Joshua 12:24

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 12:24. _KING OF TIRZAH_] This city appears to have been for a long time the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and the residence of its kings. See 1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:21; 1 Kings 15:33. Its situation cannot be exactly ascertained; but it is supposed to have been situated on a mountain about three leagues south of Samaria. _ALL THE KINGS THIRTY AND ONE._] The Septuagint say εικοσι εννεα, _twenty-nine_, and yet set down but _twenty-eight_, as they confound or omit the kings of _Beth-el, Lasharon_, and _Madon_. So many kings in so small a territory

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 TIRZAH, ONE,.... To what tribe this place fell is nowhere said: Adrichomius u places it in the tribe of Manasseh; and so does Bunting w, who says of it, that it was a fair and beautiful city, situated on a high and pleasant mountain, in the tribe of Manasseh, twenty four miles from Jerusalem to the north: here Jeroboam had his royal seat, and so his successors unto Omri, 1 Kings 14:17; and Dr Lightfoot x seems to suspect as if Shechem in Mount Ephraim and Tirzah were the same; for, he says, if Shechem and Tirzah were not one and the same town, it appears that Jeroboam had removed his court, when his son died, from where it was when he first erected his idols; compare 1 Kings 12:25, with 1 Kings 1

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...

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._ 24. _ALL THE KINGS THIRTY AND ONE_— The LXX reckon and specify but twenty-nine, and of them too they disfigure the names. We must not be surprised at seeing so many kings in so small a country. Each city and its territory had its own. What was the king of Beth-el? He and the king of Ai together had hardly twelve thousand subjects. Such were kingdoms in their first state everywhere. Caesar, in his _Commentaries,_ speaks of four kings in the single county of Kent. How many then must there have been in all Great Britain? Tacitus says, that the Silures and Brigantes had each of them their own king. Caesar tells us, that among the Gauls there were as many kings as princes. Livy says the same thing of Spain; and Vopiscus introduces the emperor Probus writing to the senate, that he had subdued Germany, and saw at his feet nine kings of different nations, &c. REFLECTIONS.—The conquered co...

_A List of the Kings Defeated by Joshua 12:9-24_ 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; the king of Megiddo, one; 22 The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one; 23 The king of D