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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
Jos_12:1-6
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.
Jos_12:7-24
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;
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.
1. Catalogue of those Conquered East of the Jordan (Jos_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 ( àַøְðåֹï for øְðåֹï the rushing), Num_2:13; Deu_3:8; Deu_3:12; Deu_3:16; Deu_4:48; Isa_16:2; Jer_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. çֶøְîåֹï means a prominent mountain ridge, “perhaps prop, nose” (Gesen.). According to Deu_3:9, it was called by the Amorites ùְׂðִéø , by the Sidonians, ùִׁøְéåֹï (but comp. 1Ch_5:23), and according to Deu_4:48, it was also the same as ùִׂéàֹï . Plur. úֶøְîֹðִéí . Psa_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, Psa_68:17). At the present time the mountain is called Jebel es-Scheikh. Its height reaches over 9,000 feet. The summit is covered with eternal snow (von Raumer p. 33; Robinson, iii. 344, 357), 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 úøîðéí , in Psa_42:7. He gave that name to the Jebel ed-Duhy (Robinson u. s. 171, 172).
All the plain ( äòøáä ) on the East. By the Arabah (Deu_1:1; Deu_2:8; 2Sa_4:7; 2Ki_25:4,) where it has the article, as in these passages, is meant not, in general, a dry steppe, a wilderness, as in Isa_33:9; Jer_50:12; Jer_51:43, but, as Robinson (ii. 599, 600) has shown, the whole of the great valley from the sea of Galilee to the Ælanitic Gulf. It is now (see above on Jos_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 òֲøָáåֹú , e.g. in our book, Jos_5:10 the òַøְáּåֹú of Jericho; 2Ki_25:5, the òַøְáּåֹú 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. ii. 265), 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. ii. 265, 266).
Jos_12:2. Sihon, king of the Amorites, stands first on the list of Canaanite princes subjugated by Moses and Joshua (see above Jos_2:10). He dwelt at Heshbon, Jos_13:26; Jos_21:39; Num_21:26 ff., which name properly signifies prudence (Eccl. 12:25, 27; Ecc_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; toward the south and east with no limit but the horizon. Heshbon belonged originally to the Moabites (Num_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 Jos_13:17; Jos_21:39 comp. with 1Ch_7:31). In the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Heshbon belonged again to the Moabites (Isa_15:4; Isa_16:9; Jer_48:2; Jer_48:45-47). At a later period, according to Josephus (Ant. xiii. 15, 4), the Jews once more possessed it. Heshbon appears to have had a very strong position, to which the expressions Jer_48:45-47 refer. The ruins have a compass, according to von Raumer’s authority, of more than a mile.
Jos_12:2. The territory of Sihon is now described in full accordance with Num_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, òַøֹòֵø and òֲøåֹòֵø , from òøø (to be bare, naked), lies on the north side of the Arnon, and like Heshbon is indicated by Jeremiah (Jer_48:19) as a Moabite city. It was allotted to Reuben, Jos_13:9; Jos_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, Jos_13:25, and from a third city Aroer (1Sa_30:26; 1Sa_30:28), in the tribe of Judah (Rob. ii. 618), to which David sent presents after the recovery of the booty taken at Ziklag.
Half Gilead. âִּìְòָã according to Gen_31:48 = âַּìְòֵã , hill of testimony, perhaps rather an appellative for hard, rough region, as Gesenius thinks, which however does not suit with Num_32:1; Jer_8:22; Jer_46:11; Jer_50:19; Son_4:1; Son_6:4. Properly the word denotes a mountain on the south bank of the Jabbok (Gen_31:21-48; Son_4:1), with a city of the same name, now Jebel Dschelaad, then the immediate vicinity of this mountain (Num_32:1; Deu_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, Deu_34:1, where it includes also Bashan, likewise in 2Ki_10:33; 1Ki_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, Jos_22:9; Jos_22:13; Jos_22:15; Jdg_5:17 (von Raumer, p. 229 ff.). See Introd. p. 25.
Even unto the brook Jabbok, now Wady Lerka, then éַáֹּ÷ , from áָּ÷ַ÷ , to pour out, gush forth, = gushing-brook. The word is, according to Simonis, to whom Gesenius assents, the Chald. form for éָáֹ÷ . In Gen_32:2 there is a play upon the word àָáַ÷ , 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.
Jos_12:3. Over the plain (the Arabah) to the sea of Cinneroth on the east,i.e. over the eastern part of the Jordan valley, as far as the sea of Cinneroth. Here ëִּðּøåֹú , elsewhere also ëִּðַּøåֹú , or ëִּðֶּøֶú (perhaps equivalent to ëִּðּåֹø , cithera), so called after the city of this name (Jos_11:2; Jos_19:35); in the N.T., the sea of Galilee (Mat_4:18; Mat_15:29; Mar_1:16; Mar_7:31), sea of Gennesareth (Luk_5:1, derived from Kinnereth or Kinnaroth); in John, sea of Tiberias (Jos_6:1, Jos_21:1), from the city of Tiberias; now Bahr Taberieh. The sea is “about thirteen geographical miles long and six broad.” The climate is tropical, since the level is from six hundred and twenty-five to seven hundred [Robinson, seven hundred] feet below that of the Mediterranean (Rusegger, iii. 213; Robinson, iii. 264, 313 ff). Its beauty is well known (Seetzen, p. 348), and has been described by Renan, in his “Life of Jesus,” in the most glowing colors. Robinson expresses himself more moderately (iii. 255): “The lake presents, indeed, a beautiful sheet of limpid water, in a deep, depressed basin…… The hills are rounded and tame, with little of the picturesque in their form…… Whoever looks here for the magnificence of the Swiss lakes, or the softer beauty of those of England and the United States, will be disappointed.” In the O. T. it is mentioned, besides this passage, only Num_34:11; Deu_3:17. [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 (Num_33:48) Beth-jeshimoth lay. To that point the Israelite camp reached from Shittim. It be longed to Reuben (Jos_13:20), later to Moah again, Eze_25:9.
And in the south under the foot-hills of Pisgah. On àַùְׁãּåֹú ô× comp. Jos_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” (Deu_32:49), as though its summit, and again, “the top of Pisgah” (Deu_3:27; Deu_34:1), comp. Knobel on Num_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 (p. 72), 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. The region which sloped along the foot of Mount Pisgah formed the southern boundary of the kingdom of Sihon.
Jos_12:4-6, follow the borders of the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan. Ashtaroth, and Ashtaroth karnaim ( ÷ַøְðַéִí ), Gen_14:5, where were giants; according to Jos_9:10, the residence of Og; now Tel Ashtareh. The hill (Tel) rises, according to von Raumer (p. 243), 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, Num_21:33-35; Deu_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, p. 247).
Jos_12:5. Salcah, conquered by the Israelites, Deu_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. p. 76] villages, in part appearing to be newly built, but entirely deserted (ii. 183, 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 ( ðåñὶ ôὸí ’ ÉïñäÜíçí , 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, p. 227, and Menke’s Bibelatlas, plate 3. 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 (Jos_12:2). Toward the west it extended to the sea of Tiberias; see von Raumer, p. 226 ff. Bashan and Batanæa are by no means identical, as von Raumer has shown (ubi sup.). Bashan was famous for its oak forests (Isa_2:13; Eze_27:6), and fat cattle; hence the bullocks, the rams of Bashan (Deu_32:14; Amo_4:1; Psa_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 (Jos_12:7-24). Verses 7 and 8, coinciding with Jos_11:16; Jos_10:40-42, introduce the narrative. The Plain ( òøáä ) is the western part of the Ghor (Gen_13:10); the wilderness ( îִãְáָּø ) lies in the province of Judah, and Benjamin (Jos_15:61; Jos_18:11; Mat_3:3; Mat_4:1; Mat_11:7; Mar_1:3; Luk_3:4.)
Jos_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 Jos_6:2 ff; Jos_8:29; Jos_10:1-5; Jos_10:33 may be compared. Then follows Jos_12:13, the king of Debir, Jos_10:39, after him still in the same verse the king of Geder. âֶּãֶø is called also âְãֵøָä , and belonged to the lowland of Judah. Not hitherto recognized.
Jos_12:14. Hormah, earlier Zephat (Jdg_1:17). Robinson (ii. 616, N.) seeks the city near the pass es-Sufeh, W. S. W. of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites were defeated by the Canaanites (Num_14:44-45; Deu_1:44), and subsequently the Canaanites by the Israelites (Num_21:1-3; Jdg_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 ( çַøְîָä , i.e. devoted to destruction, cognate with çֵøֶí ).
Arad, named also Num_21:1-3, and Jdg_1:16-17, near the wilderness of Kadesh, twenty Roman miles south of Hebron. Robinson (ii. 473) saw from a distance the hill Arad. He also rightly refers Jos_10:41 to the subjugation of Arad, whose Inhabitants had previously (Num_21:1-3), like those of Hormah, driven back the Israelites.
Jos_12:15. Libnah, Jos_10:29-30; Jos_15:42. Adullam, Jos_15:35, fortified by Rehoboam (2 Jos_11:7); famous for its cave, David’s refuge (1Sa_22:1; 2Sa_23:13; 1Ch_12:15). In a.d. 1138, the inhabitants of Tekoah took refuge there from the Saracens, Will. Tyr. Jos_15:6 (von Raumer, p. 169).
Jos_12:16. Makkedah, Jos_10:10; Jos_10:16-17; Jos_10:21. Bethel, earlier Luz ( ìåּæ ), 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 (Gen_28:11-19; Gen_31:13; Hos_12:5); rendered infamous subsequently by the worship of the calves (1Ki_12:28; 1Ki_12:33; 1Ki_13:1), hence called Beth-aven (different from Beth-aven in Jos_7:2; Jos_18:12), by the prophets (Amo_5:5; Hos_4:15, and often). The missionary Nicolayson discovered Bethel, 1836. According to Robinson (ii. 127) it is now called Beitin, three and three-quarter hours from Jerusalem. See more in Robinson ubi sup., von Raumer, pp. 178, 179 [Tristram, Stanley].
Jos_12:17. Tappuah, comp. Jos_15:34; Jos_15:53; Jos_17:7. Hepher, in the plain of Jezreel in Issachar, Jos_19:19 (Knobel).
Jos_12:18. Aphek, Jos_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.
Jos_12:20. Shimron-meron, Jos_11:1; Jos_19:37. Achshaph, Jos_11:1; Jos_19:25.
Jos_12:21. Taanach in Samaria, within the circuit of Issachar, but belonging to Manasseh (Jos_17:11), although not conquered by him (Jdg_1:27). A city of the Levites, Jos_21:25. Here Barak conquered (Jdg_5:19). Robinson (ii. 156, 157), and Schubert (iii. 164), saw Taanach (now Ta’annûk) from the neighborhood of Jennin (Ginnäa), von Raumer, p. 165.
Megiddo, likewise in Samaria, belonging to Manasseh but beyond his border (Jos_17:11), and likewise unconquered by that tribe (Jdg_1:27). Here Ahaziah died in his flight from Jehu (2Ki_9:27), and here Josiah was fatally wounded in the battle against Necho king of Egypt (2Ch_35:20; 2Ch_35:25; 2Ch_23:29-30).
Jos_12:22. Kedesh on the mountain of Naphtali (Jebel el-Safed), Jos_19:37, in Galilee. A city of refuge, Jos_20:7, of the Levites, Jos_21:32. Birth-place of Barak (Jdg_4:6), discovered by Smith on a hill, in a well-watered region (Notes on Bibl. Geog. in Biblioth. Sac., May, 1849, p. 374, ap. von. Raum. p. 132); 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. p. 366 ff.).
Jokneam on Carmel. Belonging to Zebulun, Jos_19:11. A city of the Levites, ch Jos_21:34. Perhaps, Tel Kaimôn (Robinson, Later Bibl. Res. p. 115). The place is called, in 1Ki_4:12, éָ÷îְòָí , out of which Kaimôn appears to have sprung (comp. Robinson, ubi sup.). Carmel appears elsewhere in our book only Jos_19:26, to mark the south border of the tribe of Asher. Rightly does the mountain bear its name “orchard” (comp. Isa_10:8; Isa_16:10 and often), being covered below with laurels and olive-trees, above with pines and oaks (hence the comparison Son_7:6), and full of the most beautiful flowers. These are the glory of Carmel which shall be given to the wilderness (Isa_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. Since 1180 there has stood on Carmel, although only at a height of 578 feet, and therefore far below the summit, a cloister to commemorate Elijah (1Ki_18:17-39; 1Ki_18:42-45) and bearing his name; rebuilt in 1833. The mountain reaches an altitude of 1700 feet.
Jos_12:23. Naphoth-dor, Jos_11:2; Jos_17:11. The king of the nations of Gilgal, as Gen_14:1, Tidal king of the nations. Similarly, Gen_10:5, âְּìִéì äַâּåֹéִí . Gilgal, not on the Jordan, but, according to Robinson iii. 47, 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 Neh_12:29 and 1Ma_9:2 was, as he supposes, the same. With this falls in the proximity of Naphoth-dor.
Jos_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, 1Ki_14:17; 1Ki_15:33; 1Ki_16:8-18. Robinson (Later Bibl. Res. p. 302 ff.) takes Tulluzah for Tirzah, being beautifully situated like the ancient city (Son_6:4). The name signifies delight, from øָöָä .
Footnotes:
[Jos_12:1—Instead of interpolating the numerous corrections required in the common version in the first three verses here, we recast separately, in much the same way as De Wette and Fay: And these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel smote, and possessed their land, on the other side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, from the water-course of Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah on the east: Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer which is on the bank of the water-course of Arnon and in the middle of the water-course, and [over] half of Gilead even to Jabbok the water-course [which is] the border of the sons of Ammon, and [over] the Arabah unto the sea of Cinneroth, on the east, and unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt-Sea, on the east, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and in the south under the foot-hills of Pisgah.
[Jos_12:1. A word that should denote indifferently our conception of a rapid brook and of the bed in which it flows, with the whole inclusive valley, and of the latter equally when the water is absent, is wanting in English to represent adequately the Heb. ðַçַì . Stanley’s account of this word well presents the case (Sin. and Pal. App. p. 496): “Nachal, ðַçַì , a ‘torrent-bed,’ or water-course; from çìì , to perforate [so Fürst, cf. Gesen.]. The word corresponds with the Arabic Wâdy, the Greek ÷åéìÜññïõò , the Indian Nullah, the Italian ‘flumara’ [in some of its applications approaching the Spanish-American cañon] and signifies the hollow, or valley, of a mountain torrent, which, while in rainy seasons it may fill the whole width of the depression, in summer is reduced to a mere brook, or thread of water, and is often entirely dry. [In the greater number, perhaps, of the Wadies, the running water is quite an exceptional phenomenon.] Such streams are graphically described in Job_11:16-17. Nachal, therefore, is sometimes used for the valley (Num_21:12; Jdg_16:4 [and in the second instance in Jos_12:2 of our passage]), and sometimes for the torrent which flows through the valley. The double application of the word is well seen in 1Ki_17:3, where Elijah is commanded to hide himself’ ‘in’ not ‘by’ the ‘Wady Cherith,’ and to ‘drink of the brook’—Nachal being used in both cases. No English word is exactly equivalent, but perhaps ‘torrent-bed’ most nearly expresses it.”—This last opinion is probably correct, in reference to many readers, but for the purposes of a translation we have ventured to adopt the other term proposed by him, “water-course.”—Tr.]
[Tristram’s account of Hermon, its scenery, its natural history, and the magnificent view which it offers of all Palastine, is particularly interesting, p. 607 ff.—Tr.]
[Tristram visited the spot. See his description p. 543.—Tr.]
[Tristram’s glowing account of the magnificent, almost boundless view from one of the heights of Abarim, which may have been the ancient Nebo, is excellent, p. 540 ff.]
[In particular also, Stanley, S. & P. p. 344 ff., Tristram, p. 99 ff.]