Joshua 12:18

7-24 We have here the limits of the country Joshua conquered. A list is given of the kings subdued by Israel: thirty-one in all. This shows how fruitful Canaan then was, in which so many chose to throng together. This was the land God appointed for Israel; yet in our day it is one of the most barren and unprofitable countries in the world. Such is the effect of the curse it lies under, since its possessors rejected Christ and his gospel, as was foretold by Moses, Deuteronomy 29:23. The vengeance of a righteous God, inflicted on all these kings and their subjects, for their wickedness, should make us dread and hate sin. The fruitful land bestowed on his chosen people, should fill our hearts with hope and confidence in his mercy, and with humble gratitude....

Verse Joshua 12:18. _APHEK_] There were several cities of this name: one in the tribe of Asher, Joshua 19:30, another in the tribe of Judah, 1 Samuel 4:1; 1 Samuel 29:1; and a third in Syria, 1 Kings 20:26, and 2 Kings 13:17. Which of the two former is here intended cannot be ascertained. _LASHARON_] There is no city of this name known. Some consider the ל _lamed_ in the word לשרון _lashsharon_ to be the sign of the genitiv

The names of the kings are given in the order of their actual encounter with Joshua. Those enumerated in Joshua 12:10 either belonged to the league of the southern Canaanites (Joshua 10:1 ff), the power of which was broken in the battle of Beth-horon, or were at any rate conquered in the campaign following that battle. Those mentioned in Joshua 12:19 were in like manner connected with the northern confederates (Joshua 11:1 ff), who were defeated at the Waters of Merom. Joshua 12:13 The iden

EXPOSITION THE EXTENT OF JOSHUA'S CONQUESTS. JOSHUA 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

THE KING OF APHEK, ONE,.... There was a place called Aphekah in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:53; and an Aphek that was on the border of the Amorites, Joshua 13:4; and another in the tribe of Asher, Joshua 19:30; but Adrichomius n places this Aphek in the tribe of Issachar, whose king Joshua smote, and takes it to be the same place where the Philistines in the times of Samuel and David brought their armies against Israel, 1 Samuel 4:1; and where the king of Syria fought against Israel, 1 Kings 20:26; and says that its ruins were now shown in the gr

THE CONQUERED KINGS CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The kings on the other side of Jordan (Joshua 12:1)_ 2. The kings on this side of Jordan (Joshua 12:7) “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 (Joshua 11:18). Deuteronomy 6:10 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, an

JOSHUA 12. LIST OF THE CONQUERED KINGS. The whole of this chapter, which is a detailed expansion of Joshua 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 (Joshua 12:6, that Moses had given the half tribe of Manasseh land on the east of the Jordan is unhistorical (ch. 17*). Joshua 12:10 (_cf._ Judges 1:7) mentions the king of Jerusalem, but _cf._ Joshua 15:63 and...

MAKKEDAH. Compare Joshua 10:28....

Catalogue of the Kings vanquished on the West of the Jordan 7. _And these are the kings_ This and the following verse coincide with ch. Joshua 11:16, and Joshua 10:40-42. They introduce the following narrative....

_VER._ 18. _THE KING OF APHEK_— In the country conquered by Joshua, there were at least two cities of this name; one in the tribe of Judah, chap. Judges 15:53 the other in the tribe of Asher, chap. Joshua 19:30. But we cannot venture to determine which of the two is here spoken of. _THE KING OF LASHARON_— There is no city of this name now known. Modern interpreters, following the Vulgate, consider the letter ל _l,_ in the Hebrew, as a mark of the genitive, and translate _of Sharon,_ as it stands in the margin of our Bibles. The place now in question, we should apprehend to be that city of _Saron_ which was near _Lydda,_ (Acts 9:35.) and whose delightful and fertile plains are so ofte