SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CONQUESTS
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Joshua 12:1. The river Arnon] Now known as Wâdy el Modjeb. Before the war, it separated between the Moabites and the Amorites of Eastern Palestine; it afterwards became the boundary between Moab and Israel. The river falls into the Dead Sea, and is described by Josephus as rising in the mountains of Arabia. Mount Hermon] Forming the southern extremity in the range of Anti-Lebanon, and thought to be about ten thousand feet high. It was famous for its appearance, and for its “dews” (Psalms 133:3). It is thought by some to have been the scene of the Transfiguration.
Joshua 12:2. Heshbon] Situated about twenty miles east of the Jordan, and near the boundary between Reuben and Gad. The ruins are more than a mile in circumference. The “fishpools in Heshbon” are named in Song of Solomon 7:4. Sihon had taken this city from the Moabites (Numbers 21:26), into whose possession it afterwards again came. Aroer] This city stood on the northern bank of the Arnon (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 4:48). There were two other places of the same name; one assigned to Gad (chap. Joshua 13:25), and another in the south of Judah (1 Samuel 30:26-28). Half Gilead] The whole of Gilead reached from the Arnon to Bashan; the brook Jabbok, famous in the history of Jacob, dividing the territory about equally.
Joshua 12:3. The way to Beth-jeshimoth] i.e., “towards Beth-jeshimoth,” which was in the plains of Moab, near the place where the Jordan flowed into the Dead Sea, and to which point eastwards the Arabah extended. From the south under Ashdoth-pisgah] Or “towards the south under the slopes of Pisgah,” thus marking the southern extremity of the Arabah. The word “Ashdoth” is probably not a proper name, and should not be taken, as by Dr. Clarke, to indicate a city. It is a deriv. of “’eshed” = “a pouring out.” “A pouring out (of streams), a low place at the foot of mountains (Joshua 10:40; Joshua 12:8).” With “Pisgah” = “the roots (or springs) of Pisgah (Deuteronomy 3:17; Deuteronomy 4:49; Joshua 13:20).” [Gesen.] This word does not occur excepting in the Peutateuch and in the book of Joshua, whereas, on the theory of the “Jehovists” (cf. Art. on chap. Joshua 10:12-15), it would seem natural to find it occasionally, up to the time of Hezekiah, or even to the captivity, instead of its being so consistently confined to these earlier books of Scripture. Had it grown obsolete, “the Jehovist near to the Assyrian period” should have modernized it from his “Elohim documents.” As it is, it looks somewhat like “a footprint on the sands” of its own time.
Joshua 12:4. The coast of Og, king of Bashan] “The expressed intention (Joshua 12:1) was to give a list of the conquered kings, but here the kingdom is mentioned instead of Og the king.” [Masius] Og also ruled over the northern part of Gilead (Joshua 12:5), although his title refers to Bashan only. Dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei] Not “the remnant of the Rephaim,” but Og, who resided at times in either city. Perhaps Ashtaroth is the Ashteroth-Karnaim of Genesis 14:5, but this is very uncertain (cf. Smith’s Bib. Dict.) In Deuteronomy 1:4 we have “Ashtaroth in Edrei,” yet these were evidently two cities (Joshua 13:12; Joshua 13:31; 1 Chronicles 6:71). Edrei is only named in Scripture in connection with the victory of Moses, but it is mentioned repeatedly in profane history.
Joshua 12:5. Salcah] Now called Sŭlkhad, situated at the south of the Jebel Hauran. Burckhardt places it at about seven hours’ journey from Bozra. The Geshurites and the Maachathites] Geshur was probably at the north or north-east of Bashan, adjoining Argob (Deuteronomy 3:14), afterwards called Trachonitis. Maachah seems to have been an adjoining province. The children of Ammon hired a detachment of Maachathites against David (2 Samuel 10:6). Absalom’s mother was the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Samuel 3:3). After the murder of Amnon, Absalom fled to Talmai for refuge (2 Samuel 13:37).
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE PARAGRAPHS
Joshua 12:1-6. THE RECORDS OF THE PAST.
The summary contained in this paragraph is—
I. The record of a good man’s work, the worker having long gone to his rest. The victories on the east of Jordan had been won under Moses. At the time when this history was written, Moses had been dead at least several years. God remembers the labours of His servants after He has removed those who wrought them to another world. He who caused all scripture to be written for our admonition would have us see that the pious man, “being dead yet speaketh,” and speaketh not only to men, but in the memory of his Maker. God would have us also to remember the works of His departed servants. “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 that have gone before them, and were the blessings and ornaments of their day. Joshua’s services and achievements are confessedly great, but let not those under Moses be overlooked and forgotten.” [Henry.] In the midst of his greatest honour, the true servant of the Lord will sometimes love to think of the foundation laid for his own work by the honourable service of others who preceded him.
II. The record of mighty works wrought by Divine power and Divine patience. The work of overthrowing Sihon and Og was, after all that may be said of the instruments, not the work of Moses, or Joshua, but the work of God. God prepared the Israelites for those great conflicts in several ways.
1. By the encouragement of a preceding victory (cf. Numbers 21:1-3).
2. By severe discipline on the way (Numbers 21:4-6).
3. By great mercies on the way. The brazen serpent. The gift of water, and the song at Beer.
4. By direct promises of triumph over both Sihon and Og (Deuteronomy 2:31-33; Deuteronomy 3:2-3). Thus were the people prepared by Divine patience, and helped by Divine power when the time of battle came.
III. A record made in brief chronicles which state results but omit the process. Even the fuller accounts given in Numbers and Deuteronomy tell us but few of the details. What fears, what hopes, what disappointments, what pain of some and gladness of others are necessarily omitted from the record! All history is more or less like that. Men can never set down anything but the prominent, and much which they think obscure is probably more noteworthy to God than that which they deem sufficiently important to be written. Our powers are too limited for anything more than a brief epitome of what we call life’s greatest events. But what are the “great events” of life? To our keener penetration and calmer estimate, everything is great—so great that, with our limited perception, all things seem great alike, when once we fairly confront them.
“There is no great and no small
To the soul that maketh all:
And where it cometh all things are;
And it cometh everywhere.”
Emerson.
And yet we go on epitomising and making abstracts of life, and needs must go on. With our straightened powers, it is the only way possible of getting the majesty of the past into the present. We have to transport it in fragments which are selected by the fancy of the moment, and then we name the fragments “history.” We call Chapter s like this before us “summaries”; to God our fullest histories cannot be even worthy of that poor name, albeit it so humbly confesses its own weakness. To the mind of the Infinite, our amplest records can only be summaries of life with the sum of life’s events left out. How glorious in its fulness and awful in its truth must be that “Book of Life” in the mind of the God of all the ages in which every thought and word and deed of men is accurately and completely written!
IV. A record which has regard not only to the glory of victory but also the glory of faithfulness. In the eyes of true Wisdom there are things greater than the taking of cities. The Israelites had found the territory on the east of Jordan a truly noble possession. The land was well suited to enrich a people hoping soon to settle down to quieter habits of life (Numbers 32:1; Numbers 32:4). The rest of the people, in the hour of victory, might feel some desire to share this fertile tract of country. But even these brief chronicles put faithfully on record, at the very time for dividing the spoil, the promise which had been made to the two and a half tribes (Joshua 12:6). These tribes had kept their word to Moses (Numbers 32:16-18); the rest of the people here indicate their readiness to fulfil the word of Moses to their brethren. No triumphs over others are so noble as our victories over ourselves. That nation is blessed indeed whose chronicles show its victories over itself, and its willingness to be subject to its own word.
V. A record thus briefly chronicled in its results to be presently rendered into heart-stirring song. The history here merely states the facts. The first five verses are almost entirely geographical notes of the territory taken; and the last verse hardly does more than tell us to whom the territory was to be given. The only expression which alludes to the conquest is the statement, in the first and sixth verses, that “the children of Israel smote and possessed the land.” Centuries afterwards the facts were embodied in two of the national songs of praise, in language of warm-hearted thanksgiving and gladness (cf. Psalms 135:10-13; Psalms 136:17-24). Are there not many events in our personal and national experience which, lying now in the past, with hardly a note to record them or a memory to recall them, shall presently be celebrated in joyful song before the throne of God itself? Meanwhile, let each of us learn to sing, even here, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”