12 Now these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead, 3 and the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, southward to the foot of the slopes of Pisgah; 4 and Og1 king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei 5 and ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the people of Israel defeated them. And Moses the servant of the Lord gave their land for a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
7 And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments, 8 in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites): 9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, 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 Bethel, 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 in Carmel, one; 23 the king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee,2 one; 24 the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.
Section Overview
Having connected the obedience of Israel under Joshua to the commands of the Lord through Moses up to the defeat of the northern coalition, and with the extent of the land now subdued, the narrator pauses to provide a summary of all the kings conquered by Israel both east and west of the Jordan under both Moses and Joshua. The two Amorite kings defeated by Moses have taken on almost a symbolic quality of the power of God to subdue kings opposed to him. These battles were narrated in the book of Numbers; here the narrator provides some details about them, along with their geographical territories (12:1–6). These lands are to be settled by the so-called Transjordan tribes (cf. 1:12–18), which form an early part of the land settlement passages in 13:8–32. The rest of the chapter provides an extended inventory of the thirty-one kings defeated by Joshua (12:7–24). Most of these names are familiar from the immediately preceding narratives, although some have not previously been mentioned. The chapter as a whole signals that a turning point has been reached in the progress of God’s people into the Promised Land.
Section Outline
Response
A turning point has been reached. The kings of the land have been defeated. Israel under two successive leaders has done so (vv. 1, 7). The theological summary has already been provided at the end of chapter 11, and further occasions in the chapters to come will provide a moment of pause and further attention to the fidelity and provision of God for his people. The perspective taken here, then, is more anthropological than theological, as Israel’s part in this remarkable achievement is briefly but patiently stated.
The two unequal sections of the chapter keep in the reader’s eye the geographical division of the tribes of Israel, already stated plainly at 1:12–15. The allotment of the Transjordan tribes is again made explicit (12:6), even while the tribal allotments of the remaining tribes lay in the future. In a subtle way, this reminder keeps this circumstance before readers. Transjordanian interests also occupy the beginning of the next phase of the book, consuming almost the whole of chapter 13. Ultimately, concern for unity of Transjordan tribes with the rest of the people is seen in the dramatic account of chapter 22. Despite the commitments repeatedly given, a risk is evident in the Transjordanian arrangement. At this moment, however, the summary simply correlates the conquests and allotments east of the Jordan with the success in defeating the kings to the west of the river. Potential fissure is not an overt concern of the narrator.
Finally, another small imbalance can be detected. Under Moses, defeat of kings and allotment of land were more or less contiguous: the latter followed hard on the heels of the former. In this sense, Moses—pointedly and repeatedly called “the servant of the Lord”—establishes an ideal pattern to which, it seems, Joshua does not quite adhere. The land has been taken; kings have been defeated. But the land remains undistributed and unsettled.