Joshua 12:1-6 | The Way of Scripture

Joshua 12:1-6

Why does the list begin with victories under Moses?

Berean Standard Bible

1 Now these are the kings of the land whom the Israelites struck down and whose lands they took beyond the Jordan to the east, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead, 3 as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah. 4 And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei. 5 He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

What is the context?

The inventory first recalls the territory east of the Jordan taken from Sihon and Og. The rivers, seas, and neighboring borders locate the lands described as their kingdoms.

Moses and Israel defeated these kings, and the land was given to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. Their inheritance is included in the same account as the later victories west of the river.

The list connects the work under Moses with the work under Joshua. The eastern tribes’ portion is not treated as an unrelated acquisition outside Israel’s remembered deliverance.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley emphasizes that later achievements should not erase the memory of earlier ones. The text itself names Moses as the Lord’s servant and recalls his role in assigning the land. Its boundary details serve the account of these inheritances; they do not by themselves establish surveyed modern political borders.

What is our position?

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