Joshua 12:2 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joshua 12:2

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon ,.... Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, Numbers 21:26 , and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon ; a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it: and from the middle of the river ; that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joshua 12:2

From Aroer - Aroer was situated on the western side of the river Arnon, in the middle of the valley through which this river takes its course. The kingdom of Sihon extended from the river Arnon and the city of Aroer on the south to the river Jabbok on the north. And from half Gilead - The mountains of Gilead extended from north to south from Mount Hermon towards the source of the river Arnon, which was about the midst of the extent of the kingdom of Sihon: thus Sihon is said to have... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 12:1-24

The extent of the conquest. A few detached considerations occur to us here. I. GOD WELL NOT BE WORSE THAN HIS WORD . The reduction of the whole land had not yet been effected, but it had been rendered possible if Israel were disposed to follow up his advantage. The list of cities captured covers nearly the whole extent of Palestine, and Canaan had been deprived of all capacity of resistance. So it is with the Christian who has entered into covenant with God. The mastery... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joshua 12:2

T he river Jabbok. Literally, the pouring or emptying stream. It is remarkable that, while the LXX . renders here by χείμαρρος , a winter torrent, it steadily renders the same Hebrew word, when referring to Aruon, by φάραγξ . This latter word indicates the rocky cleft through which the water flows; the former, the fact that, though rapid and impetuous in winter, it was usually dried up in summer. Cf. the term χείμαρρος , applied to the Kedron by St. John ( Joshua 18:1 ); a... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joshua 12:1-6

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 12:2From 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 12:3From 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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Joshua 12:1-2

Joshua 12:1-2. These are the kings of the land This summary account of Israel’s conquests comes in here not only as a conclusion of the history of the wars of Canaan, that we might at one view see what they had gotten; but as a preface to the history of the dividing of Canaan, that all those territories might be placed together before the reader’s view, which they were now to make the distribution of. All the plain on the east That is, on the east of Jordan, called the plain, Deuteronomy... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Joshua 12:1-24

Summary of Israel’s conquests (11:16-12:24)Now that Israel controlled all the territory that was to become its homeland, the writer summarizes the entire conquest. First he summarizes Joshua’s conquest of all the area west of Jordan (i.e. Canaan itself), where nine and a half tribes were to receive their inheritance (16-23). Then he summarizes the former conquest in the time of Moses, when Israel gained control of the territory east of Jordan, where two and a half tribes had already been... read more

E.W. Bullinger