Joshua 12:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Joshua 12:1
Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
children
בְנֵֽיve.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
smote
הִכּ֤וּhi.Ku
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural
possessed
וַיִּֽרְשׁ֣וּvai.yir.Shu
H3423
to occupy (by driving out previous tenants · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
land
אַרְצָ֔ם'ar.Tzam
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
side
בְּעֵ֥בֶרbe.'E.ver
H5676
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Jordan
הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ןhai.yar.Den
H3383
Jarden · definite article + proper noun, a place name
rising
מִזְרְחָ֣הmiz.re.Chah
H4217
sunrise · noun, common masculine singular construct + directional suffix
sun
הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁha.Sha.mesh
H8121
the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
river
מִנַּ֤חַלmi.Na.chal
H5158
a stream · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Arnon
אַרְנוֹן֙'ar.nOn
H769
the Arnon · proper noun, a place name
mount
הַ֣רhar
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
Hermon
חֶרְמ֔וֹןcher.Mon
H2768
Chermon · proper noun, a place name
plain
הָעֲרָבָ֖הha.'a.ra.Vah
H6160
a desert · definite article + proper noun, a place name
east
מִזְרָֽחָהmiz.Ra.chah
H4217
sunrise · noun, common masculine singular absolute + directional suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 3:8-9 And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unt…
Numbers 21:13 From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites:…
Numbers 21:24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the bor…
Joshua 1:15 Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth the…
Judges 11:18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of…
Deuteronomy 2:24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and h…
Deuteronomy 4:48 From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
Joshua 11:3 And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Joshua 12:1-6
Joshua, or whoever else is the historian before he comes to sum up the new conquests Israel had made, in these verses receives their former conquests in Moses's time, under whom they became masters of the great and potent kingdoms of Sihon and Og. Note, Fresh mercies must not drown the remembrance of former mercies, nor must the glory of the present instruments of good to the church be suffered to eclipse and diminish the just honour of those who have gone before them, and who were the blessings and ornaments of their day. Joshua's services and achievements are confessedly great, but let not those under Moses be overlooked and forgotten, since God was the same who wrought both, and both put…
From the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon - Arnon was the boundary of all the southern coast of the land occupied by the Israelites beyond Jordan; and the mountains of Hermon were the boundaries on the north. Arnon takes its rise in the mountains of Gilead, and having run a long way from north to south falls into the Dead Sea, near the same place into which Jordan discharges itself.
And all the plain on the east - All the land from the plains of Moab to Mount Hermon.
John Gill on Joshua 12:1
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 3:8; and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan.
John Calvin on Joshua 12:1–end
NOW these are the kings, etc This chapter does not need a lengthened exposition, as it only enumerates the kings of whose territories the Israelites gained possession. Two of them are beyond the Jordan, Og and Sihon, whose rule was extensive; in the land of Canaan there are thirty-one. But though each of those now summarily mentioned was previously given more in detail, there is very good reason for here placing before our eyes as it were a living picture of the goodness of God, proving that there had been a complete ratification and performance of the covenant made with Abraham as given in the words, "Unto thy seed will I give this land." (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 15:18) This li…
The Church Fathers
Whoever believes in me will also do the works which I do, and will do even greater ones. And where is this word which he said, "The disciple is not greater than his master" [illustrated]? For example, Moses killed only three kings, but Joshua killed thirty. [Moses] persevered in prayer, made supplication, but did not enter [the promised land]. It was Joshua rather who entered and shared out the inheritance. Likewise, Samuel was greater than Eli, and Elisha received a double portion of his master's spirit after his ascension, like the Lord our Savior, for his disciples effected twice through their signs.
Therefore, in the end, neither are many enemies nor several kings of the hostile powers said to have been cast down by them. He says only that they cast down "Sihon, king of the Amorites," and "Og, king of Bashan," and the Amalekites across the Jordan. But Jesus, where he leads the army, now "five kings" fall together, who "had fled into the caves," and not only do they fall, but they are also "hanged upon the tree"; now "twenty-nine" are slaughtered together, and immense multitudes of the opposing army are laid low, and all are exterminated who possess the holy land in uncleanness, who hold "the land flowing with milk and honey" in the bitterness of malice.
And if "a wise man shall understand the words from his own mouth and shall hear knowledge on his lips," we must either declare rashly that the prophets were not wise, if they have not understood "the words from their own mouth," or admit that the prophets were wise, because they have received what is correct and true and have understood "the words from their own mouth" and borne knowledge on their lips. It is clear that Moses saw in his mind the truth of the law and the allegorical meanings related to the anagogical sense of the stories he recorded, and that Joshua understood the true distribution of land which took place after the overthrow of the twenty-nine kings, since he could see better than us that the things accomplished through himself were shadows of certain realities.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arnon — Swift, the southern boundary of the territory of Israel beyond Jordan, separating it from the land of Moab (Deut. 3:8, 16). This river (referred to twenty-four times in the Bible) rises in the…
Chinnereth — Lyre, the singular form of the word (Deut. 3:17; Josh. 19:35), which is also used in the plural form, Chinneroth, the name of a fenced city which stood near the shore of the lake of Galilee, a little…
City — The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12). Next, we have…
Hermon — A peak, the eastern prolongation of the Anti-Lebanon range, reaching to the height of about 9,200 feet above the Mediterranean. It marks the north boundary of Palestine (Deut. 3:8, 4:48; Josh. 11:3,…
Jabbok — A pouring out, or a wrestling, one of the streams on the east of Jordan, into which it falls about midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, or about 45 miles below the Sea of Galilee. It…
Arnon · Boundary between Moabites and Amorites — Boundary between Moabites and Amorites
Canaan · After the conquest by Joshua — After the conquest by Joshua
Rivers · Mentioned in scripture: Arnon — Mentioned in scripture: Arnon
Sun, The · The Jews: Expressed the east by rising of — The Jews: Expressed the east by rising of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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).
Jos 12:2-3
On Sihon and his kingdom, see Num 21:24; Deu 2:36; Deu 3:16-17. "Aror 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 o…
This chapter summarizes Israel’s conquests on both sides of the Jordan and transitions to Joshua’s distribution of the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel (ch 13).
12:1 The Arnon River flows into the Dead Sea midway down its eastern side, creating the Arnon Gorge. Israel began its conquests here (see Num 21:13-15, 21-35). • Mount Hermon lies twenty-five miles north-northeast of the Sea of Galilee.
Rashi on Joshua 12:1
That the Bnei Yisroel struck. In the days [lifetime] of Moshe.
