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Joshua 12

¹Now 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:

²Sihon 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 Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea on the east, the way to Bethjeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdothpisgah :

⁴And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which 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, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

⁶Them 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.

⁷And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;

⁸In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, 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 Bethel, 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 Bethel, 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 Shimronmeron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

²¹The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

²²The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;

²³The king of Dor in the coast of Dor, one; the king of the nations of Gilgal, one;

²⁴The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.

on Joshua 12

Interlude

TIsrael’s conquest of the southern (10:29–43) and northern cities (11:1–15) in Palestine, and closes with a list of the names of some of the kings whom Israel defeated (11:16—12:24). Since there is probably a map of the conquest located in the back of your Bible, consult it as you read these chapters.

Two things stand out in this record: It was the Lord who gave the victory (10:30, 32, 42; 11:6, 8), and Joshua obeyed the Lord by utterly destroying the enemy, just as Moses had commanded (11:9, 12, 15, 20). The only exception was Gibeon.

Joshua’s strategy was to cut across the land and divide it, then conquer the southern cities, then the northern cities. On more than one occasion, he made a surprise attack on the enemy (10:9; 11:7), and the promises of the Lord encouraged him (v. 6; see 1:9; 8:1).

In 10:29–35, you have the record of the army fighting in the foothills; but in verse 36, the campaign moves to the mountains. The northern coalition of kings was unable to defeat Israel even though their army was much larger than that of the Jews (11:1–9).

The “long time” of verse 18 is about seven years. Israel’s failure at Kadesh Barnea (Deut. 2:14), at which time Caleb was forty years old (Josh. 14:7) to their crossing of the Jordan was thirty-eight years. He was eighty-five when the conquest was over (v. 10), which means that at least seven years had been devoted to the campaign.

The Anakim mentioned in 11:21–22 were a race of giants, descendants of Anak, who were greatly feared by the ten unbelieving men who had spied out Canaan (Num. 13:22, 28, 33). The two believing spies, Joshua and Caleb, didn’t fear them but had trusted the Lord for victory. Joshua’s victory over the Anakim is recorded in Joshua 11:21–22 and Caleb’s victory in 14:12–15.

The apparent contradiction between verses 11: and 13: can easily be explained. Joshua and his army did take control of the whole land by destroying the key cities with their kings and people. Israel didn’t take every little city or slay every citizen or ruler, but they did enough to break the power of the enemy and establish control over the land. Once this was accomplished and there was rest in the land, Joshua was able to assign each tribe its inheritance, and within each inheritance, the tribes had to gain mastery over the remaining inhabitants who were still there. Even after the death of Joshua and his officers, there was additional land to be taken (Judg. 1–3).

Thirty-three kings are named in Joshua 12, beginning with Sihon and Og whose lands were east of Jordan and had been conquered under the leadership of Moses (vv. 1–8; Num. 21:21–35). The sixteen kings defeated in the southern campaign are listed in Joshua 12:9–16 and the fifteen northern kings in verses 17–24.

Now we turn to the actual assigning of the land to the tribes (chaps. 13–21) to discover the spiritual truths we need to learn and apply as we claim our own spiritual inheritance in Jesus Christ.