Matthew Henry on Joshua 12:7–end
We have here a breviate of Joshua's conquests.
I. The limits of the country he conquered. It lay between Jordan on the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and extended from Baal-gad near Lebanon in the north to Halak, which lay upon the country of Edom in the south, v. 7. The boundaries are more largely described, Num 34:2, etc. But what is here said is enough to show that God had been as good as his word, and had given them possession of all he had promised them by Moses, if they would but have kept it.
II. The various kinds of land that were found in this country, which contributed both to its pleasantness and to its fruitfulness, Jos 12:8. There were mountains, not craggy, and roc…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joshua 12:7
THE ONE AND THIRTY KINGS ON THE WEST SIDE OF JORDAN, WHICH JOSHUA SMOTE. (Jos. 12:7-24)
Baal-gad . . . even unto . . . Halak--(See on Jos 11:17). A list of thirty-one chief towns is here given; and, as the whole land contained a superficial extent of only fifteen miles in length by fifty in breadth, it is evident that these capital cities belonged to petty and insignificant kingdoms. With a few exceptions, they were not the scenes of any important events recorded in the sacred history, and therefore do not require a particular notice.
Next: Joshua Chapter 13
Adam Clarke on Joshua 12:13
The king of Geder - Probably the same with Gedor, Jos 15:58; it was situated in the tribe of Judah.
John Gill on Joshua 12:13
The king of Debir, one,.... The same with Kirjathsepher, of which place; see Gill on Joshua 10:38,
the king of Geder, one: Jerom (h) seems to confound this with the tower of Eder, beyond which Jacob pitched his tent, Genesis 35:21; and he speaks of a Gaddera in the tribe of Judah, in his time a village belonging to the country about Aelia or Jerusalem, and of Gahedur in the tribe of Judah, a large village, ten miles from Diospolis or Lydda, as you go to Eleutheropolis: it seems to be the same with Gederah, Joshua 15:36, or Gedor, Joshua 15:58.
(h) De loc. Heb. fol. 92. A. B.
