Joshua 12

[CHAP. XIIT^ was in the tribe of Ephraim, called Shorneron, or Samaria. Vcr. 21. The king of Taanach, one. A city given to the tribe of Manasseh, (xvii. 11.) and in the confines of Zcliuliin. It belonged to the Lcvitcs: (xxi. 25.) but the old inhabitants were not expelled out of it, (Judg. i. 27.) The king of Mcgiddo, one.] This city fell to the same tribe, as we read in the same place; and was near the river Kishon; as may be gathered from Judg. v. 19. The Canaanitcswerc not driven out of this city, (Judg. i. 27.) Vcr. 22. The king of Kedesh, one.] There were two cities called Kedesh, or Kadish; one in the tribe of Judah, (xv. 23.) the other in the tribe of Naphtali, (xix. 37.) Tho latter is here meant; for it was a fenced city, as wc read there; but the other was of no note. The king ofJokneam of Carmel, one.] A city in the tribe of Zcbulnn, at the bottom of Mount Carmel, near the river Bclus, (xix. 11.) and ono of the cities of the Levitcs, (xxi. 31.) It had its name from its delightful situation, as Bochart conjectures, lib. i. Canaan, cap. 28. Vcr. 23. The king of Dor, in the coast of Dor, one.] A city in the lot of the tribe of Manasseh, (xvii. 11.) which had a large territory belonging to it, called after its name: for it was, a royal city, and one of tho most ancient in Phoenicia, as Bochart observes. So strong, also, that the Israelites could not get possession of it (or could not keep out the ancient inhabitants), when it’fell to the portion of Manasseh, (Judg. i. 27.) Nor could Antiochus Sidctes, in future times, take it, though he laid siege to it with a very great army, (lib. i. Canaan, cap. 41.) Tlie king of the nations of Gilgal, one.] This Gilgal is not the place where Joshua encamped when he came over Jordan; for there was no city there, nor any king of that country, but the king of Jericho. That place ialso had its name from the circumcision.of tho Israelites there, (vcr. 9.) Wc have no mention indeed of any other Gilgal in Scripture; but St. Jerome says, in his time, there was a place called Golgcl, about six miles from Antipatris, which was near the sea, not far from Joppa. -Hither, it is likely, merchants from several countries resorted; and thence the chief ruler thcro was called the king of the’, nations of Gilgal. Some finding mention of Galilee of the nations, fancy that it is tho place here meant. But that name, for some part of Galilee, was not known in the days of Joshua; being occasioned by Solomon’s giving Hiram twenty towns in this country, (1 Kings ix. 11.) So the same St. Jerome. Vcr. 24. The king ofTirzah, one.] It is not certain in what part of tho country this city was; but it is very probable in the lot of the tribe of Ephraim. For Jeroboam (who was of this tribe) and his successors, made it the Voyal scat until the building of Samaria, (1 Kings xiv. 17. xvi. 23, 24.) All the kings, thirty and one."] Some cannot believe that in so small a country there were so many kings. But they should consider, that these kings were only petty princes, or lords of cities, which had a few villages depending on them, the inhabitants of which were their tenants. This appears by vcr. 9. where we read of the king of Beth-el; which was-so small a place, that he and the king of Ai, joined together, had but twelve thousand subjects, (viii. 25.): For kingdoms, like all other things, were anciently very small in their beginning. See upon Gen. xiv. 1. and Grotius upon the first verse of this chapter, and Masius upon* the seventh. Unto which may be added, that Ctesar, in his fifth book of his Commentaries, speaks of four kings here in the county of Kent alone: how many then were there in all Britain? for it appears by Tacitus, that the Silurcs and, the Brigantcs had their own kings also. And Caesar informs us, that in France there Avcrc as many kings as princes; and so it was in Spain, as Livy writes. And Vopiscus, in the life of the emperor Probus, relates, that when he was in Germany, " rcguli novcm ex divcrsis gentibus," &c. nine petty kings came from divers nations, and threw themselves at his feet; as he himself wrote to the senate of Home, in a letter which is there recorded. In which he calls them novcm reges, nine kings.

Joshua 12:1

jl\ OW these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land. Before he gives an account of the division of the land, he thinks fit to lay before every one’s eyes, as in a table, the land they had conquered; which was to bedivided. On the other side Jordan, towards the rising of the sun.] There they began their conquests, before they passed over Jordan. From the river Arnon, unto Mount Ilermon.] So the bounds of this conquest are described by Moses, Deut. iii. 8. iv. 48. (See there.) And all the plain on the east.] That is, on the east of Jordan, (see Deut.’ i. 1.) called the plain of Moab, Deut. xxxiv* 1.

Joshua 12:2

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. He was the first king whose land they conquered and possessed. (See Numb, xxi.) And ruled from Aroer, which is upon the banks of the river Arnon.] See Numb. xxi. 24. And from the middle of the river.] In which stood the city called Aroer. For Ar never was in the hands of Sihon; but his kingdom was bounded by it, on that side. (See Deut. ii. 3G. iii. 1G.) And from Juilf Gilead.] In the Hebrew, and Jialf of Gilead; there being nothing toanswer to the word from: which being left out, the sense is plain, that half of the country of Gilead belonged to Sihon, as the other half did to Og, (ver. 5.) To the river Jabbok, which is tlie border of the children of Ammon.] Thus his country is constantly described; particularly in Numb. xxi. 24. Deut. iii. 16.

Joshua 12:3

And from the plain, &c. There is nothing answering to the word from in the Hebrew; which may most clearly be translated, and the plain: and so the LXX. only retaining the word araba, which wo translate plain. This was another part of-Sihon’s country, a great plain, which lay eastward of the sea of Cinneroth, and the salt sea; by which it was bounded on the west. The way to Beth-Jeshimoth.] Which, by the next words, is thought to have lain towards the south/ And from the south, under Ashdod-Pisgah.] The meaning seems to be, that on tlie south it was bounded by Ashdod- Pisgah. (See Deut. iii. 17.) I do but touch these things, leaving them to a very learned friend and brother of.mine, who hath most accuratelyconsidered every part and place of this country.

Joshua 12:4

And the coast of Og king of Bashan. The next conquest they made was of the kingdom of Og, wh# M’as of the remnant of the giants. (See Dcut. iii. 11.) That dwelt at Ashtaroth and Edrei.] Sec Deut. i. 4. Some would gather from this “place, and from xiii. 12. that’i/ 1 iPllwf ^^ww CHAP. XII.] UPON JOSHUA. he had two royal seats, one at Ashtaroth, another at Edrei; and that he lired sometimes in the one, and sometimes in the other. *.

Joshua 12:5

And reigned in Mount Hermon. At the bottom of which some other people lived, who were conquered by Joshua, (xi. 17.) And in Salcah.] This was one of. his cities, in that part Of his kingdom which was next to Hermon, as some conjecture from xiii. 12. But others think it was in the southern part of this country, possessed afterward by the GaditeS; which they gather from 1 Chron. v. 11, 12. 16. And all Bashan, unto the border, &c] See an aecbunt of this, and of all that follows in this verse, Deut. iii. 13, 14.

Joshua 12:6

Tliem did Moses, the sei-vant of the Lord, and the children of Israel, smite. These two kings, were conquered by Moses before they came into Canaan, (Numb, xxi.) And Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and Gadiles, and the half tribe of Manasseh.] See Numb, xxxii. and Deut. iii. 12. xiii. 8. He gives Moses the title of the servant of the Lord twice in this verse, to make them sensible that this war against the two kings beforenamed was made by Divine authority; and that their land was afterward given to the Reubenites, &c. by the same authority.

Joshua 12:7

And these are the kings. They that follow in the rest of the chapter. Of the country which Joshua and the children qf Israel sfnote on this side Jordan.] In the late wars, beforementioned in this book. On the west.] Westward of Jordan. From Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon, even unto the Mount Halak, which goeth vp to Seir.] This was the northern and southern bqands of the country of these kings. (See-xi.17.).;.,…. Which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession, according to their divisions.] Unto the rest of the tribes, who -had not their share on the other side Jordan, (xi.,23.)

Joshua 12:8

In the mountains) and in the valleys, and. in the plains. This is a description of the condition of the country; in which valleys and plains differ only in this, that the former were such as lay between mountains, and the latter, the flat country, which was remote from mountains. And in the springs.] Which commonly were at the foot of mountains. And in the wilderness, and in the south country.] These tire joined together, because their wildernesses were southerly, in the hottest and driest part of the land: whereby we are not to understand countries without people; but that were thinly peopled, in comparison with other parts of the land. For we read of houses and towns in the wilderness, lKingsix.18.xi.34. The Hivites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, &c] This may relate either to the kings, or the countries, forementioncd.

Joshua 12:9

The king of Jericho, one. He is first mentioned,‘because first conquered. (TJte king ofAi.] He was the next. Whichis beside Beth-el, one.) The people, of which place came to assist the king of Ai; and were conquered.at the same time, (viii. 17.) Vtfr.10. 17ie king of Jerusalem, one.”] Who was the next •that opposed Joshua, and therefore. next mentioned, (x. 1.) The king of Hebron, one.] He, and the three next, the kings of Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, (ver. 11, 12.) joined’ with tho king of Jerusalem, and were vanquished at the - same time.

Joshua 12:12

Tlie king of Gezer, one. He came out to help Lachish, and was smitten at the same time, (x, 33.)

Joshua 12:13

The king of Debir, one. Mentioned x; 38. The king of Geder, one.] We read not of him before; but we find several towns in the tribe of Judah of the same or neighbouring name, viz. Gederah, and Gederoth, and Gederothaim, and Geder, (xv. 3G. 41. 56. 2 Chron. xxviii. 18.) All which, as Bochartus observes, have their name a sepimento, from the fence that was about them, (lib. i. Canaan, cap. 36.)

Joshua 12:14

The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad^ one. We have no mention of these kings before; but we know that Hormah was a city in the tribe of Judah, (xv. 30. Judg. i. 17. 1 Sam. xxx. 30.) and afterward given to Simeon. (Josh. xix. 4.) Arad also was a place in the tribe of Judah, as appears by the story in Judg. i. 16.

Joshua 12:15

The king of Libnah, one. Mentioned before, (x. 29.) The king of Adullam, one.’) This w r as a city in the same tribe of Judah, (xv. 35. 1 Sam. xxii. 1.)

Joshua 12:16

The king of MakkedaJi, one. Seex. 26. The king ofBetlwl, one.] We read not of any king her£ before; but it seems there was one depending upon Ai^ (viii. 17.)

Joshua 12:17

And the king of Tappuah, one. There were two cities of this name; oneinthe tribe of Judah, (xv.34.) the other in the tribe of Ephraim, (xvii. 8.) It is probable the latter is here ineaut; because the king of it is’mentioned next to the king of Beth-el, which, was in the confines of Benjamin and Ephraim. And immediately follows the king of Hepher; which was a place not far off, in the trihe of Zcbulun. TJie king of Hepher, one.] We read of the land of Hepher ^ in 1 Kings iv. 10. Which St. Jerome saith was in the tribe of Zebulun, near Sephorim, or Diocoesarea.

Joshua 12:18

ThekingofAphek. There were two Apheks in this country which Joshua conquered, one in the tribe of Judah, (xiii. 53. 1 Sam. ix. 1. xxix. 1.) another.in the tribe of Ashcr, (Josh. xix. 53.) Which of them is here intended, cannot certainly be determined. The king of Lassaron, one.] This place is never named any where else in Scripture. But I take it for Saron (as the Vulgar Latin here doth, leaving out the first syllable), which was a city near Lydda, as we learn from Acts ix. 35. And.the country about it, was very pleasant and fruitful, (Isa. jxxxiii. 9. xxxv. 2.) There was, another Saron also on the other side of Jordan, in the east, in the country of the Gaditcs, (1 Chron. v. 16.) of which.some think the prophet Isaiah speaks, lxv. 10. Ver.JO. Theking of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one.] Both these arc mentioned before,.as conquered by Joshua, (xi. 1.)

Joshua 12:20

The king of Shimron-Meron, one; the king of Achshaph^ one. These two are mentioned in the same place, (xi. 1.) And Shimron was in the tribe of Zebulun; and Achshaph in the tribe of AsKer, (xix. 15.25.) The former. hath, the addition of JMeron to it in this place, to •.distinguish it from some otherShimron; which some think