Bible Commentaries
Lange's Commentary: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical
Joshua 12
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
Joshua 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 2 the 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: ὁδὸν τὴν κατὰ ’Ασειμώθ; Vulg.: per viam quœ ducit Bethsimoth]; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah 4 And 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
Joshua 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:
9 The king of Jericho, one;
The king of Ai, which is beside Beth-el, one;
10 The king of Jerusalem, one;
The king of Hebron, one;
11 The king of Jarmuth, one;
The king of Lachish, one;
12 The king of Eglon, one;
The king of Gezer, one;
13 The king of Debir, one;
The king of Geder, one;
14 The king of Hormah, one;
The king of Arad, one;
15 The king of Libnah, one;
The king of Adullam, one;
16 The king of Makkedah, one;
The king of Beth-el, one;
17 The king of Tappuah, one;
The king of Hepher, one;
18 The king of Aphek, one;
The king of Lasharon, one;
19 The king of Madon, one;
The king of Hazor, one;
20 The king of Shimron-meron, one;
The king of Achshaph, one;
21 The king of Taanach, one;
he king of Megiddo, one;
22 The king of Kedesh, one;
The king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;
23 The king of Dor in the coasts of [Naphoth] Dor, one;
The king of the nations of Gilgal, one;
24 The 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 ( Joshua 12:1-6); (2) a catalogue of the kings conquered in Palestine proper ( Joshua 12:7-24).
1. Catalogue of those Conquered East of the Jordan ( Joshua 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 (אַרְנוֹן for רְנוֹן the rushing), Numbers 2:13; Deuteronomy 3:8; Deuteronomy 3:12; Deuteronomy 3:16; Deuteronomy 4:48; Isaiah 16:2; Jeremiah 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. חֶרְמוֹן means a prominent mountain ridge, “perhaps prop, nose” (Gesen.). According to Deuteronomy 3:9, it was called by the Amorites שְׂנִיר, by the Sidonians, שִׁרְיוֹן (but comp. 1 Chronicles 5:23), and according to Deuteronomy 4:48, it was also the same as שִׂיאֹן. Plur. תֶרְמֹנִים. Psalm 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, Psalm 68:17). At the present time the mountain is called Jebel Esther -Scheikh. Its height reaches over9,000 feet. The summit is covered with eternal snow (von Raumer p33; Robinson, iii344, 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 תרמנים, in Psalm 42:7. He gave that name to the Jebel ed-Duhy (Robinson u. s171, 172).
All the plain (הערבה) on the East. By the Arabah ( Deuteronomy 1:1; Deuteronomy 2:8; 2 Samuel 4:7; 2 Kings 25:4,) where it has the article, as in these passages, is meant not, in general, a dry steppe, a wilderness, as in Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 50:12; Jeremiah 51:43, but, as Robinson (ii599, 600) has shown, the whole of the great valley from the sea of Galilee to the Ælanitic Gulf. It is now (see above on Joshua 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 עֲרָבוֹת, e.g. in our book, Joshua 5:10 the עַרְבּוֹת of Jericho; 2 Kings 25:5, the עַרְבּוֹת 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. ii265), 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. ii265, 266).
Joshua 12:2. Sihon, king of the Amorites, stands first on the list of Canaanite princes subjugated by Moses and Joshua (see above Joshua 2:10). He dwelt at Heshbon, Joshua 13:26; Joshua 21:39; Numbers 21:26 ff, which name properly signifies prudence ( Ecclesiastes 12:25, 27; Ecclesiastes 9:10); now Hesban or Hüsban. 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 ( Numbers 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 Joshua 13:17; Joshua 21:39 comp. with 1 Chronicles 7:31). In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Heshbon belonged again to the Moabites ( Isaiah 15:4; Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 48:2; Jeremiah 48:45-47). At a later period, according to Josephus (Ant. xiii15, 4), the Jews once more possessed it. Heshbon appears to have had a very strong position, to which the expressions Jeremiah 48:45-47 refer. The ruins have a compass, according to von Raumer’s authority, of more than a mile.
Joshua 12:2. The territory of Sihon is now described in full accordance with Numbers 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, עַרֹעֵר and עֲרוֹעֵר, from ערר (to be bare, naked), lies on the north side of the Arnon, and like Heshbon is indicated by Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 48:19) as a Moabite city. It was allotted to Reuben, Joshua 13:9; Joshua 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, Joshua 13:25, and from a third city Aroer ( 1 Samuel 30:26; 1 Samuel 30:28), in the tribe of Judah (Rob. ii618), to which David sent presents after the recovery of the booty taken at Ziklag.
Half Gilead.גִּלְעָד according to Genesis 31:48 = גַּלְעֵד, hill of testimony, perhaps rather an appellative for hard, rough region, as Gesenius thinks, which however does not suit with Numbers 32:1; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 46:11; Jeremiah 50:19; Song of Solomon 4:1; Song of Solomon 6:4. Properly the word denotes a mountain on the south bank of the Jabbok ( Genesis 31:21-48; Song of Solomon 4:1), with a city of the same name, now Jebel Dschelaad, then the immediate vicinity of this mountain ( Numbers 32:1; Deuteronomy 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, Deuteronomy 34:1, where it includes also Bashan, likewise in 2 Kings 10:33; 1 Kings 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, Joshua 22:9; Joshua 22:13; Joshua 22:15; Judges 5:17 (von Raumer, p229 ff.). See Introd. p25.
Even unto the brook Jabbok, now Wady Lerka, then יַבֹּק, from בָּקַק, to pour out, gush forth, = gushing-brook. The word is, according to Simonis, to whom Gesenius assents, the Chald. form for יָבֹק. In Genesis 32:2 there is a play upon the word אָבַק, 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.
[Add Smith’s 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 ( Numbers 33:48) Beth-jeshimoth lay. To that point the Israelite camp reached from Shittim. It be longed to Reuben ( Joshua 13:20), later to Moah again, Ezekiel 25:9.
And in the south under the foot-hills of Pisgah. On אַשְׁדּוֹת פ׳ comp. Joshua 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” ( Deuteronomy 32:49), as though its summit, and again, “the top of Pisgah” ( Deuteronomy 3:27; Deuteronomy 34:1), comp. Knobel on Numbers 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 (p72), 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.
Joshua 12:4-6, follow the borders of the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan. Ashtaroth, and Ashtaroth karnaim (קַרְנַיִם), Genesis 14:5, where were giants; according to Joshua 9:10, the residence of Og; now Tel Ashtareh. The hill (Tel) rises, according to von Raumer (p243), 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, Numbers 21:33-35; Deuteronomy 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, p247).
Joshua 12:5. Salcah, conquered by the Israelites, Deuteronomy 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. p76] villages, in part appearing to be newly built, but entirely deserted (ii183, 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 Amorrhœorum super Jordanem (περὶ τὸν ’Ιορδάνην, 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, p227, and Menke’s Bibelatlas, plate3. 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 ( Joshua 12:2). Toward the west it extended to the sea of Tiberias; see von Raumer, p226 ff. Bashan and Batanæa are by no means identical, as von Raumer has shown (ubi sup.). Bashan was famous for its oak forests ( Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 27:6), and fat cattle; hence the bullocks, the rams of Bashan ( Deuteronomy 32:14; Amos 4:1; Psalm 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 ( Joshua 12:7-24). Verses7,8, coinciding with Joshua 11:16; Joshua 10:40-42, introduce the narrative. The Plain (ערבה) is the western part of the Ghor ( Genesis 13:10); the wilderness (מִדְבָּר) lies in the province of Judah, and Benjamin ( Joshua 15:61; Joshua 18:11; Matthew 3:3; Matthew 4:1; Matthew 11:7; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4.)
Joshua 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 Joshua 6:2 ff; Joshua 8:29; Joshua 10:1-5; Joshua 10:33 may be compared. Then follows Joshua 12:13, the king of Debir, Joshua 10:39, after him still in the same verse the king of Geder. גֶּדֶר is called also גְדֵרָה, and belonged to the lowland of Judah. Not hitherto recognized.
Joshua 12:14. Hormah, earlier Zephat ( Judges 1:17). Robinson (ii616, N.) seeks the city near the pass Esther -Sufeh, W. S. W. of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites were defeated by the Canaanites ( Numbers 14:44-45; Deuteronomy 1:44), and subsequently the Canaanites by the Israelites ( Numbers 21:1-3; Judges 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 (חַרְמָה, i.e. devoted to destruction, cognate with חֵרֶם).
Arad, named also Numbers 21:1-3, and Judges 1:16-17, near the wilderness of Kadesh, twenty Roman miles south of Hebron. Robinson (ii473) saw from a distance the hill Arad. He also rightly refers Joshua 10:41 to the subjugation of Arad, whose Inhabitants had previously ( Numbers 21:1-3), like those of Hormah, driven back the Israelites.
Joshua 12:15. Libnah, Joshua 10:29-30; Joshua 15:42. Adullam, Joshua 15:35, fortified by Rehoboam (2 Joshua 11:7); famous for its cave, David’s refuge ( 1 Samuel 22:1; 2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chronicles 12:15). In a.d1138, the inhabitants of Tekoah took refuge there from the Saracens, Will. Tyr. Joshua 15:6 (von Raumer, p169).
Joshua 12:16. Makkedah, Joshua 10:10; Joshua 10:16-17; Joshua 10:21. Bethel, earlier Luz (לוּז), 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 ( Genesis 28:11-19; Genesis 31:13; Hosea 12:5); rendered infamous subsequently by the worship of the calves ( 1 Kings 12:28; 1 Kings 12:33; 1 Kings 13:1), hence called Beth-aven (different from Beth-aven in Joshua 7:2; Joshua 18:12), by the prophets ( Amos 5:5; Hosea 4:15, and often). The missionary Nicolayson discovered Bethel, 1836. According to Robinson (ii127) it is now called Beitin, three and three-quarter hours from Jerusalem. See more in Robinson ubi sup, von Raumer, pp178, 179 [Tristram, Stanley].
Joshua 12:17. Tappuah, comp. Joshua 15:34; Joshua 15:53; Joshua 17:7. Hepher, in the plain of Jezreel in Issachar, Joshua 19:19 (Knobel).
Joshua 12:18. Aphek, Joshua 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.
Joshua 12:20. Shimron-meron, Joshua 11:1; Joshua 19:37. Achshaph, Joshua 11:1; Joshua 19:25.
Joshua 12:21. Taanach in Samaria, within the circuit of Issachar, but belonging to Manasseh ( Joshua 17:11), although not conquered by him ( Judges 1:27). A city of the Levites, Joshua 21:25. Here Barak conquered ( Judges 5:19). Robinson (ii156, 157), and Schubert (iii164), saw Taanach (now Ta’annûk) from the neighborhood of Jennin (Ginnäa), von Raumer, p165.
Megiddo, likewise in Samaria, belonging to Manasseh but beyond his border ( Joshua 17:11), and likewise unconquered by that tribe ( Judges 1:27). Here Ahaziah died in his flight from Jehu ( 2 Kings 9:27), and here Josiah was fatally wounded in the battle against Necho king of Egypt ( 2 Chronicles 35:20; 2 Chronicles 35:25; 2 Chronicles 23:29-30).
Joshua 12:22. Kedesh on the mountain of Naphtali (Jebel el-Safed), Joshua 19:37, in Galilee. A city of refuge, Joshua 20:7, of the Levites, Joshua 21:32. Birth-place of Barak ( Judges 4:6), discovered by Smith on a hill, in a well-watered region (Notes on Bibl. Geog. in Biblioth. Sac, May, 1849, p374, ap. von. Raum. p132); 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. p366 ff.).
Jokneam on Carmel. Belonging to Zebulun, Joshua 19:11. A city of the Levites, ch Joshua 21:34. Perhaps, Tel Kaimôn (Robinson, Later Bibl. Res. p115). The place is called, in 1 Kings 4:12, יָקמְעָם, out of which Kaimôn appears to have sprung (comp. Robinson, ubi sup.). Carmel appears elsewhere in our book only Joshua 19:26, to mark the south border of the tribe of Asher. Rightly does the mountain bear its name “orchard” (comp. Isaiah 10:8; Isaiah 16:10 and often), being covered below with laurels and olive-trees, above with pines and oaks (hence the comparison Song of Solomon 7:6), and full of the most beautiful flowers. These are the glory of Carmel which shall be given to the wilderness ( Isaiah 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 Since1180 there has stood on Carmel, although only at a height of578 feet, and therefore far below the summit, a cloister to commemorate Elijah ( 1 Kings 18:17-39; 1 Kings 18:42-45) and bearing his name; rebuilt in1833. The mountain reaches an altitude of1700 feet.
Joshua 12:23. Naphoth-dor, Joshua 11:2; Joshua 17:11. The king of the nations of Gilgal, as Genesis 14:1, Tidal king of the nations. Similarly, Genesis 10:5, גְּלִיל הַגּוֹיִם. Gilgal, not on the Jordan, but, according to Robinson iii47, 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 Nehemiah 12:29 and 1 Maccabees 9:2 was, as he supposes, the same. With this falls in the proximity of Naphoth-dor.
Joshua 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, 1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:33; 1 Kings 16:8-18. Robinson (Later Bibl. Res. p 302 ff.) takes Tulluzah for Tirzah, being beautifully situated like the ancient city ( Song of Solomon 6:4). The name signifies delight, from רָצָה.
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