20140208 Saturday, February 8 2014
Joshua 12: The Kings Of Canaan

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"These are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west"

Most ancient cities (as well as those only a few centuries old in the continents of North and South America) originated from family encampments (i.e. "national"; nation means nativity, a family of birth) that developed sovereign (local "sole reign," in contrast to "far reign" i.e. "foreign") boundaries (see Genesis 10: The First Nations Of The New World).

The origin of the word "king" (in both English and Hebrew) meant the father of a kin - a patriarch; so hence the unadulterated meaning of the word patriotism. Early cities had "kings" of "nations." All of the terms, as well as the people from which the terms were based, are related.

Israel itself is the prime Biblical example, from a family to a multitude (see Genesis 46: The First Census Of Israel, Exodus 1: I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nation and Numbers 1: The First Sinai Census).

When the Israelites captured the land that the LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) had promised to Abraham centuries before (see Genesis 17: From Abram To Abraham, Camped Out In Canaan and the Abraham biography series beginning with A Biography Of Abraham: The Genealogy Of Abram), they did so by defeating those kings that refused to join the meaning and purpose of "Israel" (see Deuteronomy 20: Articles Of War).

"Israel" was created, by the LORD (see Genesis 32: The Origin Of Israel), as a national prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God in which people of all nations may be born as children of God (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16? and The Church: Mission Accomplished). "Israel" originated by and from the nations that existed before them, first by being created from those "foreign" people (i.e. Abraham was an Iraqi; all of the Israelite tribal patriarchs, including Judah, were born in Syria of Iraqi-Syrian mothers; see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq, A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria; also Genesis 38: The First Jews) and then from the time of the Exodus when a "mixed multitude" accompanied them (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Exodus), then in the Sinai (Moses married and had children with a foreign woman; see Moses And Zipporah) and then into the land of Canaan itself (e.g. Rahab, the Canaanite woman of Jericho; see Joshua 2: Rahab Of Jericho and What Does The Bible Really Say About Canaanites?).

The conquest began by Moses east of the Jordan River ("Them did Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel smite: and Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh," verse 6, below; see Numbers 32: The Israel Of East Jordan) and was completed by Joshua west of the Jordan River ("And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west," verse 7, below).

"12:1 Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east: 12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; 12:3 And from the plain to the sea of Chinneroth on the east, and unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea on the east, the way to Bethjeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdothpisgah:

12:4 And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 12:5 And reigned in mount Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

12:6 Them did Moses the servant of the LORD and the children of Israel smite: and Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession unto the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

12:7 And these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west, from Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon even unto the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir; which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; 12:8 In the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country; the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

12:9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;

12:10 The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;

12:11 The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

12:12 The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;

12:13 The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;

12:14 The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;

12:15 The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

12:16 The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;

12:17 The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

12:18 The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;

12:19 The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;

12:20 The king of Shimronmeron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

12:21 The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

12:22 The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;

12:23 The king of Dor in the coast of Dor, one; the king of the nations of Gilgal, one;

12:24 The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one." (Joshua 12:1-24 KJV)

Fact Finder: The city of Jerusalem was not taken by the Israelites during the time of Joshua (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Joshua), nor during the next two to three centuries after Joshua during the time of the Judges and Samuel (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Judges and Israel In History and Prophecy: Samuel). Did Jerusalem only become an Israelite city after Israel's civil war between Saul and David? What Canaanite nation held Jerusalem for all those centuries until the LORD commanded King David to take it?
See A History Of Jerusalem: Jebus Of Canaan, Israel In History and Prophecy: Saul and David and Israel In History and Prophecy: The Civil War