Joshua 12:1

“Now these [are] the kings of the land which the children of Israel smote, etc.] 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, (<042113>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, (<050308>Deuteronomy 3:8,9); and the plain on the east were the plains of Moab, which lay to the east of Jordan.”

“THE TWO KINGS WHOSE COUNTRIES MOSES TOOK AND DISPOSED OF. (Jos 12:1-6) Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan--This chapter contains a recapitulation of the conquests made in the promised land, with the additional mention of some places not formerly noted in the sacred history. The river Arnon on the south and mount Hermon on the north were the respective boundaries of the land acquired by the Israelites beyond Jordan (see Num 21:21-24; Deu 2:36; Deu 3:3-16 [and see on Deu 2:24]).”

“All the plain on the east - i. e. the Arabah or depressed tract along the east bank of Jordan, the modern El-Ghor (see Numbers 22:1). Joshua 12:2 From the middle of the river - i. e. as appears from Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:16, “from the city that is in the midst of the river;” namely,, Ar Moab (see Deuteronomy 2:36). Joshua 12:3 From the plain - Render “over the plain;” for the words describe not one of the boundaries of Sihon’s kingdom, but part of the territory included in it, i. e. the eastern portion of the Ghor, between the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Plain on the east - On the east of Jordan, called the plain, Deu 1:1. Joshua 12:2”

“12:1-24 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.”

“on the other: Jos 1:15, Jos 22:4 from the: Num 21:13, Num 21:24; Deu 2:24; Jdg 11:18; Isa 16:2, unto the mount, Jos 11:3, Jos 11:17; Deu 3:8, Deu 3:9, Deu 4:48; Psa 133:3 Joshua 12:2”

“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…”