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Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Israel struck, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward:
Verse 1. Wilderness. Hebrew “all the plain country (Arabia) on the east.”
Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the children of Ammon;
Verse 2. Galaad. Sehon occupied from the middle of the torrent Arnon, as far as half of the mountains of Galaad, and the torrent Jaboc. Calmet.—Og possessed the other half of the mountains northward, while the Ammonites had the eastern parts. Bible.
and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth Jeshimoth; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:
Verse 3. Bethsimoth is ten miles from Jericho, (Eus.) near the Dead Sea, in the plains of Moab. Calmet.—Phasga. Asedoth lay at the foot of this mountain, being well supplied with water. Subjacet Acedoth usque Phasga, the southern limits of Sehon’s dominions had “abundance of springs, as far as Phasga.” Bible.
and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,
Verse 4. Og. See Numbers 21:33. Deuteronomy 3:11.
and ruled in Mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel struck them. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal Gad in the valley of Lebanon even to Mount Halak, that goes up to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions;
Verse 7. Seir. The same expression occurs, Calmet. 11:17. Hebrew “from Baalgad, in the vale of Libanus, even unto Mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir.” Bible.—Halak means, “bald or naked.” It is not know what mountain it denotes. Josue, ( Calmet.) or the Israelites, ( Bible.) conquered “all the country beyond the Jordan, on the north from Baalgad, at the foot of Libanus, and from Hermon, where these mountains meet, as far as the mountains of separation,” which divide the country of Chanaan from that of Seir, on the south of Judea. Calmet.—Baalgad was situated on the north western borders of this territory, not of the Jordan. Bible.
in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South; the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
Verse 8. Asedoth, or “in the springs,” or valleys, verse 3.
the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
Verse 14. Herma, “a curse,” where the Israelites defeated king Arad. Numbers 14:45 and 21:3.
the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
Verse 15. Odullam, ten miles east of Eleutheropolis, and famous for the retreat of David. Calmet.
the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
Verse 16. Bethel. Josue perhaps slew the king, but did not take the city. Judges 1:22. Menochius.
the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one;
Verse 18. Aphec. A place of this name was in the tribe of Aser, another in that of Juda.—Saron. Hebrew “Lasharon;” probably Sarona, (Acts 9:35,) or a canton near Joppe. Euseb.
the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
Verse 19. Madon, or Maron, Septuagint Calmet. 11:1. This place is joined with Semeron, in Hebrew (verse 20,) improperly. Perhaps it may be the Meros, (Judges 5:23,) or Maronia, a city of Phœnicia.
the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
Verse 21. Thenac, a city of the Levites, but seized afterwards by the Chanaanites. Judges 1:27. It was near the town of Legion, built by the Romans.—Mageddo, where Josias was overcome, 2 Chronicles 35:22. Calmet.
the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
Verse 22. Jachanan was near Mount Carmel. Sometimes Josue specifies both the city and the canton, where it was situated; at other times he only mentions the latter, as in the following verse.
the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;
Verse 23. Galgal, not where the Israelites had encamped, but that part which was afterwards called the Galilee of the Gentiles, in some corner of which the king in question had fixed his residence. For we cannot suppose that he ruled over all that country, extending from Tyre to beyond the Jordan. His people might probably be a mixed multitude of various nations, as Strabo (xvi.) observes, that many parts of Palestine were peopled by men of this description.
the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.
Verse 24. Thersa. Here the kings of Israel kept their court, till Amri built Samaria, ( Calmet.) about nine miles more to the north. Brocard.—One. The two kings slain by Moses ( Worthington.) are not included. Menochius.