Joshua 12:8

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....

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

IN THE MOUNTAINS, AND IN THE VALLEYS, AND IN THE PLAINS, AND IN THE SPRINGS, AND IN THE WILDERNESS, AND IN THE SOUTH COUNTRY,.... Which is a description of the whole land of Canaan; some parts of which were hills and mountains, others vales and champaign fields; others were dry and barren, and others well watered; some part of it lay to the north, as towards Lebanon, and others to the south, towards Seir: THE HITTITES, THE AMORITES, AND THE CANAANITES, THE PERIZZITES, THE HIVITES, AND THE JEBUSITES; which were the nations that inhabited the land of Canaan before it was taken and possessed by the Israelites....

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...

MOUNTAINS. hill country....

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._ 7, 8. _AND THESE ARE THE KINGS OF THE COUNTRY WHICH JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SMOTE, ON THIS SIDE JORDAN_— The author wrote in the country of Canaan, properly so called; and this region was, with respect to him, _on this side Jordan,_ to the west of that river. With respect to the limits which he describes of this conquered land, he specifies them as in ver. 17 of the foregoing chapter. Here Calmet is of opinion, that instead of translating _even unto the mount Halak,_ &c. we should render it, _even to the mountains of separation,_ which serve as limits betwixt the land of Canaan and that of Seir, and rise towards Idumea. Nothing can better suit with those mountains which lay to the south of Judaea, than this name _mountains of separation;_ to be convinced, we need only cast our eyes over any accurate map of the country....

A REVIEW OF THE VICTORIES OF MOSES AND JOSHUA This chapter concludes the whole section of the book which deals with the conquest of Canaan. The following Chapter s narrate the partition of the conquered and some unconquered land. The original account of these conquests is to be found in Numbers 21:21, and of the assignment to the 2½ tribes in Numbers 3:2. A fuller description of the territory is given in chapter Numbers 13:1;where see notes. 1-6. Moses' conquests E. of Jordan. Kingdoms of Sihon and Og....