Joshua 12

This chapter concludes the conquest narrative in the first half of Joshua. After Joshua 11 closes with the defeat of the northern coalition and the statement that "the land rested from war," this chapter gathers the conquered kings into a single record. Joshua 13 then begins the account of the land's distribution.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 record the territories of the two kings east of the Jordan whom Moses and Israel defeated: Sihon, king of the Amorites at Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan. Moses gave this land as an inheritance (a portion of land to be passed down through the generations) to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
• Verses 7–8 describe the land west of the Jordan that Joshua conquered, from Baal-gad to Mount Halak. It was the land of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and the text adds that Joshua gave it to the tribes according to their divisions.
• Verses 9–24 list the kings by name in the formula "the king of …, one," from the king of Jericho to the king of Tirzah, concluding that there were thirty-one kings in all.

Key Verses

• Joshua 12:6 "Them did Moses the servant of the LORD … smite: and Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession" — This links the eastern conquest under Moses with the western conquest under Joshua.
• Joshua 12:24 "All the kings thirty and one" — This summarizes the entire war of conquest in a single number.

People and Places

• Joshua: the leader who directed the conquest west of the Jordan.
• Sihon: the Amorite king who dwelt in Heshbon. The account of his defeat appears in Numbers 21.
• Og: king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and Edrei.
• The Jordan River serves as the boundary dividing east from west.
• The western list includes Jericho, Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethel, Megiddo, Hazor, and others.

Points for Reflection

The list generally follows the order of conquest in the preceding chapters: Jericho and Ai come first, followed by the southern coalition and then the northern coalition. However, it also includes a number of cities for which no battle account appears in the earlier chapters. Here "king" refers to the ruler of a single city.

Although this chapter summarizes the conquest as though it were complete, the very next verse, 13:1, states that "there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." Interpreters explain the relationship between these two statements in different ways. This chapter is not directly quoted anywhere in the New Testament.