now be proceeded with (vid., Jos 14:15; Jdg 3:11, Jdg 3:30; Jdg 5:31). List of the Kings Slaughtered by the Israelites - Joshua 12
In the historical account of the wars of Joshua in the south and north of Canaan, the only kings mentioned by name as having been conquered and slain by the Israelites, were those who had formed a league to make war upon them; whereas it is stated at the close, that Joshua had smitten all the kings in the south and north, and taken possession of their towns (Jos 10:40; Jos 11:17). To complete the account of these conquests, therefore, a detailed list is given in the present chapter of all the kings that were slain, and not merely of those who were defeated by Joshua in the country on this side of the Jordan, but the two kings of the Amorites who had been conquered by Moses are also included, so as to give a complete picture of all the victories which Israel had gained under the omnipotent help of its God.
Chap. 12
Verse 1
List of the kings whom the Israelites smote, and whose land they took, on the other side of the Jordan, - namely, the land by the brook Arnon (Mojeb; see Num 21:13) to Hermon (Jebel es Sheikh, Deu 3:8), and the whole of the eastern Arabah (the valley of the Jordan on the eastern side of the river).
Verses 2-3
On Sihon and his kingdom, see Num 21:24; Deu 2:36; Deu 3:16-17. “Aroër on the Arnon:” the present ruins of Araayr, on the northern bank of the Mojeb (see Num 32:34). הנּחל ותוך, “and (from) the middle of the valley onwards:” i.e., according to the parallel passages in Jos 13:9, Jos 13:16, and Deu 2:36, from the town in the Arnon valley, the city of Moab mentioned in Num 22:36, viz., Ar or Areopolis (see at Num 21:15) in the neighbourhood of Aroër, which is mentioned as the exclusive terminus a quo of the land taken by the Israelites along with the inclusive terminus Aroër. “Half-Gilead,” i.e., the mountainous district on the south side of the Jabbok (see at Deu 3:10), “to the river Jabbok,” i.e., the upper Jabbok, the present Nahr Ammân (see at Num 21:24).
Verse 3
“And (over) the Arabah, etc., Sihon reigned,” i.e., over the eastern side of the Ghor, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea (see at Deu 3:17). “By the way to Bethjeshimoth, and towards the south below the slopes of Pisgah” (see at Num 21:15 and Num 27:12), i.e., to the north-
