John Gill Commentary Joshua 12

John Gill Commentary

Joshua 12

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
John Gill
John Gill

John Gill Commentary

Joshua 12

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
Verse 1

"Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising, from the valley of the Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward:" — Joshua 12:1 (ASV)

Now these [are] the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote In the days of Moses, as Jarchi remarks, and as it clearly appears from what follows.

and possessed, their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun on the east of the land of Canaan.

from the river Arnon unto the mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east Arnon was the border of Moab between them and the Amorites, (Numbers 21:13); and from hence to Hermon, a mountain adjoining to Lebanon, lay the country of the two kings of the Amorites after mentioned, (Deuteronomy 3:8Deuteronomy 3:9); and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan.

Verse 2

"Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [the city that is in] the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon;" — Joshua 12:2 (ASV)

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon
Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, (Numbers 21:26) ;

[and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river of Arnon ;
a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:

and from the middle of the river ;
that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:

and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border
of the children of Ammon ;
so it is said to be, (Deuteronomy 3:16) ; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in (Joshua 12:5) ; and so Jarchi remarks.

Verse 3

"and the Arabah unto the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and unto the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth-jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:" — Joshua 12:3 (ASV)

And from the plain
Or rather, "and the plain", the plains of Moab, which, before possessed by the Israelites, belonged to the kingdom of Sihon; and the plains of Jordan, which reached

to the sea of Cinneroth on the east ;
the same with the lake of Gennesaret, and sea of Tiberias, mentioned in the New Testament, (Matthew 14:34) (Mark 6:53) (Luke 5:1) (John 6:1) (21:1) :

and unto the sea of the plain ;
where stood the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah

[even] the salt sea on the east ;
the same with the dead sea, into which the plain the above cities stood on was converted:

the way to Bethjeshimoth ;
which was a place in the plains of Moab, (Numbers 33:49) ;

and from the south under Ashdothpisgah ;
or the springs of Pisgah, which flowed from the mount of that name, (Deuteronomy 3:17) (4:49) .

Verse 4

"and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei," — Joshua 12:4 (ASV)

And the coast of Og king of Bashan
The country that he reigned over, who was another king of the Amorites, smitten by Israel in the times of Moses:

[which was] of the remnant of the giants; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 3:11):

that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei ;
of which two places see (Deuteronomy 1:4) ; it seems as if Og had a palace in each of those cities, and sometimes was at one and sometimes at another, as is usual with kings.

Verse 5

"and ruled in mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon." — Joshua 12:5 (ASV)

And reigned in Mount Hermon
That is, over all the people that inhabited that mount or dwelt under it, (Joshua 11:17) , and adjacent to it, of which mountain, (See Gill on Deuteronomy 3:8) and (See Gill on Deuteronomy 3:9);

and in Salcah :
which was a city belonging to the kingdom of Og, (Deuteronomy 3:10) ;

and in all Bashan ;
or Batanea, a country famous for pasturage, (Micah 7:14) (Jeremiah 50:19) , and for fat cattle, (Ezekiel 39:18) , and for oaks, (Isaiah 2:13) (Ezekiel 27:6) (Zechariah 11:2) , frequently mentioned in Scripture:

unto the border of the Geshurites, and the Maachathites ;
which were two nations the Israelites never expelled, (Joshua 13:13) ; of which see (Deuteronomy 3:14) ;

and half Gilead ;
which belonged to Og, as the other half did to Sihon, before observed, which was as follows:

the border of Sihon king of Heshbon ;
here the two kingdoms joined, even in the midst of Gilead, which was divided between them, but now wholly fell into the hands of Israel.

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