UNROLL
Early morning over the wide Jezreel Valley: green and gold fields, mist, and several small walled towns on their own mounds along the valley’s edges, with the rounded shape of Mount Tabor far off.

The Book of

Joshua 12

A list of kings is a list of promises kept. Israel wrote down every one.

24 verses≈ 3 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–5Crossing overInto the land
  2. 6–12Taking the landThe LORD fights for IsraelChapter 12
  3. 13–21Dividing the landAn inheritance for each tribe
  4. 22–24Choose this dayServe the LORD

The Kings Defeated East of the Jordan

Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:

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At evening, a small walled town of rough stone and mud brick on a low hill on the open tableland of Moab, its one wooden gate standing open, wheat fields and a road climbing to it, no one in sight.

The kings

Two kings east of the Jordan

  1. Sihon

    Sihon, king in Heshbon

    Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

  2. Aroer to the Jabbok: half of Gilead

    He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,

  3. The Arabah to the slopes of Pisgah

    as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

  4. Og

    Og, of the remnant of the Rephaim

    And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

  5. Hermon, Bashan and half of Gilead

    He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Joshua 12:6

Reflect

Write it down

Israel did not leave its victories to memory. It wrote them down by name: Sihon, Og, and every king the LORD had given into their hand. Make your own list. Write down, one line each, the things God has already done for you: prayers answered, dangers passed, people He sent, the day you came to know Him. Keep the list where you will see it on a hard day. Then thank Him for each line.

The Kings Defeated West of the Jordan

From a high ridge of the hill country at dawn, the land falls away west in fold after fold: terraced hills, the low foothills, and the coastal plain to a pale line of sea.

And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance the hill country, the foothills, the Arabah, the slopes, the wilderness, and the Negev—the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites):

0:26

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The southern hill country on a clear morning: several small walled towns, each on its own hilltop, with terraced vineyards and olive groves on the slopes between and a track linking them.

The kings

Sixteen kings: center and south

  1. The first

    Jericho; Ai, near Bethel

    the king of Jericho, one;

    the king of Ai, which is near Bethel, one;

  2. The south

    Jerusalem; Hebron

    the king of Jerusalem, one;

    the king of Hebron, one;

  3. Jarmuth; Lachish

    the king of Jarmuth, one;

    the king of Lachish, one;

  4. Eglon; Gezer

    the king of Eglon, one;

    the king of Gezer, one;

  5. Debir; Geder

    the king of Debir, one;

    the king of Geder, one;

  6. The Negev

    Hormah; Arad

    the king of Hormah, one;

    the king of Arad, one;

  7. The foothills

    Libnah; Adullam

    the king of Libnah, one;

    the king of Adullam, one;

  8. Foothills to hills

    Makkedah; Bethel

    the king of Makkedah, one;

    the king of Bethel, one;

JerichoAiJerusalemHebronLachishArad (site uncertain)TirzahMegiddoDorHazor

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Kings Joshua defeated: a selection

West of the Jordan the list runs to thirty-one kings, from the Negev in the south to Hazor in the north. Ten of their towns are shown here: Jericho and Ai first, Jerusalem, Hebron and Lachish in the south, Arad in the Negev, Tirzah in the center, Megiddo and Dor in the north-west, Hazor in the far north. Sihon and Og, the two kings east of the Jordan, are on the map in Numbers 21. The sites of Ai and of Canaanite Arad are uncertain.

The mound of Megiddo at morning: a small walled town of mud brick on its steep rise above the green Jezreel Valley, with the long ridge of Carmel behind.

The kings

Fifteen kings: center and north

  1. The center

    Tappuah; Hepher

    the king of Tappuah, one;

    the king of Hepher, one;

  2. The Sharon plain

    Aphek; Lasharon

    the king of Aphek, one;

    the king of Lasharon, one;

  3. The north

    Madon; Hazor

    the king of Madon, one;

    the king of Hazor, one;

  4. Shimron-meron; Achshaph

    the king of Shimron-meron, one;

    the king of Achshaph, one;

  5. Jezreel and Carmel

    Taanach; Megiddo

    the king of Taanach, one;

    the king of Megiddo, one;

  6. Kedesh; Jokneam in Carmel

    the king of Kedesh, one;

    the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;

  7. The coast

    Dor; Goiim in Gilgal

    the king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one;

    the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;

  8. The center

    Tirzah

    and the king of Tirzah, one.

So there were thirty-one kings in all.

Question

Quick question

The list west of the Jordan goes king by king, town by town, each one counted with the same word: one. At the end it adds them up.

How many kings west of the Jordan does the list count?

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Joshua 12

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A verse to carry with you

Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Joshua 12:6

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