern slopes of Mount Hermon, and half Gilead, the part north of the Jabbok, the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon.

v. 6. Them did Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel smite; and Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, Num 32:33. These kings of the Amorites had been powerful monarchs, but they had been helpless before the army of the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THE EXTENT OF JOSHUA‘S CONQUESTS.

Jos 12:1

Now these are the kings. The historian now enters upon a complete description of the whole territory which had, up to this date, fallen into the hands of the Israelites. First he traces out the border of the trans-Jordanic possessions of Israel, which he describes as bounded on the south by the river Arnon, on the west of course by the Jordan, and as extending from Hermon, past the Sea of Chinneroth, to the borders of the Dead Sea. The eastern border is not clearly defined, but the boundary extended far further eastward in the north than in the south, since the territory of Og was much more extensive than that of Sihon. On the west of Jordan the territory is described as extending “from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon (i.e; Baalbec or Caesarea Philippi; see note on Jos 11:17) unto the Mount Halak which goeth up to Seir, which we have seen to be a range of mountains extending southward from near the south point of the Dead Sea. The border of the Israelitish possessions is more accurately defined in the succeeding chapters, but it was, after all, a slip of territory not more than 180 miles in length by about 100 in breadth. Its influence upon the history of the world, like that of Athens and Sparta, must not be measured by its size, but by its moral energy. As the former city has attained undying fame by its intellectual power, the second by its mihtary capacity, so Palestine has derived her title to fame from her indestructible national lifeindestructible because built alone, of all the religious systems of the ancient world, upon the foundations of the unity and Fatherhood of God; indestructible, moreover, because it came by revelation from God. There is no greater argument for the Divine origin of the Mosaic law than the unique spectacle of a national life like that of the Jews, subsisting for nearly two thousand years after their expulsion from their land. From the river Arnon (see Num 21:24). The word Arnon Signifies the swift stream (see Gesenius,’Thesaur.’ s.v). It is now called by the Arabs, El-Mujeb. Seetzen represents the region round its mouth to be naturally most fertile, but as abandoned now to a few wild plants. Unto Mount Hermon. Now Jebel-es-Sheikh. We have a vivid description of the scenery of Hermon in Psa 42:1-11; with the noise of its foaming torrents, the “deep calling unto deep” from the recesses of its dark ravines, where the infant Jordan rushed along its rocky bed. The Psalmist pictures to himself his troubles as overwhelming him like the billows of the numerous streams that streaked the mountain sides. And yet again Hermon is introduced as the image of peace and plenty and brotherly love. The refreshing dews which distilled from the side of the giant mountain were the source of blessing to those who dwelt afar off, and even the dry and parched sides of Mount Zion were cooled by their delicious influence. In Psa 42:6 the Psalmist speaks of Hermon in the plural. Some have regarded this (e.g; Ritter) as referring to the double peak of the mountain. The phrase most probably refers to the region, though Hermon has really three peaks (see note on Jos 11:3). And all the plain on the east. The Arabah (see Jos 3:16). The depression of the Jordan, which lay eastward, of course, of Palestine. This is much insisted on in the following verses.

Jos 12:2

The river Jabbok. Literally, the pouring or emptying stream. It is remarkable that, while the LXX. renders here by , a winter torrent, it steadily renders the same Hebrew word, when referring to Aruon, by . This latter word indicates the rocky cleft through which the water flows; the former, the fact that, though rapid and impetuous in winter, it was usually dried up in summer. Cf. the term , applied to the Kedron by St. John (Jos 18:1); a remarkable instance of accuracy, by the way, if, as we are confidently told, the author of that Gospel was an Ephesine Gentile who had never seen Jerusalem and was imperfectly acquainted with Jewish localities and customs. The Jabbok has been identified with the Wady Zerka, or blue stream.

Jos 12:3

And from the plain. There is no “from” in the original, which here ceases to describe the territories of Sihon, but continues the account of the Israelite dominions, which included the Arabah (not the plain as in our version) up to the sea of Chinneroth. On the east; i.e; the east of Jordan. So also below. The way to Beth-jeshimoth (see Num 33:48, Num 33:49). There was a desert tract near the Dead Sea called Jeshimon, or the waste district. It is described by travellers as the most arid portion of the whole land. In this, Beth-jeshimoth (the house of desolations) was situated. It was south of the acacia meadows (see note on Jos 2:1), and it formed part of the territory of Reuben (Jos 13:20). As it lay upon Jordan, it must have been near the extreme northernmost point of the Dead Sea. We are to understand, not that Sihon’s territory extended to Beth-jeshimoth, but in that direction. Possibly some of the western Cauaanitish tribes here extended their territories across the Jordan. And from the south. The word here is not Negeb, but Teman, i.e; the literal south, which lay on the right () to one looking eastward. Ashdoth-pisgah. For Ashdoth see Jos 10:40. Pisgah was the northernmost point of the Abarim range, of which the well.known Nebo was the chief peak. Thither Moses went up to view the land which he was not permitted to enter. There Balaam built his seven altars and essayed in vain to curse the children of Israel. There were the watchmen (Zophim) stationed to protect the land, in the days before the Israelitish invasion, from the incursions of the tribes on the other side of Jordan (Num 23:14). The position of Pisgah has not been precisely identified, but the range extended on the eastern side of Jordan to a point nearly opposite Jericho. See Deu 34:1.

Jos 12:4

The giants. Hebrew, Rephaim cf. Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20; also Jos 17:15). The word, according to Ewald, is equivalent to “stretched out.” It was also applied to the dead. The Rephaim were one of the various tribes of giants, like the Anakims, Zuzims, and Emims, of whom we read in the land of Canaan. They occupied the land of Bashan and “half Gilead”that is, its northern portion (see Deu 3:13). The term “remnant” would imply that they had suffered some reverses at the hands of the other tribes, though they still remained in possession of their populous territory in the north. This view is confirmed by Gen 14:5. Ashtaroth (see note on Jos 9:10). Edrei. Or “the strong city,” “the city of the arm,” according to Gesen; ‘Thes.,’ s.v. This name, together with the immense number of ruined cities which have been found of late years in a marvellous state of preservation in this region, shows that Og was a powerful monarch. The ease with which he was overcome bears witness to the enervating effects of luxury and licentiousness upon a people of strong physique, vast numbers, and high civilisation.

Jos 12:5

The Geshurites. See Jos 13:2, Jos 13:11, Jos 13:13; and Deu 3:14; also 2Sa 13:37, where we find the principality of Geshur still in possession of its independence. It was in the northeast corner of Bashan, abutting upon Syria, and is called “Geshur in Syria” (2Sa 15:8). It is perhaps an instance of undesigned coincidence that Maachah, the mother of Absalom and the daughter of the king of Geshur, was so named, since she probably derived her name from the adjoining territory of Maachah (see note on Jos 13:2).

Jos 12:6

Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave. Theodoret makes the tribes which received their inheritance through Moses the types of the believing Jews, and those who received it through Jesus (Joshua) the types of the believing Gentiles. Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were the first born of their respective mothers, and were thus types of the Jews, who were God’s firstborn. As they passed over armed before their brethren, so we received the good tidings of salvation from the lips of Jews. This is a characteristic specimen of the allegorical interpretation of the early fathers. But it will be observed that the children of Bilhah, who might have been selected more naturally than those of Zilpah, are entirely omitted.

Jos 12:7

And these are the kings of the country. We now proceed to the enumeration of the kings whom Joshua had overcome on the western side of Jordan. And the first thing that strikes us is their immense number, as compared to the two potentates who alone occupied the large tract of country subdued on the other side of Jordan. Such a divided territory could hardly have maintained itself in the face of the powerful monarchs Sihon and Og to the eastward of Jordan. We are thus led to the conclusion that the smaller kings must have been tributary to some more powerful monarch who was the head of the confederacy. Such Bretwaldas, to borrow a term from our own history, the kings of Jerusalem and Hazor appear to have been, the one the head of the northern, the other of the southern tribes of Palestine, while possibly the five Philistine cities may have constituted another league, as they appear to have successfully defied the power of the Israelites from the first. That such confederacies existed at a much earlier time, we find from Gen 14:1-5, where the king of Elam, or Persia, appears as the head of such an one, though of a more extensive character. The resistance to his power organised by the kings in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea is another case in point. Possibly in later times Persia and Babylon found their hands full in their conflict with one another, and with Egypt under Thothmes III; as afterwards under the all-conquering Rameses II; better known as Sesostris, and they had to leave the tribes of Palestine awhile to themselves. Or the rulers of the central power at Carchemish (see Introduction) may have exercised a kind of suzerainty over all. The next point to be observed is that, in the list of kings that follows, a good many are mentioned beside those enumerated in Gen 10:1-32. No doubt, as in the earlier history of this island, there were not only heads of leagues, and their tributary monarchs, but under kings also, who were actually subject to the reigning monarchs, and involved in their fall. Compare the other cities mentioned in connection with Gibeon, Jos 9:17. Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon. See for this whole passage note on Jos 11:16, Jos 11:17.

Jos 12:8

The mountains. “Which, as the mountains of Judah (Jos 15:48), Ephraim (Jos 16:1), and Naphtali (Jos 19:32), ran through the midst of the land” (Knobel). See Jos 11:16, Jos 11:21, and note.

Jos 12:9

The list of the cities subdued. The king of Jericho, one. Here follows a list of the royal cities of the Canaanites, the remainder being daughter, or dependent cities, or else, perhaps, like Gibeon, cities whose government was not regal. See Jos 9:3, and Introduction.

Jos 12:13

The king of Geder. Perhaps the same as Gederah in Jos 15:36. If so, it is the Gedor of the Onomasticon, ten miles from Beit-Jibrin, or Eleutheropolis, now Jedireh. Conder, however, with whom Vandevelde seems to agree, places Geder in the mountain region, and identifies it with Gedor (Jos 15:58) and the modern Jedur, in the Hebron mountain. So Keil and Delitzsch, Robinson, and others. The Gedor in 1Ch 4:39 may be the same place. It is described as on the east side of the “gai,” or ravine, but no clearer indication of the place is given. It is, however, unlikely that the Simeonites would have found the children of tiara undisturbed in the mountains of Hebron in the reign of Hezekiah (see 1Ch 4:40, 1Ch 4:41). The LXX. reads Gerar, and this is very probably the true reading. There was a “Nahal,” or winter torrent, there (Gen 26:17, Gen 26:19), and therefore possibly a “gal.” The whole passage in 1 Chronicles should be consulted.

Jos 12:14

Hormah, Arad. Cities in the Negeb, near the border of Edom (see Num 14:45; Num 21:1, Num 21:3; Num 33:40). Hor-mah was originally known as Zephath (see Jdg 1:16, Jdg 1:17, where the fullest description of the locality is given). It was in the wilderness of Judaea, in the arid country (Negeb) of Arad. Mr. Palmer identifies it with Sebaita, in the centre of the Negeb, in the Magrah-el-Esbaita, a mountain valley sloping down into the Wady-el-Abyadh. Other explorers prefer Sulifat, and Rowlands and G. Williams, Sepata.

Jos 12:15

Adullam. In the Shephelah (valley in our version. See Jos 15:33-35). Canon Tristram in his ‘Bible Lands,’ as well as Conder in his ‘Handbook,’ identify this with Aid-el-Me, or Mich. In the Quarterly Paper of the Palestine Exploration Fund for July, 1875, Lieut. Conder details a visit to this place, previously identified by M. Clermont-Ganneau. These explorers reject the idea approved by Vandevelde and others, that this Deir Dabban is the ancient Adullam. The place he prefers fulfils all requirements. It is in the Shephelah. It is near Jarmuth and Socoh. It is an ancient site with “rock cut tombs, good water supply, and main road, and communications from different sides, and it is moreover a strong military position. It contains no remarkable cave, but a number of small ones, now used as habitations by the peasantry.” Keilah, which David saved from the Philistines (1Sa 23:1-5), was within a reasonable distance. The present name, Aid-el-Me or Mieh, the feast of the hundred, may be a misapprehension of the word Adullam similar to that which converts the Welsh “yr eifel,” in Carnarvonshire, into the English “the rivals,” or which identifies in many English names the English burn (brook) with the French borne (boundary). One of the greatest objections to the theory is that the Hebrew so frequently speaks of the place as Cave-Adullam (Ma’arah-Adullam), as though some special cave existed there. Adullam plays a somewhat important part in Scripture history. We hear of it as early as Gen 38:1-30; where Hirah the Adullamite is spoken of as a friend of the patriarch Judah. It is well known as the refuge of David and his mighty men (1Sa 22:1; 2Sa 23:13-17). It was the place where David composed two of his psalms, the 57th and the 142nd. Rehoboam fortified it (2Ch 11:7). It seems to be regarded as a refuge in Mic 1:15. And it is mentioned among the cities re-occupied after the return from the captivity in Neh 11:30.

Jos 12:16

Bethel. This city is here mentioned as smitten by Joshua. See notes on the capture of Ai, and Jdg 1:22-25.

Jos 12:17

Tappuah. Literally “apple city.” It is difficult say whether this was Tappuah in Judah (Jos 15:34; cf. Jos 15:53), or in Manasseh (Jos 16:8; Jos 17:7, Jos 17:8). The mention of Aphekah in Jos 15:53, and of Aphek here, would suggest the former, or the mention of Socoh in Jos 15:34 (see below on Hepher). But the mention of Lasharon, the fact that there is more than one other Aphek, that Tappuah on the borders of Ephraim and Manasseh seems to have been an important city, and that the cities of the south are mentioned first, those of the north afterwards, and that Tappuah seems to lie about midway, suggest the more northern city. This is Knobel’s opinion. Gesenius inclines to the southern Tappuah. Conder identifies it with Yassfif, at the head of the Wady Kanah, southeast of Shechem. Vandevelde with Atuf, four hours northeast by east from Shechem. Keil prefers the former site. Hepher. This appears, from 1Ki 4:10, to have been near to Socoh, but nothing more is known of it. Aphek. Literally, fortress, though some think it comes from a Syriac root kindred to the Hebrew, signifying to hold fast, to embrace, and that it has reference to the sensual worship of Ashtaroth and Thammuz. There were several towns of this name (see notes on Jos 13:4; Jos 15:53; Jos 19:30). Lasharon is probably the same as Sharon, or Hasharon (Isa 33:9). This is the plain between Joppa and Carmel (Vandevelde). Conder and Kuobel identify with Sarona, or Saroneh, a place near the sea of Tiberias. See, however, Act 8:32-38. Madon is mentioned in Jos 11:1, and has been conjecturally identified with Madin, near the sea of Galilee. Shimron-meron is also mentioned in Jos 11:1. It appears among the cities assigned to Zebulun in Jos 19:15. Ewald (‘Hist. Israel,’ Jos 2:2 c) remarks on ‘the antiquity of this list, referring as it does to cities which are never heard of again. Achshaph lay within the borders of Asher (Jos 19:25). It has been supposed to be the modern Yasif, near the shores of the Mediterranean (see note on Jos 11:1). Taanach and Megiddo are frequently mentioned together (see Jos 17:11; Jdg 1:27; Jdg 5:19). The former became a Levitical city. The latter, being in the great plain of Jezreel, or Esdraelon, lay in the way of most Eastern conquerors. Hence we find it mentioned in the Karnak inscription by the name of Magedi in the victorious expedition of Thothmes III; in which “the whole of the Syrian, Palestinian, and Arabian nations were overcome and forced to pay tribute.”. The great battle on the slopes of Mount Tabor was carried on as far as Megiddo (Jdg 5:19). Not far from this were the Midianites pitched, who fell victims to the valour of Gideon (Jdg 7:1-25). Another and a disastrous battle of Megiddo, against the king of Egypt, weakened Judaea, and caused it to fall an easy victory to the power of Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki 23:29, 2Ki 23:30; 2Ch 35:20-24. The valley of Megiddo, or Megiddon, is mentioned in Zec 12:11. Solomon fortified Megiddo (1Ki 9:15), assigned it to Baana, the son of Ahilud, with Taanach, as one of the cities required to provide food for the royal household (1Ki 4:12) And the Jewish writer of the Apocalypse makes this great battlefield of his race the scene of the battle of the great day of the Almighty (Rev 16:14, Rev 16:16). For Armageddon is Har Mageddon, the mountain of Mageddon, or Megiddo. Megiddo and Taanach are also found in later periods of Egyptian history. The Mohar mentioned above (Jos 1:4) notices the former among the places he visited (‘Records of the Past,’ vol. 2), while the latter is among the places captured by Shishak, as an inscription testifies. The latest explorers reject the identification with Lcgio, or Lejjun, and suggest Mejedda, at the foot of Gilboa, near Beth-shean. See Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Paper, January, 1877.

Jos 12:22

Kedesh, i.e; Kedesh-Napbtali (see Jos 19:7). Jokneam of Carmel. This city is mentioned as one of the cities of purveyance to Solomon’s court (1Ki 4:12), with Beth-shean, Taanach, and Megiddo. It has been identified by explorers, from Robinson downwards, with Tell-el-Kaimun, on the southern slopes of Mount Carmel. It is the Cammona, or Cimana, of the Onomasticon, the “Cyamon over against Esdraelon” of Judith 7:3. It was a Levitical city (Jos 21:34), but in the list in Chronicles 6. we miss it in its proper place, and find it taking the place of Kibzaim in Ephraim. But, as the margin of our version remarks in the latter chapter (verse 68), the names of the cities in the two lists very frequently do not correspond.

Jos 12:23

The nations of Gilgal. Or the nations that belong to Gilgal. This is identified by Yandevelde and Conder with Jiljulieh in the plain of Jordan, north of Antipatris, and is therefore, if this identification be correct, a third Gilgal. The word “nations” most probably signifies a diversity of tribes of various races gathered together under the headship of the king of Gilgal, much in the same way that the kingdom of Mercia arose in England from a confused mass of various tribes, gathered together on the marches, or military frontiers, between Britons, Saxons and English, or in the same way that the Austrian and Turkish empires have been formed out of a congeries of various nationalities. So we read of “Tidal king of nations” in Gen 14:1. But others regard the “nations” (Goim) mentioned there as equivalent to the Gutinm of the Babylonian tabletsi.e; Semitic tribes imperfectly organised, then dwelling in Babylonia, and prefer the LXX. reading, , in Gen 14:1, which Sir Henry Rawlinson considers equivalent to the Accadian Tur Gal, or “great chief.” So Sayce, ‘Babl. Lit.,’ p. 23; Tomkins, ‘Studies on the Time of Abraham.’ See Introduction III.

Jos 12:24

Tirzah meets us as the residence of the kings of Israel for a time in the narrative in 1 Kings. Jeroboam’s wife went thither after her interview with Ahijah (Jos 14:1-15 :17). Baasha dwelt there (Jos 15:21, Jos 15:33; Jos 16:6), Elah was slain there by Zimri (Jos 16:9, Jos 16:10), and it. remained the capital until Omri built Samaria (Jos 16:1-10 :23, 24). Thenceforward we hear no more of it till the time of Menahem (2Ki 15:14, 2Ki 15:16), when it disappears from history. It has been variously identifiedby Robinson and Yandevelde (whom Knobel follows) with Talluza, two hours journey north of Shechem; by Conder with Teiasu, where there are numerous rock sepulchres. It was a place of great beauty, if we may judge from So 1Ki 6:4, “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem.”

HOMILETICS

Jos 12:1-24

The extent of the conquest.

A few detached considerations occur to us here.

I. GOD WELL NOT BE WORSE THAN HIS WORD. The reduction of the whole land had not yet been effected, but it had been rendered possible if Israel were disposed to follow up his advantage. The list of cities captured covers nearly the whole extent of Palestine, and Canaan had been deprived of all capacity of resistance. So it is with the Christian who has entered into covenant with God. The mastery over sin has been placed in his power. “Sin shall have no more dominion over him,” unless he pleases. Every part of his nature is under the dominion of Jesus. Satan and his angels can but cower and submit, unless the Christian prefer accommodation to warfare, and allow himself to be led into alliance or fellowship with evil. It is the making marriages with Canaan, entering into amicable relations with the enemies he has subdued, that betrays Israel to his ruin. God has placed everything in his power. If he will not destroy his enemies when he can, he has but himself to blame.

II. ISRAEL‘S POSSESSION IS A VARIOUS ONE. The land of Israel had various characteristics. Mountains and fertile plains, strange deep depressions, declivities, desert, dry arid ground, all formed part of the land flowing with milk and honey. So in the Christian life there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. The heights of rank and intellect, the fertile soil of usefulness and energy, the depths of poverty, ignorance, and absence of mental power, the various inequalities of fortune, the trials of sorrow and adversity, the dryness of soul in prayer, the privation of sympathy and consolationall these are various elements of the spiritual life, regions on the map of the spiritual Canaan; but all are subject to the power of Jesus, and may, if we will, be made useful in His cause. As the most arid or the most rocky soft in Palestine became, by man’s industry, highly productive, so the oil, olive, and honey, the figs, and pomegranates, and vines of our spiritual Israel, may be raised, if we will but be fellow-workers with God, out of the most unpromising natural disposition.

III. JOSHUA‘S VICTORIES WERE CAREFULLY KEPT IN REMEMBRANCE. So may the Christian, at the end of a long career under the guidance of God’s Spirit, look back to the former triumphs he has achieved by His aid, provided he does so in no spirit of Pharisaical boasting, but in gratitude to Him who “has done so great things for him.” Many a victory over enemies without and within, many a recollection of a hard fought field, will occur to the veteran in Christ’s army when, in the evening of life, he turns his thoughts backward to review the past. And so will the student of history as he reflects on the manifold difficulties encountered by God’s Church, and the number and power of the confederacies arrayed against her, enumerate with loving pride the cities she has destroyed, and look forward with confidence to her final triumph.

HOMILIES BY R. GLOVER

Jos 12:7-24

The catalogue of the vanquished.

A melancholy document, meaning little more to us than a column in a directory, but meaning much to multitudes. Many of these kings would be lamented in elegies as sweet as David’s song over Saul and Jonathan. Some, doubtless, were noble, perhaps some devout, but implicated in a national fate to the deserving of which they had not contributed. Linger over these a little and observe

I. ALL ARMIES WILL FIND THEIR PLACE IN ONE OF TWO CATALOGUESTHAT OF VICTORS, OR THAT OF VANQUISHED. We lament that to place Israel God must displace others. That heroism conquering a home assumes also heroism fighting in vain to keep one. Life in its deepest action must always be a struggle, ending in victory or defeat. Every foolish life ends in failure, and in a consciousness like that of a beaten general, of plans unwisely formed and forces unhappily employed. Those who follow God’s guidance in all the affairs of life are fighters in a combat in which their success confers blessings on themselves and on society at large. All who refuse God’s guidance in their general affairs are fighters in a combat in which their success, if achieved, would damage others still more than their failure would hurt themselves. Those who choose wrongly thus find life a losing game, a disastrous battle. It would be well if all realised that not to win a victory with life is to suffer a terrible defeat, is to be left with loss of power, and with infinite damage. In one or other list we all shall be. Crowned as victors, humiliated and discredited as failures.

II. MOST OF THOSE IN THAT LIST NEVER EXPECTED TO BE IN IT. Why should they? They had theories like ours today of the superiority of training in arms, of fortifications, of what they called their civilisation, to any rude force which nomadic hordes could bring. But they are beaten. Pride goeth before destruction. Many reliant in their strength of purpose are destroyed by temptations they despised. Youth dreams of only bright and golden issues to its life. Too often the only issues are deplorable. Do not assume your life is going to be a grand success. Victory is desertnot drift, achievementnot accident. Even to retain requires energy. These men could not transmit to others what had been transmitted to them.

III. THEY WERE NOT SAVED BY PROFESSION OF SANCTITY. Some of the cities here had already had a long reputation for sanctity. “Jerusalem” had been Melchizedek’s seat; “Bethel,” the old name of the locality (though the city was Luz), means “the house of God.” “Kedesh” means “a holy place.” These all seem to have been spots consecrated to the service of the true God. Consecrated peoples have God’s protection; consecrated places go without. “Judgment” does not spare, it “begins with the house of God.” Later inhabitants of Jerusalem may say, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord axe these.” But the sanctity of the site increases, it does not avert the punishment of those profaning it. There is something very solemn in this removal of the candlesticks which had served the Pre-Abrahamic Church. England is today a great Bethel, a sublime Kedesh. May we have grace to act worthily of, and so retain, our eminence.

IV. THE INDIVIDUAL SHARES THE FATE OF THE COMMUNITY. Some of these kings and their people, doubtless, were worthy of a better fate. But implicated in the fortunes of the general community, leaguing with it for its defence, they come in for its fate. It is strange how the individual has to share the lot of the community. The accident of our birth may determine our calling, our fortune, even our creed, and our character. Advantages for which others have wrought, disabilities which others have transmitted, are inherited by us. “Other men have laboured, and we have entered into their labours.” Sometimes other men have sinned, and we have entered into their penalty. There is, indeed, an inner realm whose fortunes depend only on ourselves. But we are members one of another, and must participate the general fortune. We should therefore cherish more patriotism, more religious interest in our country‘s politics and action. The welfare of those yet unborn depends on the wisdom of the generation today existent. Let us not leave to our successors a “heritage of woe,” such as was left to these kings of Canaan. Look on them with pity, with modest humility, asking of your soul, “Who maketh thee to differ?” It may be some Canaanitish bard lamented the dead at the waters of Merom, as the Scottish bard did those who fell at Flodden, and sang tenderly of” the flowers of the forest being a’ wede away.” Let us be thankful that in the past we have been spared such a doom, and careful in the future to avoid it.G

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Jos 12:7, Jos 12:8

Diversity of lots.

The diversity of situation and character in the several lots of the tribes of Israel is illustrative of the similar diversity which is seen in all human experience.

I. DIVERSITY OF LOTS IS A NECESSITY. If we could attain uniformity we could not retain it.

(1) Diversity necessarily results from the inevitable differences in the arrangement of the physical world and the course of external events. The world is not large enough for all men to live on the most fertile soil and in the most genial climate.

(2) Diversity is also necessitated by the difference in human capacities. Since these sources of diversity are found in nature, they must be sanctioned by God. Therefore to complain of them is (a) futile, (b) distrustful.

II. DIVERSITY OF LOTS IS LESS SEVERE THAN IT APPEARS TO BE.

(1) There is much compensation for inequality. We are inclined to notice only the hardships of our own lot and the favourable circumstances of our neighbour’s. There are cares peculiar to riches and blessings peculiar to poverty.

(2) Custom accommodates us to our lot. It softens the hardest lot and robs the pleasantest of its interest. The back becomes fitted to the daffy burden. The daffy luxury becomes insipid.

(3) Happiness depends more on the character of the inner life than on the circumstances of the external lot. A peaceful mind is better than all riches. The cheerful poor man is more favoured by Providence than the melancholy rich man (Pro 15:17).

III. DIVERSITY OF LOTS IS BENEFICIAL TO US INDIVIDUALLY, Justice is not equality, but fitness. It is not fit that we should all receive equal lots. For some the highlands are most fit, forsome the plains, for some the valleys.

(1) Fitness depends on our capacity. One can serve best in one lot, and another with different faculties in a totally different lot. The talents are given “to every man according to his several ability” (Mat 25:15).

(2) It depends on our disposition. We are not all capable of appreciating the blessings which are given to others. If we chose for ourselves we could not tell what would be most agreeable to us until we had experienced all kinds of lots. We often think we should enjoy things for which we have no capacity, as weak and timid people, delighting in stories of adventure, imagine they should like to be the heroes of them.

(3) It depends on our need. Our lots are apportioned to us for probation, discipline, and education. The lot which is most attractive may not be most beneficial. Various methods of training are needed according to our various characters. Some plants flourish best in the sunshine, others in the shade. Some souls are healthiest in prosperity, others in adversity.

IV. DIVERSITY OF LOTS IS USEFUL FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE OF MANKIND. Dull uniformity would leave human life at a low level. Civilisation must become complex as it advances. Diversity of lots is necessary for division of labour. “The whole family” is most prosperous when the several members quietly accept their various lots. The mountain lot serves for the shepherd and his flock, the valley for the filler of the soil. Thus the common life of the whole nation is advanced. They who suffer most often have a special part to serve in the ministry of life for the good of their brethren.W.F.A.

HOMILIES BY E. DE PRESSENSE

Jos 12:12, Jos 12:13

The partition of the land of Canaan.

“Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes” (Jos 12:7). In the partition of the land of Canaan there was nothing arbitrary. God Himself directed it, and assigned to each tribe its lot, save only to the tribe of Levi, which was to occupy an exceptional position. There was a very special reason why the inheritance of the various tribes should be marked out by God Himself, since Israel was His chosen people, destined to give to the world its Messiah and Saviour, so that nothing could be indifferent in its history. Every tribe was to feel that in tilling the soft allotted to it, it was accomplishing the task which God had given. Every tribe knew that it held its possessions directly from God, and that it was in His name its appointed work was to be done. Thus everything even in the outward life of Israel was elevated, ennobled, and consecrated. Let us apply these same principles, first to God’s greater peoplemankindand then to the Church and to the family.

(1) St. Paul in his sermon at Athens said that “God had made of one blood all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth, and had determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they might seek the Lord” (Act 17:26). Thus the natural fatherland has been determined for every nation by God Himself. This is the heritage He has assigned to each, to be received in humble recognition of His fatherly will, and with the grateful acknowledgment of all the capacities for its development. But if God has thus given man an inheritance in this great world, He has done so not only in order that man may supply himself with food and with all that is essential to his bodily well being; it is not even that he may avail himself of all the appliances of a brilliant civilisation. It is that he may fulfil here upon earth his higher destiny; that He may seek God and serve Him. Every nationality has its mission in this great work; it has its special gifts to employ for the common cause. Each one is to rehearse in its own tongue the wonderful works of God, and to glorify Him as it has opportunity.

(2) Every family is in like manner bound to recognise the hand of Providence in its earthly lot. Whether it be straitened by poverty, or abounding in wealth, it is equally bound to serve God in the station wherein He has placed it. All outward prosperity is to be received and held as a trust from Him. It is no more ours of right than the land of Canaan belonged to the Israelites. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof,” and we are His stewards. It is for Him we are bound to use it; and to use it for Him is to use it for the good of our fellows, since He reckons any love and service done to them as to Himself. Nor is it only for our material possessions, but for our whole position and attitude among our fellow men, that we are responsible to God. Whether masters or servants, princes or peasants, our lot has been assigned us by God for one sole end, namely His service. Thus before Him, and in view of this Divine purpose, there is no distinction of rank. All that is done for Him acquires dignity from that fact. The one essential is that in our earthly life, whether high or low, we do His work. The poor are often richest towards God, like that tribe of Levi, which, though it possessed not a foot of land, was, as we shall see, the great spiritual aristocracy of Israel.E. DE P.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Ver. 1. Now these are the kings, &c. Having concluded the relation of the wars of Joshua, the sacred historian, now about to enter into a detail of the division made of the conquered country among the tribes, lays in some measure before the reader a map of that country, beginning with those places which the Israelites took under the conduct of Moses. The country extended from the river Arnon on the south, to mount Hermon on the north, and included all the plain, i.e. all the plains of Moab, on the east of Jordan.

Note; On this side Jordan, the people of God have possession of some blessings, as pardon, peace, comfort, &c.; but their chief inheritance lies beyond the grave, where the fulness of the promises shall be accomplished in the glory which shall be revealed.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

SECTION THIRD

Catalogue of all the Kings Conquered under the Command of Moses and Joshua in East and West Palestine
12

1. Catalogue of the Kings Conquered in Hast Palestine

Jos 12:1-6

1Now1 these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side [of the] Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from 2the river2 Arnon, unto Mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east: Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok which is the border of the children of Ammon, 3and from the plain to the Sea of Cinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the Salt Sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth [LXX: ; Vulg.: per viam qu ducit Bethsimoth]; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah. 4And the coast [border] of Og, king of Bashan, which [who] was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5And reigned in Mount Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan, unto the border of the Geshurites, and the Maachathites, and half Gilead, [where] the border [was] of Sihon king of Heshbon.

6Them did [omit: them did] Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah], and the children [sons] of Israel smite [smote them]: and Moses the servant of the Lord [Jehovah] gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and [to] the Gadites, and [to] the half tribe of Manasseh.

2. Catalogue of the Kings Conquered in West Palestine

Jos 12:7-24

7And these are the kings of the country [land] which [whom] Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this [the other] side of [the] Jordan on the west, from Baal-Gad in the valley of Lebanon, even unto the Mount Halak [Bald-mountain] that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave [Fay, correctly: and Joshua gave it] unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions: 8In the mountains [on the mountain], and in the valleys, and in the plains [the lowland], and in the springs [on the foot-hills], and in the wilderness, and in the south-country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

9The king of Jericho, one;

The king of Ai, which is beside Beth-el, one;

10The king of Jerusalem, one;

The king of Hebron, one;

11The king of Jarmuth, one;

The king of Lachish, one;

12The king of Eglon, one;

The king of Gezer, one;

13The king of Debir, one;

The king of Geder, one;

14The king of Hormah, one;

The king of Arad, one;

15The king of Libnah, one;

The king of Adullam, one;

16The king of Makkedah, one;

The king of Beth-el, one;

17The king of Tappuah, one;

The king of Hepher, one;

18The king of Aphek, one;

The king of Lasharon, one;

19The king of Madon, one;

The king of Hazor, one;

20The king of Shimron-meron, one;

The king of Achshaph, one;

21The king of Taanach, one;

he king of Megiddo, one;

22The king of Kedesh, one;

The king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;

23The king of Dor in the coasts of [Naphoth] Dor, one;

The king of the nations of Gilgal, one;

24The king of Tirzah, one;

All the kings thirty and one.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

This twelfth chapter forms a separate section, the third of the first part of our book, and contains a list of all the kings conquered by Moses and Joshua in East and West Palestine. It falls into two subdivisions: (1) a catalogue of the kings conquered east of the Jordan (Jos 12:1-6); (2) a catalogue of the kings conquered in Palestine proper (Jos 12:7-24).

1. Catalogue of those Conquered East of the Jordan (Jos 12:1-6). From the water-course of Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and all the plain [Arabah or Jordan valley] on the East. The Arnon ( for the rushing), Num 2:13; Deu 3:8; Deu 3:12; Deu 3:16; Deu 4:48; Isa 16:2; Jer 48:20, now the Wady Modscheh, formed the southern boundary of the territory governed by Sihon the king of the Amorites, afterwards the southern boundary of Reuben, as of all Eastern Palestine, against Moab. It flows, in part, through a deep rocky bed, into the Dead Sea. Its source, at least that of the main branch of the Arnon, the Wady el-Safijeh, lies near Kutraneh (Katrane) on the route of the pilgrims from Mecca to Damascus.

To Mount Hermon. According to the Arab. means a prominent mountain ridge, perhaps prop, nose (Gesen.). According to Deu 3:9, it was called by the Amorites , by the Sidonians, (but comp. 1Ch 5:23), and according to Deu 4:48, it was also the same as . Plur. . Psa 42:7, because it consists of several mountains. In the Psalm referred to, we have a vivid description of the mountain landscape on Hermon; but the land of splendor, of heaven-towering mountains, and of glorious streams, offers no compensation to the heart of the Psalmist, for the humbler hills of Zion where his God abides (Hitzig, Psa 68:17). At the present time the mountain is called Jebel es-Scheikh. Its height reaches over 9,000 feet. The summit is covered with eternal snow (von Raumer p. 33; Robinson, iii. 344, 357),3 carefully to be distinguished from this Hermon proper, is the little Hermon, so called, which is not mentioned in the Bible. The name originated with Jerome, who misunderstood the plural , in Psa 42:7. He gave that name to the Jebel ed-Duhy (Robinson u. s. 171, 172).

All the plain () on the East. By the Arabah (Deu 1:1; Deu 2:8; 2Sa 4:7; 2Ki 25:4,) where it has the article, as in these passages, is meant not, in general, a dry steppe, a wilderness, as in Isa 33:9; Jer 50:12; Jer 51:43, but, as Robinson (ii. 599, 600) has shown, the whole of the great valley from the sea of Galilee to the lanitic Gulf. It is now (see above on Jos 11:17) called the Ghor, northward from the. bald mountain, and el-Arabah only from that mountain to its southern extremity. This great valley has again different parts which are designated as , e.g. in our book, Jos 5:10 the of Jericho; 2Ki 25:5, the of Moab. Here also we have to do with a portion of the Arabah, the portion namely on the east, that is on the eastern bank of the Jordan. In general, this valley is a solitary desert (Rob. ii. 265), particularly horrid, south of the Dead Sea. The only exceptions are the small places in the northern part, over which the Jordan and occasional springs spread an extraordinary fertility (Rob. ii. 265, 266).

Jos 12:2. Sihon, king of the Amorites, stands first on the list of Canaanite princes subjugated by Moses and Joshua (see above Jos 2:10). He dwelt at Heshbon, Jos 13:26; Jos 21:39; Num 21:26 ff., which name properly signifies prudence (Eccl. 12:25, 27; Ecc 9:10); now Hesban or Hsban. The ruins of the old city lie on a hill having a magnificent prospect, towards the Dead Sea, and over toward Bethlehem;4 toward the south and east with no limit but the horizon. Heshbon belonged originally to the Moabites (Num 21:26), then to the Amorites, as is evident from our book, and other places, and was allotted to the trans-Jordanic tribes (see below on Jos 13:17; Jos 21:39 comp. with 1Ch 7:31). In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Heshbon belonged again to the Moabites (Isa 15:4; Isa 16:9; Jer 48:2; Jer 48:45-47). At a later period, according to Josephus (Ant. xiii. 15, 4), the Jews once more possessed it. Heshbon appears to have had a very strong position, to which the expressions Jer 48:45-47 refer. The ruins have a compass, according to von Raumers authority, of more than a mile.

Jos 12:2. The territory of Sihon is now described in full accordance with Num 21:24, as extending from the Arnon to the Jabbok. Here again Aroer is particularly mentioned, which [lies] upon the bank of the brook Arnon, and in the middle of the brook, and , from (to be bare, naked), lies on the north side of the Arnon, and like Heshbon is indicated by Jeremiah (Jer 48:19) as a Moabite city. It was allotted to Reuben, Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16. The city lay, as our passage shows, partly on and partly in the Arnon, i.e. on an island, now Araayr. Carefully to be distinguished from another city Aroer, Jos 13:25, and from a third city Aroer (1Sa 30:26; 1Sa 30:28), in the tribe of Judah (Rob. ii. 618), to which David sent presents after the recovery of the booty taken at Ziklag.

Half Gilead. according to Gen 31:48 = , hill of testimony, perhaps rather an appellative for hard, rough region, as Gesenius thinks, which however does not suit with Num 32:1; Jer 8:22; Jer 46:11; Jer 50:19; Son 4:1; Son 6:4. Properly the word denotes a mountain on the south bank of the Jabbok (Gen 31:21-48; Son 4:1), with a city of the same name, now Jebel Dschelaad, then the immediate vicinity of this mountain (Num 32:1; Deu 2:37), and finally, the whole mountain region between the Arnon and the Jabbok, now called Belka. It was bounded on the north by Bashan, on the south by Moab. The designation land of Gilead is used inexactly, Deu 34:1, where it includes also Bashan, likewise in 2Ki 10:33; 1Ki 4:19, and often. In such cases, by Gilead is meant the whole land east of the Jordan, so far as it was possessed by the Israelites, Jos 22:9; Jos 22:13; Jos 22:15; Jdg 5:17 (von Raumer, p. 229 ff.). See Introd. p. 25.

Even unto the brook Jabbok, now Wady Lerka, then , from , to pour out, gush forth, = gushing-brook. The word is, according to Simonis, to whom Gesenius assents, the Chald. form for . In Gen 32:2 there is a play upon the word , to wrestle. The Jabbok is here to be viewed as a twofold boundary, (1) in its lower course, a boundary toward the north, (2) in its upper course (Nahr Ammon) as a boundary toward the east against the children of Ammon. A glance at the map will at once show the actual relations.

Jos 12:3. Over the plain (the Arabah) to the sea of Cinneroth on the east,i.e. over the eastern part of the Jordan valley, as far as the sea of Cinneroth. Here , elsewhere also , or (perhaps equivalent to , cithera), so called after the city of this name (Jos 11:2; Jos 19:35); in the N.T., the sea of Galilee (Mat 4:18; Mat 15:29; Mar 1:16; Mar 7:31), sea of Gennesareth (Luk 5:1, derived from Kinnereth or Kinnaroth); in John, sea of Tiberias (Jos 6:1, Jos 21:1), from the city of Tiberias; now Bahr Taberieh. The sea is about thirteen geographical miles long and six broad. The climate is tropical, since the level is from six hundred and twenty-five to seven hundred [Robinson, seven hundred] feet below that of the Mediterranean (Rusegger, iii. 213; Robinson, iii. 264, 313 ff). Its beauty is well known (Seetzen, p. 348), and has been described by Renan, in his Life of Jesus, in the most glowing colors. Robinson expresses himself more moderately (iii. 255): The lake presents, indeed, a beautiful sheet of limpid water, in a deep, depressed basin The hills are rounded and tame, with little of the picturesque in their form Whoever looks here for the magnificence of the Swiss lakes, or the softer beauty of those of England and the United States, will be disappointed. In the O. T. it is mentioned, besides this passage, only Num 34:11; Deu 3:17. [Add Smiths Bible Dict., art. Gennesaret, Lake of.]

And unto the sea of the plain (Arabah), the salt sea on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth. While this eastern part of the Jordan valley is bounded on the north by the lake of Gennesaret, it is in like manner bounded on the south by the Salt Sea, i.e. the Dead Sea, near which (Num 33:48) Beth-jeshimoth lay. To that point the Israelite camp reached from Shittim. It be longed to Reuben (Jos 13:20), later to Moah again, Eze 25:9.

And in the south under the foot-hills of Pisgah. On comp. Jos 10:40. Mount Pisgah, a part of the mountain of Abarim, lies to one looking from Jericho, beyond Beth-jeshimoth, in a southeasterly direction, at the northern end of the Dead Sea. Its highest point is Nebo, which is sometimes called Mount Abarim (Deu 32:49), as though its summit, and again, the top of Pisgah (Deu 3:27; Deu 34:1), comp. Knobel on Num 21:11. The relation between Abarim, Pisgah, and Nebo is, with Knobel, to be conceived of as if Abarim were the whole mountain range lying east of the Dead Sea, Pisgah a part of it, namely, the northeastern, and Nebo the highest point of Pisgah. This seems to me more simple than with von Raumer (p. 72), to separate Abarim and Pisgah, and then assume that Nebo belonged to Abarim as its (north) western portion, and to Mount Pisgah as its eastern highest extremity.5 The region which sloped along the foot of Mount Pisgah formed the southern boundary of the kingdom of Sihon.

Jos 12:4-6, follow the borders of the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan. Ashtaroth, and Ashtaroth karnaim (), Gen 14:5, where were giants; according to Jos 9:10, the residence of Og; now Tel Ashtareh. The hill (Tel) rises, according to von Raumer (p. 243), to a height of from fifty to a hundred feet above the plain, in which ruins lie scattered. At the foot of the hill are ancient wall-foundations and copious springs.

Edrei. Here Og was slain, Num 21:33-35; Deu 3:1-3. By the Greeks it was called Adraa; by the Crusaders, Adratum, also Civitas Bernardi de Stampis; by Abulfeda, Adsraat; now Draa, a desert basalt city without inhabitants, on a height (von Raumer, p. 247).

Jos 12:5. Salcah, conquered by the Israelites, Deu 3:10. Now Szalthat, with eight hundred houses and a castle on basalt rocks, on the southern border of Hauran; uninhabited, like Edrei. Porter saw from the castle of Salcha fourteen [upwards of thirty, Giant Cit. of Bash. p. 76] villages, in part appearing to be newly built, but entirely deserted (ii. 183, ap. von Raumer).

Over all Bashan unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites. The Maachathites dwelt on the southwest slope of Hermon, at the sources of the Jordan. Maachati urbs Amorrhorum super Jordanem ( , Euseb.) juxta montem Hermon. The Geshurites also are to be sought on Mount Hermon, near the present Jedur, on the eastern fall of the mountain. See Ton Raumer, p. 227, and Menkes Bibelatlas, plate 3. Here was the north boundary of Bashan. The east border is denoted (see above) by Salcah, the south by the half Gilead, where) the border (was) of Sihon king of Heshbon, i.e. by the Jabbok (Jos 12:2). Toward the west it extended to the sea of Tiberias; see von Raumer, p. 226 ff. Bashan and Batana are by no means identical, as von Raumer has shown (ubi sup.). Bashan was famous for its oak forests (Isa 2:13; Eze 27:6), and fat cattle; hence the bullocks, the rams of Bashan (Deu 32:14; Amo 4:1; Psa 22:13). The waters descending from the Hauran fertilize the level land in its northeastern part, which was afterwards inhabited by the tribe of Manasseh.

Jos 12:6. Comp. Numbers 32.

2. Catalogue of the Kings vanquished in the Country West of the Jordan (Jos 12:7-24). Verses 7 and 8, coinciding with Jos 11:16; Jos 10:40-42, introduce the narrative. The Plain () is the western part of the Ghor (Gen 13:10); the wilderness () lies in the province of Judah, and Benjamin (Jos 15:61; Jos 18:11; Mat 3:3; Mat 4:1; Mat 11:7; Mar 1:3; Luk 3:4.)

Jos 12:9. The kings are enumerated generally in the order in which they were conquered. First, accordingly, the kings of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, and Gezer, in regard to which Jos 6:2 ff; Jos 8:29; Jos 10:1-5; Jos 10:33 may be compared. Then follows Jos 12:13, the king of Debir, Jos 10:39, after him still in the same verse the king of Geder. is called also , and belonged to the lowland of Judah. Not hitherto recognized.

Jos 12:14. Hormah, earlier Zephat (Jdg 1:17). Robinson (ii. 616, N.) seeks the city near the pass es-Sufeh, W. S. W. of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites were defeated by the Canaanites (Num 14:44-45; Deu 1:44), and subsequently the Canaanites by the Israelites (Num 21:1-3; Jdg 1:17). Perhaps it stood, as von Raumer suspects, on the adjacent Mount Madurah, of which the saying goes, that a city stood upon it at which God became angry so that He destroyed it. To this it suits that the city of Zephath was later called Hormah (, i.e. devoted to destruction, cognate with ).

Arad, named also Num 21:1-3, and Jdg 1:16-17, near the wilderness of Kadesh, twenty Roman miles south of Hebron. Robinson (ii. 473) saw from a distance the hill Arad. He also rightly refers Jos 10:41 to the subjugation of Arad, whose Inhabitants had previously (Num 21:1-3), like those of Hormah, driven back the Israelites.

Jos 12:15. Libnah, Jos 10:29-30; Jos 15:42. Adullam, Jos 15:35, fortified by Rehoboam (2 Jos 11:7); famous for its cave, Davids refuge (1Sa 22:1; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 12:15). In a.d. 1138, the inhabitants of Tekoah took refuge there from the Saracens, Will. Tyr. Jos 15:6 (von Raumer, p. 169).

Jos 12:16. Makkedah, Jos 10:10; Jos 10:16-17; Jos 10:21. Bethel, earlier Luz (), sufficiently known; to the right of the road from Jerusalem to Shechem; the place where Jacob saw in his dream the ladder from earth to heaven (Gen 28:11-19; Gen 31:13; Hos 12:5); rendered infamous subsequently by the worship of the calves (1Ki 12:28; 1Ki 12:33; 1Ki 13:1), hence called Beth-aven (different from Beth-aven in Jos 7:2; Jos 18:12), by the prophets (Amo 5:5; Hos 4:15, and often). The missionary Nicolayson discovered Bethel, 1836. According to Robinson (ii. 127) it is now called Beitin, three and three-quarter hours from Jerusalem. See more in Robinson ubi sup., von Raumer, pp. 178, 179 [Tristram, Stanley].

Jos 12:17. Tappuah, comp. Jos 15:34; Jos 15:53; Jos 17:7. Hepher, in the plain of Jezreel in Issachar, Jos 19:19 (Knobel).

Jos 12:18. Aphek, Jos 13:4. Lassaron, mentioned only in this place. The site has not been discovered.

Jos 12:19. Madon, Jos 11:1. Hazor, Jos 11:1-10; Jos 19:37.

Jos 12:20. Shimron-meron, Jos 11:1; Jos 19:37. Achshaph, Jos 11:1; Jos 19:25.

Jos 12:21. Taanach in Samaria, within the circuit of Issachar, but belonging to Manasseh (Jos 17:11), although not conquered by him (Jdg 1:27). A city of the Levites, Jos 21:25. Here Barak conquered (Jdg 5:19). Robinson (ii. 156, 157), and Schubert (iii. 164), saw Taanach (now Taannk) from the neighborhood of Jennin (Ginna), von Raumer, p. 165.

Megiddo, likewise in Samaria, belonging to Manasseh but beyond his border (Jos 17:11), and likewise unconquered by that tribe (Jdg 1:27). Here Ahaziah died in his flight from Jehu (2Ki 9:27), and here Josiah was fatally wounded in the battle against Necho king of Egypt (2Ch 35:20; 2Ch 35:25; 2Ch 23:29-30).

Jos 12:22. Kedesh on the mountain of Naphtali (Jebel el-Safed), Jos 19:37, in Galilee. A city of refuge, Jos 20:7, of the Levites, Jos 21:32. Birth-place of Barak (Jdg 4:6), discovered by Smith on a hill, in a well-watered region (Notes on Bibl. Geog. in Biblioth. Sac., May, 1849, p. 374, ap. von. Raum. p. 132); by Robinson on his second journey, not visited indeed, as von Raumer states, but yet seen from a short distance and described (Later Bibl. Res. p. 366 ff.).

Jokneam on Carmel. Belonging to Zebulun, Jos 19:11. A city of the Levites, ch Jos 21:34. Perhaps, Tel Kaimn (Robinson, Later Bibl. Res. p. 115). The place is called, in 1Ki 4:12, , out of which Kaimn appears to have sprung (comp. Robinson, ubi sup.). Carmel appears elsewhere in our book only Jos 19:26, to mark the south border of the tribe of Asher. Rightly does the mountain bear its name orchard (comp. Isa 10:8; Isa 16:10 and often), being covered below with laurels and olive-trees, above with pines and oaks (hence the comparison Son 7:6), and full of the most beautiful flowers. These are the glory of Carmel which shall be given to the wilderness (Isa 35:2). The view over the sea as well as of the coast is magnificent. Compare the different descriptions of travellers, von Raumer, p. 43 ff.6 Since 1180 there has stood on Carmel, although only at a height of 578 feet, and therefore far below the summit, a cloister to commemorate Elijah (1Ki 18:17-39; 1Ki 18:42-45) and bearing his name; rebuilt in 1833. The mountain reaches an altitude of 1700 feet.

Jos 12:23. Naphoth-dor, Jos 11:2; Jos 17:11. The king of the nations of Gilgal, as Gen 14:1, Tidal king of the nations. Similarly, Gen 10:5, . Gilgal, not on the Jordan, but, according to Robinson iii. 47, in the plain along the Mediterranean sea, now Jiljuleh, corresponding to the old Galgala, which Eusebius and Jerome place six Roman miles north of Antipatris. Probably the Gilgal of Neh 12:29 and 1Ma 9:2 was, as he supposes, the same. With this falls in the proximity of Naphoth-dor.

Jos 12:24. Tirzah in Samaria, three miles from the city of Samaria, on the east. Here at a later period the kings of Israel dwelt; Jeroboam I., Baasha, Elah, and Shimri, and here the last-named burned himself in his palace, 1Ki 14:17; 1Ki 15:33; 1Ki 16:8-18. Robinson (Later Bibl. Res. p. 302 ff.) takes Tulluzah for Tirzah, being beautifully situated like the ancient city (Son 6:4). The name signifies delight, from .

Footnotes:

[1][Jos 12:1Instead of interpolating the numerous corrections required in the common version in the first three verses here, we recast separately, in much the same way as De Wette and Fay: And these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel smote, and possessed their land, on the other side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, from the water-course of Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah on the east: Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer which is on the bank of the water-course of Arnon and in the middle of the water-course, and [over] half of Gilead even to Jabbok the water-course [which is] the border of the sons of Ammon, and [over] the Arabah unto the sea of Cinneroth, on the east, and unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt-Sea, on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and in the south under the foot-hills of Pisgah.

[2][Jos 12:1. A word that should denote indifferently our conception of a rapid brook and of the bed in which it flows, with the whole inclusive valley, and of the latter equally when the water is absent, is wanting in English to represent adequately the Heb. . Stanleys account of this word well presents the case (Sin. and Pal. App. p. 496): Nachal, , a torrent-bed, or water-course; from , to perforate [so Frst, cf. Gesen.]. The word corresponds with the Arabic Wdy, the Greek , the Indian Nullah, the Italian flumara [in some of its applications approaching the Spanish-American caon] and signifies the hollow, or valley, of a mountain torrent, which, while in rainy seasons it may fill the whole width of the depression, in summer is reduced to a mere brook, or thread of water, and is often entirely dry. [In the greater number, perhaps, of the Wadies, the running water is quite an exceptional phenomenon.] Such streams are graphically described in Job 11:16-17. Nachal, therefore, is sometimes used for the valley (Num 21:12; Jdg 16:4 [and in the second instance in Jos 12:2 of our passage]), and sometimes for the torrent which flows through the valley. The double application of the word is well seen in 1Ki 17:3, where Elijah is commanded to hide himself in not by the Wady Cherith, and to drink of the brookNachal being used in both cases. No English word is exactly equivalent, but perhaps torrent-bed most nearly expresses it.This last opinion is probably correct, in reference to many readers, but for the purposes of a translation we have ventured to adopt the other term proposed by him, water-course.Tr.]

[3][Tristrams account of Hermon, its scenery, its natural history, and the magnificent view which it offers of all Palastine, is particularly interesting, p. 607 ff.Tr.]

[4][Tristram visited the spot. See his description p. 543.Tr.]

[5][Tristrams glowing account of the magnificent, almost boundless view from one of the heights of Abarim, which may have been the ancient Nebo, is excellent, p. 540 ff.]

[6][In particular also, Stanley, S. & P. p. 344 ff., Tristram, p. 99 ff.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

In this chapter the Holy Ghost is pleased to have brought into one view, the catalogue of the conquests both of Moses and Joshua. Those of Moses on the East of Jordan, and those of Joshua on the West. The extent of the boundaries of the kingdoms which were conquered are marked, and the number of the kings, with their territories, are mentioned, in number one and thirty.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

I comprise these verses into one view, because they relate to the victories of Moses, before the people passed Jordan. For what special purpose the Holy Ghost thought proper to influence the mind of the sacred historian, to bring in, again in this place, the relation of Moses ‘ s victories, I presume not to say. But one sweet instruction we may learn from it, namely, in the renewal of any tokens of divine favor, to call to mind past blessings. And when the Holy Ghost is graciously pleased to act in his merciful office, as the Remembrancer, how very delightful is it to the believing soul, to look back and trace all the way, the Lord our God hath led us through the wilderness; to know the righteousness of the Father, and to be refreshed in the recollection of all the love-tokens of Jesus: see Mic 6:6Mic 6:6 ; Joh 14:26 . Oh! thou blessed Spirit, thou glorifier of Jesus, and who alone canst shed abroad the love of the Father in our hearts! do thou continually condescend, to bring to the remembrance of my faithless and ungrateful heart, the recollection of past blessings, while giving me a proper apprehension and enjoyment of present ones! And when at anytime, my God is preparing for use renewed tokens of his favor, as well in his trying, as smiling dispensations, give me the spirit of thy servant Asaph, to remember the years of the right hand of the most high. Psa 77:10-12 . I must not forget to remind the Reader, that in the division of those countries, Moses had assigned to the two tribes and half of Israel at their request, as we have the account in Num 32 ; as well as the historical account of their extent and situation: Deu 2 ; Deu 3 ; Deu 4 . But when the Reader hath fully satisfied himself on those points, I would desire to call him to an higher improvement of the subject. Though these countries, particularly Edrei and Ashtaroth, were fruitful spots of the earth, and abounded with everything the eye or heart of natural desires could wish; yet Moses himself considered the whole as nothing, compared to what Joshua was to attain. Reader! turn to Moses ‘ s prayer on this subject, and hear how vehemently he prayed, that God would grant his servant to see that good land beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain of Lebanon! see Deu 3:24-25 . Reader! spiritualize the subject. What is Edrei with all its beauties to Canaan: or this world with all its splendour to heaven? Who would set up their rest like the Reubenites, because of a fertile soil on this side the land of promise; or wish to dwell here when the rest of Jesus is before them. Dearest Redeemer! thou Joshua of thy people! do thou incline my soul, to long for the passage of Jordan, and may I here learn, that Moses and the law can confer only temporal blessings, but thine are eternal. The law can make nothing perfect, but the bringing in of this better hope doth, by which we draw nigh unto God. Heb 7:19 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

A Recorded Life

Jos 12 , Jos 13

THESE two chapters contain a good deal of hard reading. They are studded with unfamiliar and difficult words and names, so that reading them is like reading the writing upon gravestones in a foreign land. Still, there is much for our instruction here. For example, we are called to behold how good a thing it is to keep a detailed record of life. These chapters are in a certain sense diaries or journals. The men of the ancient time wrote down what they did that is to say, they kept their story freshly before their memories: they lost nothing; they wrote their accounts up to date; and at any given moment they could peruse the record and derive from it the advantage of stimulus which such an exercise could not fail to supply. The twelfth chapter deals with the slaughter of many kings. Their names are given, or the names of their cities. Men were not slain, and forgotten. This was not a heedless fight, wherein the soldiers on the victorious side struck in the dark and knew not what men they slew or what progress they made. The whole matter is detailed, put down simply, clearly, and definitely. Moses seems to figure but poorly in the record of slaughter. He killed but two kings; and Joshua killed thirty-one kings. But who are the kings that Joshua killed, compared with the kings slain by Moses? The two which Moses slew have famous names; they were great and mighty men. The thirty-one slain by Joshua did not add up to the two slain by Moses. Thus work is estimated by quality. We do not reckon by number in the sanctuary, but by quality and by relation, by just standards, and the weighing is done in scales of gold. The poor woman who gave all she had gave more than all the rich: for they gave out of the margin, out of the abundant and all but unreckonable profit, the surplus of their earnings or savings; but she plucked out her whole heart and cast it into God’s treasury, the only donation she could give; said the Treasurer, It is more than they all. This shall be the law of judgment: according to what we have, according to the quality of our work. The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. He who has killed many kings, and he who has killed but two, shall be judged, not according to the number, but according to the difficulty, the dignity, the quality involved in the tremendous exercise. Do we keep a record of life? How few men write their own story: in truth, there seems in many cases to be nothing to write. But this is quite a mistake. It is better to write the little nothing there is, than to omit the inscription altogether. A man may be shamed by the very nothingness of his entries to go out and do something worth putting down on paper and leaving as a record. We do not know what we do until we detail it. No man knows how much money he spends unless he puts down every coin. That is the difference between the wise man and the fool. The fool knows nothing as to what he is doing: he goes out in the dark, works in the dark, returns in the dark, and he cannot tell what he has made of the trust which was put into his hands. The wise man is his own judge, his own scribe and secretary; and many a page he peruses which his hands wrote long ago with tears and penitence, with the difficulty of self-conviction. No man knows how much he gives in charity unless he puts it down. But who dare put that down? Who can say how little paper would be required for the record in many cases? Yet, on the other hand, who can say how much paper would be required by other men? But there is a deadly sophism which relates, not only to the giving of money, but to the giving of service, which expresses itself in this form: I am always giving. If you think so, you are never giving. Have you put down what you have done, and added it up? Now add up the other page on which the luxuries are written, the adornments of the house, the decorations of the person, the indulgences of appetite, the tribute paid to social ambition. Add up the figures: recite them if you dare! Yet it is well to write down the story the story of discipline and battle and sorrow: the story of spiritual kings that have been slain, of enemies that have been conquered by love, and of positions that have been seized by prayer.

Then, again, we see how time beats the strongest This is set forth very pensively:

“Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed” ( Jos 13:1 ).

We have seen Moses go up to die with the fire of his eye unquenched. Joshua is said to be “old,” but not in the sense of years; he was “stricken in years,” that is to say, the years had told heavily upon him. There was not much of him to begin with. He was fertile, keen, quick, flashing; but he had not much stubborn stuff in him to stand the wear and the tear of a captain’s life. He was only about a hundred and ten when he died, a sum counted as nothing in the ancient days. But the word here used literally means, time has told upon thee; this wear and tear has made havoc in thy strength, Joshua; how old thou art! not in days, but in anxiety, in care; thou art whitened, blanched, withered; and yet there is much work to be done, much land to be possessed. So God takes note of our failing strength. He says, concerning this man and that, Grey hairs are here and there upon him, and he knoweth it not. About some supposedly strong men, he says, They are wearing out; they are old at forty; at fifty they will be patriarchal, so far as the exhaustion of strength is concerned; they will die young in years, but old in service. God’s work does take much out of a man, if the man is faithful. A man may pray himself into a withered old age in one night: in one little day a man may add years to his labour. We can work offhandedly: the work need not take much out of us; but if we think about it, ponder it, execute it with both hands, if it is the one thought of the soul, who can tell how soon the strongest man may be run out, and the youngest become a white-haired patriarch? But blessed is it to be worked out in this service. A quaint minister of the last century said, “It is better to rub out than to rust out.” How many are content to “rust out”! They know nothing about friction, sacrifice, self-slaughter, martyrdom. The work tells upon men in different ways. Moses was as young when he died as when he began. As for his spirit, his enthusiasm, he could have taken a thousand kings; but it was time he was in heaven: God knew his life, God counted his pulses, God estimated his strength; and God sends for a man when he wants him. Joshua came briskly forward, though at first we felt there was something wanting in the man somewhere. He needed so much encouragement. The opening of his story is full of “fear not;” “be not dismayed;” “only be of a good courage;” hope in God; keep your spirits up; cheer yourself: now go forward. We wondered as to the meaning of this. We could not tell at first all it signified. Now it comes out. He is old already, stricken in years before he has begun to live; and the land unconquered lies before him like a challenge, yet darkens upon him like a despair. No man completes the work. This is saddening, even to the point of agony. A man is permitted to build the wall of his tower half-way up, and then when he has got into the way of it, and could build blithely, because of added skill and experience, he is told to come down and to die! Providence is thus a continual rebuke to human ambition. We cannot put on the topstone. How much we would like to do so! to see the last child thoroughly educated and comfortably settled in life; to see the last effort crowned with success! Then we should retire into the sylvan shade, and listen to the singing birds all day, and spend a quiet eventide, and glide into heaven, rather than die into its splendours! But the column is broken in the middle. A man is old whilst yet his friends are rallying him on the fewness of his years. And the uncompleted work testifies that God is the Builder and man but the labourer of a day. Seldom can a man complete his own work. There is always “much land to be possessed.” The author has planned ten more volumes. Men, looking on, say, How active he is, and busy and prolific! He says, I have done nothing yet, I have not even begun; presently I will set to work and go through it like a man. It is not to be! The man who has lived well has a thousand schemes in his head when he dies. He says, I was just planning the noblest work of my life; I had just settled in my mind to begin what would have proved to be one of the most useful projections of the age; and now my right hand is withered, and the one strong arm falls by my side in impotence. “In the midst of life we are in death;” “boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth;” “work while it is called today, for the night cometh, when no man can work;” “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;” for the time of ceasing is at hand. Does God look at the worker only? No; he looks at the work as well: “there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” So he will have the land divided; he will have it allotted before the battle goes any further. What, is not this an allotment on paper? The battle has not yet begun in these other regions. We have seen the conquest of Jericho, and the burning of Ai, but as to these other portions of the land, the foot of Israel has not even been set upon them. God says, That does not concern you; take pen in hand, and write after my dictation. Then he maps out the land, fixes the boundaries, appoints the possessor, determines the tribal relations, and creates a new geography. But suppose that the fortunes of war should alter all these appointments? What is God’s answer to that? His answer is, There are no fortunes of war, there are no accidents; life is not a speculation, human history is not a game of chance; all things are ordered and appointed, and move by a massive and inevitable law, the meaning of which in the long run is righteousness, beneficence, right. And the scribe wrote how the land was to lie. This is the Christian’s comfort!” The very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If we are doing anything on our own account, in a kind of practically atheistic manner, God will allow us to build a little more, but he will come down to see the tower we have been building; he will put his finger upon it, and in the morning it will be found a ruin! Only they build wisely who build under God’s direction and by his daily inspiration.

Then, comes the alarming, yet comforting thought, that God keeps a record, if we do not. Read chapter Jos 13:2-6 , and see how detailed is the knowledge and purpose of God: “This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites: from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that is beside the Sidonians, unto Aphek, to the borders of the Amorites: and the land of the Giblites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Baalgad under mount Hermon unto the entering into Hamath. All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.” Yet we try to exclude God from his own world. We think we make the fields to grow; whereas we have no power to make anything grow, except we obey the unwritten and eternal law of nature. We can do wonders in little patches of land; but who can strike a light that will illuminate a landscape? Who can kindle a fire that will warm the earth? We are such toy-makers; we do all our work on such a minute scale, that we deceive ourselves by supposing that we are doing something: whereas, in reality, we are only keeping the law. We can break the moral law, but we must keep the natural law. Breaking the moral law, we call ourselves free men; keeping the natural law, we do not know what we are. But that is our position. We work by the sun; we take our time from the meridian. We are the slaves of nature: we are the rebels of the sanctuary. Blessed is the man who meditates in the law of God day and night the great law, the whole law, natural, moral, spiritual: it is really one law, because the Law-giver is one. Why not be as obedient in morals as we are in labour, in agriculture, in travel? Who counts it degradation to wait for the tide? Who calls himself a slave because he waits for the seedtime, and cannot hasten it one hour? The whole scheme of things is set in law, “the Lord reigneth.” All we have to do is to study the law, understand it, obey it; then our peace will flow like a river, and our righteousness as the waves of the sea. God knows what has been done. He says, in effect, I have watched you, and I have marked down every step you have taken: you are at this moment at this point; now from this point the course is thus and so; and all the land is to be possessed. God will have the land, even if we die. Noble is the thought that he has entered into covenant with his Son. We may smile at the old theological terms as we please, but noble is the thought that there is a covenant pledging that Jesus Christ shall have the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession. Sometimes it seems as if this could not be. We say it never can be accomplished; the so-called Christian civilisation is going backward. Only going backward as we have seen the waves go backward, that they might come in with a fuller force and throb against the appointed boundary. We believe that all the land shall be possessed, because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Then there is another consideration, and that relates to the recurrence of bad names in the comings and goings of human history. We are startled on reading the twenty-second verse of the thirteenth chapter:

“Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them.” ( Jos 13:22 )

Prayer

Almighty God, we pray for one another that, according to the necessity of each heart, thou mayest command a great blessing from heaven. Thou knowest what our life is how full of pain and trouble and unrest, how much disabled, how weary oftentimes, yea, how dejected and even despairing. But thine eyes are upon us for good; the heavens are opened unto our prayer; the Cross of Christ is still the centre of our hope. We come to that Cross day by day, longing to understand more and more of its love, of its deep meaning in relation to our sin. We would be affected by that love; we would see what thou feelest and thinkest concerning men, and would exclaim, Herein is love! God is love; God is very pitiful and kind: his mercy endureth for ever. He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. May we be subdued by that love, chastened and elevated by its infinite spirit; and as thou dost love us, so may we love one another. We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. May this love grow within us, and find continual expression in our speech and conduct, so that others looking on may begin to wonder and inquire, saying, Behold how these Christians love one another in deed and in truth! We have come up to worship God. We would be bowed down before thee in penitence and humiliation, because of sin. God be merciful unto us, sinners! The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. There is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. We have no answer; we are without excuse or defence; all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. Have mercy upon us for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who freely bore our griefs and carried our iniquities. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXII

CONQUEST OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES; ALLOTMENT OF TERRITORY; ESTABLISHMENT OF A CENTRAL PLACE OF WORSHIP.

Joshua 11-21

This section commences with Joshua II and closes with Jos 21 . That is to say, we must cover in this discussion eleven chapters,, and the matter is of such a nature that one cannot make an oration on it, nor can one give a very interesting discussion on it. It would be perfect folly for me to take up the chapters verse by verse, when all you have to do is to look on your map in the Biblical Atlas and glance at any commentary and get the meaning and locality of each town mentioned. All of the matters that require comment will be commented on in these eleven chapters.

The first theme is the conquest of the tribes in the northern part of the Holy Land, just as the preceding chapter considered the central and southern part of the land. You know I told you that Joshua, by entering the country at Jericho and then capturing Ai, occupied a strategical position, the mountains on the right hand and the left hand and they forced a passway by which he could go in any direction. We found that all the southern part of the country, after the capture at Jericho and Ai, was practically brought about by one decisive battle, the battle of Beth-horon, where the Almighty thundered and sent his hailstones and where the sun stood still. Now, the northern conquest was brought about by one decisive battle, all of the details that it is necessary for me to give are these: When the northern tribes learned of the subjugation of the southern tribes they saw that it was a life and death matter.

From this viewpoint they would be conquered in detail. As Benjamin Franklin said in a speech at the Continental Congress, “Gentlemen, we cannot evade this issue; we must either hang together or hang separately, every one of us if we don’t unite will be hanged.” Now, that was in the minds of those northern kings. We have had the account of Adonizedek, the king of Jebus. Hazor was a well-known place in the history of the countries. We will have it up again in the book of Judges. It was not very far from Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made his great confession in the time of our Lord.

I will not enumerate the tribes and the names of the several kings that were brought into this second league It not only included the central and northern tribes, but they sent an invitation to the remnant of the tribes that had been conquered. The place of rendezvous, or assemblage, for all of these armies of these several kings was Lake Merom. You will recall that in describing the Jordan, rising in the mountains, after running a while, it spreads out into Lake Merom, and lower down it spreads into the Sea of Galilee. Well, now around that Merom Lake the ground is level, very favorable for calvary and war chariots. For the first time the war chariot was introduced. The war chariot was more, in general, the shape of a dray than anything else two wheels, steps behind that one could go down, and one chieftain and two or three captains stood up and drove two or three horses, and they always drove the horses abreast, no matter how many. The men who drove were very skillful but unless they were very lucky they would fall to the ground. In the time of Cyrus the Great, he built one with blades that went out from the sides, so that it not only crippled those he ran over but the scythes on each side would mow them down.

Joshua learned of this combination of tribes and, under the direction of the Almighty, he smote them before they could organize. He was a Stonewall Jackson kind of a man and struck quick and hard. He pressed and pursued them and led his army up the valley of the Jordan by swift marches and instantly attacked the enemy when he got upon the ground and before they were prepared. Their defeat was the most overwhelming in history. All of the leaders were captured and slain; they dispersed in three directions specified in the text, and he pursued them in all three directions. He gave them no time to rally, and when they had been thoroughly discomfited, he took the towns. That battle was practically the end of the war of conquest. We may say the whole thing was decided in this battle; there were some details of conquest later, but this is Joshua’s part of it. I must call attention specifically to this fact, overlooked by many commentaries, that the general statement of the conquest is given in the book of Joshua and the details of some of these general statements are given more elaborately, indeed the last great item, the migration of Dan, in the book of Judges. All that happened before Joshua died. Therefore the book of Judges and the book of Joshua overlap as to time. And for this reason, that as soon as Joshua got through with his conquest, and the distribution of territory, he retired from leadership, living years afterward. The instant the war was over, Joshua surrendered the general leadership.

Just here I wish to answer another question. While the record notes that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had originally promised to those people, yet the book of Joshua also states that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered. The backbone of the opposition was broken by these two battles and by the cities that he captured after these battles, but the enemy would come back and occupy their old position and some of the walled towns were not taken.

I once heard the question asked a Sunday school, Why did God permit the remnants that you will find described later on in this section, the parts not subjugated, to remain? Nobody in the Sunday school could answer. Now, you will find the answer to the question in Num 33:55 ; Jos 23:13 ; Jdg 2:3 . Moses says, “If you do not utterly destroy these people leaving none, then God will permit those remnants that you spare to become thorns in your side, and whenever you are weak they will rise against you; whenever you are disobedient to God they will triumph over you.” It is stated here that the number of the kings of the separate tribes overcome by Joshua was thirty-one Part of this section says that Joshua waged war a long time with these kings. While this battle was fought and became decisive of the general results, the going out and capturing the different towns, completing the different details, required a long time.

Now we come to the next theme of our lesson, viz.: The distribution of the land, or allotment of specific parts of the territory to the tribes. We have already found in the books of Moses just how the eastern side of the Jordan was conquered and the allotment made to Reuben just above Moab, and to Gad just above Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh way up in Gilead. This is on the east side of the Jordan, and the Biblical Atlas will show you at the first glance where they are. So that is the first distribution: Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

The next distribution takes place under the commandment of God. Joshua is old, well stricken in years and wants the land divided while he lives because he knows it will be divided right, and this, too, is the land allotted to Judah and the land allotted to Joseph, or Ephraim, and the half tribe of Manasseh. So we have two and one-half tribes receiving their portion on the west side of the Jordan. That leaves seven tribes who have not yet received their land. In giving Judah his part three interesting events occurred, all of which were in connection with Caleb. Caleb is one of the original twelve men sent out by Moses to spy out the land, and because of his fidelity God promised that he should have Hebron, Abraham’s old home, which is not far from the Dead Sea. It has always been a noted place and is yet. Before this division took place, Caleb presented himself and asked for the fulfilment of the promise by Moses, that his particular part should be Hebron and when that was done, Caleb’s daughter, Achsah, steps forward and asks of her father springs of water, and he gave her the upper and nether springs.

The third fact is related at length in Judges, but it occurs at this time. Caleb having the certain portion, Kiriathsepher, the enemy of Hebron, he said that whoever should go over into that city first and capture it, he should have his daughter for a wife, and a very brave fellow, a nephew of Caleb, determined to try it and he took that city and got the girl. Now, that was a deed of daring, and like it was in the Middle Ages where a knight went forth and sought adventures that would entitle him to be his lady’s husband. All young fellows feel that they would surmount any difficulty to win a girl. I have felt that way. I felt that way when I was seven years old and about a certain young lady. There isn’t anything too dangerous or too great a sacrifice for a man to make in a case of that kind.

I told you when Judah received his part that Joseph’s tribe received theirs. Now we come to an interesting episode; the tribe of Joseph, and particularly the tribe of Ephraim, was always a tough proposition. You will find that all the way through the Old Testament and even when you come to the New Testament. Ephraim came up and when the allotment was made he said, “We are not satisfied.” Did you ever hear of people who were not satisfied about a division of land? Joshua said, “What is the trouble?” “Well, they said, “we are a big tribe, many men of war, and we are cooped up too much. We cannot go far west for there are the mountains, and then all around are woods.” Now, what did Joshua say to them? He said, “Well, you are indeed a big tribe and you have many men of war; now go up and cut down those woods and expand'” He determined to rest some responsibility upon the tribes after the allotment had been made. It is a fine piece of sarcasm. So Ephraim had to take to the woods.

Now before any other division takes place a very notable event occurred affecting the future history of the nation, and that was the establishment of a central place of worship, finding a home for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was established at Shiloh, and this brings us to another general question. How long did that tabernacle stay at Shiloh? How long did the ark stay, and when it left there, where did it go, and where was the ark finally brought? Trace the history of the ark from Shiloh to where it was set up in the tent, and then I want you to tell what became of the tent and tell how long it stayed there and what became of it. What became of the tabernacle? Some of the most interesting things in history and song are found in the answer to those questions.

I here propound another question. Which tribe had no inheritance, no section of the country allotted to it, and why? This tribe that had no particular section allotted to it was scattered over the whole nation and that leads to the next question that you are to answer. Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch, in which book, and where, that this tribe and another one, Simeon, should be scattered over Israel? Where does Moses prophesy just what comes to pass? If not Moses, then somebody else, and you are to find out who did and when and where. The next general remark that I have to make is that this section tells us that Dan was shut up in a pretty tight place. Three strong tribes, Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim held them on one side and the Philistines on the other side, but Dan didn’t come to Joshua. Perhaps he thought it but took the question into his own hands. I suppose that he was afraid that as Joshua told Ephraim to go to the woods, he would tell Dan to capture those Philistine cities, and so Dan sent out some spies and found a good place to settle, and the story of the emigration of Dan is told at great length in the book of Judges. Some of it is told in the book of Joshua; that he took Laish and called it Dan and that became its name. So we say, “from Dan to Beersheba.” We will see all about how Dan improved it when we get to the book of Judges. I am showing you that it occurred, but when you get to the book of Judges you will have a detailed account of it.

The next thought in these eleven chapters is that Joshua, having ended his wars, obeyed God with singular fidelity. (I don’t believe I explained that after they came to Shiloh where he set the ark, the other tribes received their portion by lots. Now your map will show you where Shiloh was and Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and all the others. All you have to do is to look on your map and see their location.) He, having finished the wars, asked a small inheritance for himself, a little bit of a place. How that does shine in comparison with the other great conquerors! When they come to the division, they take the lion’s share. Joshua took a very modest little place in his own tribe. His retiring from public life devolved the work upon the tribes themselves, and to their own judgment. He remained in seclusion until he comes out to be considered in the next section.

This leaves for consideration only two other thoughts in the distribution of the territory, and I shall embody these thoughts in questions for you to answer. Look at the six cities of refuge established, three east of the Jordan and three west of the Jordan. You can find them on a good map, and as you look at them on the map, you are struck with the wisdom of their locality when you consider the purpose of these cities of refuge. And now what was the intent of these cities of refuge? A thousand preachers have preached sermons on the cities of refuge Spurgeon has one remarkable sermon. The allusions to them are very frequent, so that every one of you ought to have in your heart and on your brain a clear conception of what is meant by the cities of refuge. I am going to give you a brief answer, but you can work this answer out and make it bigger.

Under the Mosaic law there was no sheriff in cases of homicide, the killing of a man. In our cities the police go after the murderer, and the sheriff in the country, but under the Mosaic law the next of kin was made the “avenger of blood.” If I, living at that day, had been slain, without raising a question as to how it was done, my brother, J. M. Carroll, or my son, B. H. Carroll, Jr., under the law would be the sheriff, and his injunction would be to start as soon as he heard of the killing and to kill the killer on sight. Well, for us in that kind of a sheriff-law this difficulty would arise: Suppose in the assumed case Just now that, while I had been killed, it had been accidental; that we were all out hunting and a man with me accidentally discharged his gun and it killed me. Or suppose that, as Moses described it, two men were chopping and one went to make a big lick with an axe and the axe flew off and hit the other one and killed him, yet that law says that life was a sacred thing. Now, as there are several cases of manslaughter, of innocent men with no purpose to kill them, so there must be a distinction made between accidental homicide and willful murder.

The object of the cities of refuge, distributed as you see over the country, was to provide a place where one who had killed another, not intending to commit murder, might find a place of shelter until the matter could be investigated, and so, just as soon as a man killed another, he turned and commenced running. The avenger of blood, as soon as he heard of it, went after him and it was a race for life and death, to see which could get there first. Therefore the roads were kept in splendid condition, no rocks were left that the man fleeing for his life should stumble and be slain. The rabbis say they would not allow a straw to be left on the road lest they should stumble and fall.

Now, I close with just this question. I told you that one tribe had no inheritance, no lot of land all together and they had to go somewhere. So for that tribe certain cities with their suburbs were set apart. Now, on your map look for the cities of this tribe that had no inheritance.

QUESTIONS

1. Describe the strategical position of Jericho and Ai.

2. By what battle was the south country practically conquered?

3. What decisive battle brought about the northern conquest? Describe it. With whom is Joshua as a general compared?

4. What the connection between the book of Joshua and the book of Judges?

5. How do you harmonize the statements that Joshua conquered all the land that Jehovah had promised them and that there remained certain portions of the land that had not been conquered?

6. Why did God permit the remnants not subjugated to remain in the land? Where in the Pentateuch do you find the answer?

7. Explain the expression, “Joshua waged war a long time with these kings.”

8. Locate the tribes on the east of the Jordan.

9. What the second distribution, and to whom?

10. What 3 interesting events in connection with giving Judah his portion?

11. What complaint was made by Ephraim, and Joshua’s reply?

12. Where was the central place of worship located? How long did the ark stay there? When it left where did it go? Where finally brought? How long did the tent, or tabernacle, stay there? What finally became of it?

13. What tribe had no inheritance & why? Where do you find the prophecy in the Pentateuch that this tribe & Simeon should be scattered over Israel?

14. How does Joshua’s spirit compare with the spirit of the other great conquerors?

15. How did Dan get out of his straits?

16. Name and locate the cities of refuge. What the intent of these cities?

17. Locate the cities of the tribe that had no inheritance.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jos 12:1 Now these [are] the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:

Ver. 1. Now these are the kings. ] Here we have the epilogue of Israel’s wars under Moses and Joshua; together with a catalogue of the countries which they conquered, and the kings whom they slew.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED TEXT): Jos 12:1-6

1Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east: 2Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead, even as far as the brook Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; 3and the Arabah as far as the Sea of Chinneroth toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward toward Beth-jeshimoth, and on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah; 4and the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 5and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half of Gilead, as far as the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6Moses the servant of the LORD and the sons of Israel defeated them; and Moses the servant of the LORD gave it to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh as a possession.

Jos 12:1 Arnon This means rushing stream (BDB 75). It runs into the Dead Sea, approximately in the middle. It was the border between Moab and the Amorites and later the southern boundary of Reuben (cf. Deu 3:12).

Arabah See note at Jos 11:2.

Jos 12:2

NASBwhich is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, both the middle of the valley and half of Gilead

NKJVand ruled half of Gilead, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, from the middle of that river

NRSVwhich is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead

TEVHis kingdom included half of Gilead: from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon valley) and from the city in the middle of the valley

NJBruled from Aroer which is on the edge of the Arnon valley, including the bottom of the valley, half Gilead

The Hebrew text is uncertain at this point (i.e., Jos 12:2-3, cf. Jewish Study Bible, p. 485).

the brook Jabbok This trans-Jordan river flows into the Jordan, just north of the city of Adam. It was the site of Jacob’s encounter with the angel (cf. Gen 32:22). It was the boundary between the allotments of Manasseh and Gad (cf. Deu 3:12; Deu 3:16).

Jos 12:3 Pisgah This mountain (BDB 820) is in the trans-Jordan area east of the mouth of the Jordan. It is also known as Nebo (BDB 612 I). They might be two peaks close together, or Pisgah may refer to the entire mountain range and Nebo the highest peak. This is the mountain where Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land. He is buried somewhere on its heights (cf. Deuteronomy 34).

Jos 12:4 Rephaim The Septuagint identifies them as giants. See note at Jos 11:21.

Ashtaroth This was a city named after the female fertility goddess of Canaan, worshiped in a wooden symbol of the tree of life (carved stake or live tree). See note at Jos 9:10.

Jos 12:6 The three Israeli tribes that settled on the eastern side of the Jordan were Reuben, Gad, and half-tribe of Manasseh.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

children = sons.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 12

Now that was a tragedy that they did leave unconquered territory, because they left it, it did become a problem later on to them. Now in chapter eleven it gives a list of the names of the kings that were in this land that they destroyed, or that they, that they had come against. So chapter twelve gives you a roster of the kings that they defeated.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

This chapter contains no new matter. It is rather a detailed summary of the extent of the conquest. First the victories under Moses (verses Jos 12:1-6) and then those under Joshua (verses Jos 12:7-24). Thus ends the first section of this Book.

The chosen people are now seen in actual possession of the land. The destructive part of the divine work was accomplished. The constructive purposes of God might now go forward.

All grim and soiled and brown with tan, I saw a Strong One, in His wrath, Smiting the godless shrines of man Along His path.

I looked; aside the dust-cloud rolled- The Waster seemed the Builder too; Up springing from the ruined Old

I saw the New.

That was but the ruin of the bad-

The wasting of the wrong and ill;

What e’er of good the old time had

Was living still.

God works in all things; all obey His first propulsion from the night; Wake thou and watch!-the world is gray With morning light!

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

The Conquered Kings

CHAPTER 12

1. The kings on the other side of Jordan (Jos 12:1-6)

2. The kings on this side of Jordan (Jos 12:7-24)

The land rested from war is the concluding statement of the previous chapter. It was after Joshua had made war a long time with all those kings (Jos 11:18). Deu 6:10-11 was also fulfilled. And it shall be, when the LORD Thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which He sware unto thy Fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not. The list of kings which is given in this chapter needs no comment. Thirty-one are mentioned as conquered by Joshua. The land was only 150 miles from north to south, and 50 miles from east to west. Criticism has also objected to this, as if so many kings could not exist in so small a territory. Professor Maspero, one of the foremost archaeologists, fully confirms the Bible-record. We quote from him:

The Canaanites were the most numerous of all these groups, and had they been able to amalgamate under a single king, or even to organize a lasting confederacy, it would have been impossible for the Egyptian armies to have broken through the barrier thus raised between them and the rest of Asia; but, unfortunately, so far from showing the slightest tendency towards unity or concentration, the Canaanites were more hopelessly divided than any of the surrounding nations. Their mountains contained nearly as many states as there were valleys, while in the plains each town represented a separate government, and was built on a spot carefully selected for purposes of defence. The land, indeed, was chequered by these petty states, and so closely were they crowded together, that a horseman travelling at leisure could easily pass through two or three of them in a days journey. Of the richer country towards the north he writes: Towns grew and multiplied upon this rich and loamy soil.

II. THE DIVISION OF THE LAND

The divine record concerning the division of the land, as it is before us in these chapters, is often looked upon merely as history barren of any spiritual meaning. Many expositors pass over the greater part of it or give only geographical information. However, a deeper meaning must be sought here; there are many and blessed lessons in spiritual and dispensational truths hidden in these chapters. Why should the Holy Spirit have recorded all these things if they have no meaning whatever? It is written, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2Ti 3:16). This surely applies to all Scripture, including the chapters which contain nothing but names. Again it is written, Now all these things happened unto them (Israel) as types, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Co 10:11). For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Rom 15:4). We dare not deny these chapters in Joshua a spiritual application in the light of these plain words of the Spirit in the New Testament.

In the study of the previous books we have discovered (especially in Genesis) the fact that the meaning of the Hebrew names are of deep significance and often helpful in the types as well as the spiritual and dispensational lessons. Here is a wide field, which has been but little covered. Hundreds of names are found in this second part of Joshua. They all have a meaning and through these names we can learn the lessons the Spirit of God has written there for our learning. Yet caution is needed. While some ignore this study entirely, others swing into the opposite direction and are fanciful in their application. This must be avoided.

We are sorry that the scope of our work does not permit a more detailed exposition and research. If we were to give way to the desire to do this we would have to write a volume. But we hope, with His gracious help, to give such hints which will help in a more extended, private study. (F.W. Grant in the Numerical Bible gives excellent help, both in the meaning of the names and in application. We know of no other attempt in this direction and acknowledge our own indebtedness to him. This, of course, does not mean that we endorse all the translations or applications he gives.)

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

on the other: Jos 1:15, Jos 22:4

from the: Num 21:13, Num 21:24, Deu 2:24, Jdg 11:18, Isa 16:2, unto the mount, Jos 11:3, Jos 11:17, Deu 3:8, Deu 3:9, Deu 4:48, Psa 133:3

Reciprocal: Gen 15:18 – Unto thy Num 21:31 – General Num 32:19 – because Deu 7:24 – he shall Jos 12:5 – Hermon Jos 12:7 – on this side Psa 68:14 – When Psa 89:12 – Hermon Psa 136:17 – General Psa 136:21 – General Son 4:8 – Shenir

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jos 12:1-24 ; Jos 13:1-33 ; Jos 14:1-15 ; Jos 15:1-63

Jos 12:1-6 describes how the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance on the east side of Jordan. The sea of Chinneroth is more familiar to us under the name of the Sea of Galilee. Verses 7-18 relate the kings and cities conquered in the southern campaign and verses 19-24 the northern campaign. Thirty-one kings are listed as having been conquered.

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Jos 12:1-2. These are the kings of the land This summary account of Israels conquests comes in here not only as a conclusion of the history of the wars of Canaan, that we might at one view see what they had gotten; but as a preface to the history of the dividing of Canaan, that all those territories might be placed together before the readers view, which they were now to make the distribution of. All the plain on the east That is, on the east of Jordan, called the plain, Deu 1:1. From the middle of the river Ar, which was no part of Sihons dominions, but belonged to the Moabites, (Deu 2:9-18,) appears to have been situated in the middle of the river Arnon, (Deu 2:36; Deu 3:16,) and therefore the middle of the river is properly here mentioned as the bound of Sihons dominion on that side. But it is not unusual even among us for a river to be divided between two lords, and for their territories or jurisdictions to meet in the middle of the river. Some, however, prefer rendering , tock hannachal, between the river; namely, that he reigned over some territory which was situated between different streams of that river. Half Gilead Hebrew, And the half Gilead; that is, half the country of Gilead, over which Sihons dominion, which began at Arnon, extended, ending at Jabbok, beyond which river was the other half of Gilead, which belonged to Og.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This chapter contains the Hebrew chart of honour, and the faithfulness of God in fulfilling all his promises.

Jos 12:1. Arnon, the river which drained the vales of Moab. See the Map.

Jos 12:3. Chinneroth, called Genesareth in the gospels, near to which Joshua fought his great and decisive battle, as in the preseding chapter.

Jos 12:5. The Geshurites; called in the Septuagint Gergesenes, and thought to be the people mentioned in Mat 8:28.

Jos 12:7. The valley of Lebanon; in the north, to mount Halak on the borders of Edom; in the south it included a space of about two hundred miles, which was occupied by those allied kings.

Jos 12:15. Adullam, where was a cave that extended three miles under the hill.

Jos 12:20. Shimron-meron was the ancient name of Samaria.

Jos 12:23. The king of the nations of Gilgal. This is not the Gilgal where Joshua circumcised the Israelites: hence the LXX read, King of Gei of Galilee, meaning, no doubt, the Galilee so often mentioned in the gospels.The LXX mention but twenty nine kings, and write their names so differently from the Hebrew, as to embarrass criticism. The fact is, that the ancient as well as the modern nations often had different names for the same place, and each nation followed its own orthography.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Joshua 12. List of the Conquered Kings.The whole of this chapter, which is a detailed expansion of Jos 11:16, So Joshua took all that land, is a late composition of the Deuteronomic school; of which it can only be said that the first six verses are probably less removed from historical verity than the last eighteen. The statement (Jos 12:6, that Moses had given the half tribe of Manasseh land on the east of the Jordan is unhistorical (ch. 17*). Jos 12:10 (cf. Jdg 1:7) mentions the king of Jerusalem, but cf. Jos 15:63 and Jdg 1:21.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

KINGS CONQUERED BY MOSES

(vs.1-6)

A list is given now of those kings defeated by Israel before they crossed the Jordan, while Moses was still living. We have read of them in Deuteronomy, and shall say not more about them, though the Spirit of God has always real reason for repeating matters of history, whether or not we understand those reasons. The lands conquered at that time were given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.

KINGS CONQUERED BY JOSHUA

(vs.7-24)

The list of these kings whom Joshua captured in the country west of Jordan is intended to teach us spiritual lessons of importance, and if we find them difficult to interpret, this indicates that we have not taken possession as we might of some truths that God has given us title to. The only clue to understanding these is in the meaning of the names of the cities. Some of the kings are before mentioned by name, and these are for our help, but only the cities are spoken of by name here. There may be some things here that we find enjoyable for ourselves too, while hesitant to interpret them for others lest we should not be accurate. However, there are others that seem more simple of interpretation, and we should be encouraged, not to be dogmatic, but to seek what may be truly beneficial spiritually.

In listing the kings overcome by Joshua, the mountain country, lowlands and wilderness are mentioned in verse 8. The mountain country reminds – us of the heights of blessing to which the saints of God have been raised “in heavenly places in Christ,” high above the common level. It is wonderful to take possession of this. On the other hand, the lowlands are also a needed possession, for if we have a high position, we need this balanced by a lowly, humble walk, as willing servants. Have we really taken possession of this aspect of the truth of God? But wilderness areas are important too, for here we learn that circumstances in the world are so barren and distressing as to be an acute testing of our faith. If we have the faith to triumph over the rigors of wilderness experience, then we have virtually taken possession of the wilderness!

Six nations in which these cities were included are also mentioned in verse 8. Hittites are “the children of fear,” and remind us of those “who through fear, of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb 2:15). Conquering the fear of death is part of true Christian character. The meaning of Amorites is “sayers.” Sadly, such Amorite character was later found among the leaders of Israel, of whom the Lord Jesus said, “they say, and do not” (Mat 23:2-3). But let every believer fully judge the evil of a glib tongue without proper action to back it up. Canaanites means “traffickers,” speaking of those who make merchandise of the things of God, such as we see when the Lord cast out of the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers (Joh 2:14-16). We too must judge fully the evil of using the precious truth of Christ as a means of material gain.

Perizzites are “squatters,” those who take over property that is not theirs, so that they picture those who want to pass as Christians though they have not been converted to God. Believers are called upon to expose this evil and expel it. This property rightly belongs to faith, therefore let us by faith take it from those to whom it does not belong.

Hivites picture a more subtle form of opposition to the truth. The name means “livers,” emphasizing how a person lives. They will tell us that the importantthing is not the doctrine that one believes, but the way helives. It is true that Christianity calls for a godly, upright life, but if it is not based upon the truth of the teachings of scripture, though that life may seem commendable to many people, yet it is merely a facade that covers up the evil within. “For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be be according to their works” (2Co 11:14-15). If Christ is not the Object of people’s living, then their living is empty show. Believers must conquer this evil by a genuine confession of Christ and a life consistent with this.

Finally, the Jebusites (“treaders down”) picture a more bold, open defiance of the truth of Christianity. While the Hivites were more like the Pharisees, putting on a show of righteous living, the Jebusites resemble the Sadducees, who wanted religious recognition, but trampled on some of the most vital truths of the Word of God. They rejected the truth of resurrection and denied the existence of angels or spirits (Act 23:8). Thus, they are characterized by the negative principle of what they are against. Such sects as “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are in this class. They tread down what is of vital value. The faith of a believer again triumphs over this enemy of God.

In the six nations were included the 31 cities listed in verses 9-24, all of which Joshua conquered. While we may not be able to decipher the special evil involved in each case, believers will no doubt have to face specific details connected with the six major evils we have noted, and learn to judge them.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

12:1 Now these [are] the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the {a} other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:

(a) From Gilgal where Joshua camped.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The slaughter of the eastern kings 12:1-6

Sihon and Og were the first Canaanite kings the Israelites defeated.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XX.

THE BATTLE OF MEROM.

Joshua Chs. 11, 12.

THERE is some appearance of confusion in the terms in which the great confederacy of native princes against Israel is brought in. In the beginning of the ninth chapter, a combination that embraced the whole country, north and south, east and west, is described as gathered together to fight with Joshua and with Israel. Nothing more is said till after the treaty with the Gibeonites, when five of these confederate kings residing in the south not far from Gibeon muster their forces to besiege that city. Of the utter rout and ruin of these five kings and of some of their neighbours we have just been reading. And now we read that, after these things, Jabin, King of Hazor, sent to his neighbours, and to all the princes in the northern part of the country, and organized a combined movement against Israel, for which the appointed rendezvous was at the waters of Merom, in the extreme north of the country. The statement at the beginning of the ninth chapter that the confederates gathered themselves together,” seems to be made proleptically; the actual gathering together not having taken place till the occasions specified in the tenth and eleventh chapters respectively. The plan of the confederacy was no doubt formed soon after the fall of Jericho and Ai, and the arrangements for a vast united movement began to be made then. But it would necessarily consume a considerable time to bring so vast a host together. Meanwhile, another event had taken place. The Gibeonites had refused to join the confederacy and had made peace with Joshua. Their neighbours were intensely provoked, especially Adonizedec of Jerusalem, and without waiting for the general movement proceeded at once to chastise their treachery. As we have said already, they doubtless thought it would be an easy task. To the surprise of them all, Joshua, with an activity which they could not have looked for, hastened to the relief of Gibeon, and inflicted a defeat on the confederates which amounted to absolute ruin.

It has not been generally noticed how remarkably the Gibeonite fraud, and the honourable action of Joshua in connection with it, tended in the end to the good of Israel. Had Joshua, after the discovery of the fraud, repudiated his treaty and attacked and exterminated the Gibeonites, or had he disregarded their appeal to him for help and suffered them to be crushed by Adonizedec, there would have been nothing to hinder the southern kings from uniting with the northern, and thus presenting to Joshua the most formidable opposition that was ever mustered in defence of a country. The magnificent exploit of Joshua in the plain of Gibeon, down the pass of Bethhoron, and in the valley of Ajalon entirely frustrated any such arrangement. The armies of the southern kings were destroyed or demoralized. And though the united forces in the north, with their vast resources of war, still formed a most formidable opponent, the case would have been very different if the two had combined, or if one of them had hung on Joshua’s rear while he was engaged in front with the other. Nothing could have fallen out more for the advantage of Israel than the procedure of the Gibeonites, which drew off so large and powerful a section of the confederates, and exposed them thus separate to the sword of Joshua.

Joshua was not allowed a long rest at Gilgal after his dealings with Adonizedec and his brethren. No doubt the news of that tremendous disaster would quicken the energies of the northern kings. The head of the new conspiracy was Jabin, King of Hazor. Jabin was evidently an official name borne by the chief ruler of Hazor, like Pharaoh in Egypt, for when, at a subsequent period, the place has recovered somewhat of its importance, and comes again into view as a Canaanite capital, Jabin is again the name of its chief ruler (Jdg 4:2).

The situation of Hazor has been disputed by geographers, and Robinson, who is usually so accurate, differs from other authorities. He assigns it to a ruinous city on a hill called Tell Khuraibeh, overhanging the Lake Merom, for little other reason than that it seems to answer the conditions of the various narratives where Hazor is introduced. On the other hand, the author of “The Land and the Book ” assigns it to a place still called Hazere, a little west of Merom, the remains of which lie in a large natural basin, and spread far up the hill, toward the south. “Heaps of hewn stone, old and rotten; open pits, deep wells, and vast cisterns cut in the solid rock – these are the unequivocal indications of an important city. I inquired of an old sheikh what saint was honoured there. In a voice loud and bold, as if to make a doubtful point certain, he replied, “Neby Hazur, who fought with Yeshua Ibn Nun.” The matter is of no great moment; all that it is important to know is that Hazor was situated near Lake Merom, and was the capital of a powerful kingdom.

The cities of some of the other confederates are named, but it is not easy to identify them all. The sites of Madon, Shimron, and Achshaph, are unknown, but they were apparently not far from Hazor. ”The Arabah south of Chinneroth” (Jos 11:2, R.V.) denotes the plain of Jordan south of the lake of Galilee; the valley, or “Mowland ” (R.V.), denotes the maritime plain from the Philistines northward; “the heights of Dor on the west” (R.V.), or Highlands of Dor (”Speaker’s Commentary”), the hills about a city on the sea coast, near the foot of Carmel, prominent in after history, but now reduced to a village with a few poor houses. The sacred historian, however, does not attempt to enumerate all the places from which the confederacy was drawn, and falls back on the old comprehensive formula – “Canaanites on the east and on the west, Amorites, Hittites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.” “The Canaanites on the west” embraced the people of Zidon, for Joshua is expressly stated to have followed a band of the fugitives to that city (Jos 11:8). The muster must have been an extraordinary one, as numerous “as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude.” Josephus gives the numbers as 300,000 footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 20,000 chariots; but we can hardly attach much value to his figures. “Horses and chariots” was an arm unknown to the Israelites, with which hitherto they had never contended. This vast host came together and pitched at the waters of Merom. Merom, now called Huleh, is the little lake where, as already stated, the three streamlets that form the Jordan unite. It varies in size in summer and winter. To the north, a large plain spreads itself out, sufficient for the encampment of a great army. It was at or near this plain that Abraham overtook the five kings of Mesopotamia and defeated them, rescuing Lot, and all that had been taken from Sodom (Gen 14:14-15). Now again it is crowded with a mighty host: far as the eye can reach, the plain is darkened by the countless squadrons of the enemy. Probably, after mustering here, their intention was to bear down the Jordan valley, till they came on Joshua at Gilgal, or such other place as he might choose to meet them. But if this was their intention they were outwitted by the activity and intrepidity of Joshua, who resolved, in spite of their overwhelming numbers, to take the aggressive; and, marching, as before, with extraordinary rapidity, to fall on them by surprise and throw them at once into confusion so that they should be unable to bring their chariots and horses into the action.

It was a very serious undertaking for Joshua, and before attempting it he stood much in need of the encouragement of Jehovah – “Be not afraid because of them: for to-morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn all their chariots with fire.” Not on the number nor on the bravery of his own people, though they had stood by him most nobly, was he to place his reliance, but on the power of God. ”Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies” was his mot dordre, as it was afterwards of that other Joshua, whose battles were not with confused noise nor with garments rolled in blood, but were triumphs of truth and love. Where else should the true warrior be found but in the midst of his enemies? Joshua knew it, and with the promised help of God, did not flinch from the position, though his opponents were like the sand of the seaside, with a corresponding multitude of chariots and horses. Jesus, too, knew it, and resting on the same promise did not shrink from the conflict in His own person; nor did He hesitate to send His apostles into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, and look forward to a victory not less complete than that of Joshua, when the hordes of the Canaanites were scattered before him.

“To-morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel.” When he got that assurance, Joshua must already have left Gilgal some days before, and was now within a moderate distance of Merom. There was to be no delay in the completing of the enterprise. ”To-morrow about this time.” Though, as a rule, the mills of God grind slowly, there are times when their velocity is wonderfully accelerated. He has sometimes wonderful to-morrows. When Hezekiah was gazing appalled on the hosts of Sennacherib as they lay coiled round Jerusalem, God had a “to-morrow about this time” when the terror would be exchanged for a glorious relief. When the apostles met in the upper chamber, and were wondering how they were ever to conquer the world for their Master, there was a “to-morrow ” at hand, when the Spirit was to “come down like rain on the mown grass, and like showers that water the earth.” When, at the end of the world, iniquity abounds and faith is low, and scoffers are asking, “Where is the promise of His coming?” there will come a ”tomorrow about this time ” when the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and all that is therein shall be destroyed. Hold on, brave Joshua, for a little longer; hold on too, ye soldiers of the Lord Jesus, though all the powers of darkness are leagued against you; hold on, ye suffering saints, whose days of pain and nights of waking are such a weariness to your flesh; the glorious ”to-morrow ” may be at hand which is to end your troubles and bring you the victory!

“We expect a bright to-morrow, All will be well.”

And all was well with Joshua. Arriving suddenly at the waters of Merom, he fell on the mighty host of the enemy, who, taken by surprise, seem not to have struck one blow, but to have been seized at once with that panic which so thoroughly demoralizes Eastern hordes, and to have fled in consternation. In three great streams the fugitives sought their homes. One portion made for Misrephothmaim in the south-west, now, it is thought, represented by Musheirifeh on the north border of the plain of Acre; another struck in a north-easterly direction through the valley of the upper Jordan, or east of Hermon to the valley of Mizpeh; a third, passing through the gorge of the Litany, made for great Zidon, in the distant north. Joshua himself would seem to have pursued this column of fugitives, and, passing over a rough path of more than forty miles, not to have abandoned them till they took refuge within the walls of Zidon. If he had attacked and destroyed that stronghold, it might have changed for the better much of the future history of his country; for the Jezebels and Athaliahs of after days were among the worst enemies of Israel. But he did not deem himself called to that duty It seemed more urgent that he should demolish Hazor, the capital of the confederacy that he had just scattered. So ”he turned back and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword; for Hazor before time was the head of all those kingdoms.” For this reason Hazor was treated like Jericho, utterly destroyed, as were also the other cities of the confederate kings. One class of cities was spared, called in our version ”the cities that stood still in their strength,” but better in the Revised- “the cities that stood on their mounds.” The custom referred to is that of building cities on mounds or hills for the sake of protection. With the exception of Hazor, none of these were destroyed. The reason probably was, that it would have cost too much time. But it was in such places that the old inhabitants rallied and entrenched themselves, and from them they were able in after years to inflict much loss and give great trouble to Israel. Joshua, however, had not received instructions to destroy them; they were left to serve a purpose in God’s plan of discipline (Jdg 2:3), and while Israel was often humbled under them their attacks proved occasions of rallying, bringing them back to God, whose worship they were so ready to neglect.

The conquest of Western Palestine was thus virtually completed. First, by taking Jericho, Joshua had possessed himself of the Jordan valley, and established a clear communication with Bashan and Gilead, which the two and a half tribes had received for their inheritance. By the conquest of Ai and Bethel, he had made a way to the great plateau of Western Palestine, and by his treaty with the Gibeonites he had extended his hold a considerable way farther to the south and the west. Then, by the great victory of Bethhoron, he had crushed the southern chiefs and possessed himself, for the time at least, of all that quarter. As to the inhabitants of the central part, we know not (as we have already said) how they were dealt with, but most probably they were too frightened to resist him. (See p. 202 {eS module note: try looking at the opening paragraphs of Chapter 17….}).

The northern section had been subdued at Merom, and much crippled through the pursuit of Joshua after the battle there. The only important parts of the country of which he did not gain possession were the land of the Philistines, the strip of sea coast held by Tyre and Zidon, and some small kingdoms on the north-east. It would seem that in the instructions received by him from Moses, these were not included, for it is expressly said of him that “he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.” Emphasis is laid on the fact that his conquests were not confined to one section or denomination of territory, but embraced the whole. ”Joshua took all that land, the hill country, and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel, and the lowland of the same; from Mount Halak (or, the bare mountain) [on the south], that goeth up to Seir [the land of Edom], even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon [in the north]: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and put them to death” (R.V.). The “Goshen” here spoken of cannot, of course, be the Egyptian Goshen, for this city was in the neighbourhood of Gibeon (Jos 10:41); but its site has not been identified.

We are told that the wars of Joshua occupied a long time. Probably from five to seven years were consumed by them, for though the pitched battles of Bethhoron and Merom virtually decided the mastership of the country, there must have been a large amount of guerilla warfare, and the sieges of the various cities may have required much time. The list of kings subdued, as given in Chap 12, is a remarkable document. Granting that though called kings they were mostly but little chieftains, still they were formidable enough to a pastoral people unused to the pursuits of war; and it was very striking that not one of them by himself, nor all of them combined, were equal to Joshua. If Joshua was not divinely aided, the conquest of all these chieftains and the capture of their cities is the most inexplicable event in history.

Two additional statements are made towards the close of the eleventh chapter. One is, that with the single exception of Gibeon, no attempt was made by any of the chiefs or cities to make peace with Joshua. “For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.” It would have been very embarrassing to Joshua if they had submitted spontaneously, and cast themselves on his generosity, for his orders were to destroy them. But this difficulty did not arise. None of the cities seem to have shared the conviction of the Gibeonites that opposition was needless, that Israel was sure to prevail, and get possession of the country. When men’s backs are up, to use a common phrase, they will do wonders in the way of facing danger and enduring suffering. Even the resistance of the martyrs cannot be wholly ascribed to holy faith and loyalty to God; in many cases, no doubt, something was due to that dogged spirit that won’t submit, that won’t be beat, that will endure incredible privation rather than give in. The effect of this resistance by the Canaanites was, that while Joshua’s task was increased in one way, it was simplified in another. Ages before, God had given the country to the fathers of the Hebrew nation. That people now came and demanded in God’s name possession of the land which He had given them. Had the nations submitted voluntarily they must have left the country to seek new settlements elsewhere. By resisting, they compelled Joshua to meet them with the sword; and having resisted Israel with all their might, nothing remained but that they should encounter the doom which they had so fiercely provoked.

That some of the Canaanites did leave the country seems very probable, although little importance is to be attached to the statement of Procopius that after trying Egypt they settled in Libya, and overspread Africa as far as the Pillars of Hercules. At a fortress in Numidia called Tigisis or Tingis he says that so late as the sixth century after Christ there were discovered near a great wall two pillars of white stone bearing, in Phoenician, the inscription, “We are those who fled before the robber Jeshus, son of Nane.” Ewald and others by whom this tradition is noticed are not disposed, owing to its late date, to attach to it any weight.

The other statement relates to the Anakim. Sometime, not precisely defined, while engaged in his conflicts Joshua ”cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel,” leaving none of them except in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod (Jos 11:21). Afterwards it is said (Jos 15:14) that it was Caleb that drove from Hebron the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai; but this cannot be counted a contradiction inasmuch as ”Joshua,” being the leader of the army, must be held to represent and include all who fought in connection with his enterprise. These Anakim were the men that had so terrified the ten spies. “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight ” (Num 13:33). To men of little faith, giants, whether physical or moral, are always formidable. Kings, with the resources of an empire at their back; generals at the head of mighty battalions; intellectual chiefs, with all their talent and brilliancy, their wit, their irony, their power to make the worse appear the better reason, are more than a match for the obscure handfuls to whom the battles of the faith are often left. But if the obscure handfuls are allied with the Lord of hosts, their victory is sure; the triumphant experience of the forty-sixth psalm awaits them: “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.”

We are weary of the din of arms, and come at last to the refreshing statement: ”And the land rested from war.” The annals of peace are always more brief than the records of war; and when we reach this short but welcome clause we might wish that it were so expanded as to fill our eyes and our hearts with the blessings which peace scatters with her kindly hand. For that impression we need only to turn to another page of our Bible, and read of the campaigns of another Joshua. ”And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people.” The contrast is very glorious. In His Galilee journeys, Jesus traversed the very region where Joshua had drawn his sword against the confederate kings. Joshua had pursued them as far as Zidon, leaving marks of bloodshed along the whole way; Jesus, when “He departed to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon” went to reward faith, to dispossess devils, and to kindle in a desolate heart thanksgiving and joy. Everywhere, throughout all Galilee and the regions beyond, His advent was accompanied with benedictions, and blessings were scattered by Him in His path.

But let us not indulge in too complete a contrast between the two conquerors. Joshua’s rough plough-share prepared the way for Jesus’ words of mercy and deeds of love. God’s message to man is not all in honeyed words. Even Jesus, as He went through Galilee, proclaimed, ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And it was those only who gave heed to the call to repent that became possessors of the kingdom.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary