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Joshua 12 Bible study: All the kings, thirty-one
Joshua 12 sets Moses' two kings east of the Jordan beside Joshua's thirty-one to the west, each part handing the land on "for a possession" (12:6-7), and counts each western king as "one". It lists kings struck, not cities held: Jerusalem's king is on it (12:10), yet Judah couldn't drive out its Jebusites (15:63). Israel later sang its first names as the LORD's victory (Psalm 136:19-20).
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“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.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“Joshua 15 says the children of Judah couldn't drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem.”
Is that in Joshua 12, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Moses' kings and Joshua's kings
The chapter is two lists, and it opens each one the same way. First: "Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Israel struck" east of the Jordan (12:1), Sihon and Og (12:2-5). Then: "These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck beyond the Jordan westward" (12:7). Each part also says the land was handed on. "Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh" (12:6), and "Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions" (12:7) (tap possession and divisions). The LORD had told Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you" (1:5), and the book has already said, "As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua. Joshua did so" (11:15). Here the two leaders' work stands side by side in one chapter. Only Moses is called "the servant of the LORD" here, twice in one verse (12:6) (tap servant).
Where it leads to Jesus
"My Kingdom is not of this world"
Joshua 12:1leads toJohn 18:36
Every name on this list is a king, and the list says what came of them: the children of Israel "struck, and possessed their land" (12:1), and "These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the children of Israel struck" (12:7). When Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (John 18:33), Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36). Jesus doesn’t cite Joshua 12, so setting them side by side is a reading. Some read a contrast between two kinds of kingdom: the land in this list was taken as Moses, Joshua and the children of Israel struck kings (12:6-7), while Jesus says of his own Kingdom that his servants do not fight for it. Others keep them apart: Jesus is answering Pilate about his own arrest, "that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews" (John 18:36), and says nothing of Joshua or of the wars the book credits to the LORD, who "fought for Israel" (10:42).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Joshua 12
That was a taste
The rest of Joshua 12 is waiting in Favor
- Thirty-one, one at a time
- Struck by Israel, sung as the LORD's
- Og, the remnant of the Rephaim
- Hormah and Arad, back in Numbers
- More kings than the story tells
- 8 questions as you read
- 7 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
יְרֻשָּׁהyerushahsay ye-roosh-SHAH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "possession, inheritance". Strong's: "something occupied; a conquest; also a patrimony", from the verb yarash, "possess" (12:1). Each half of the chapter hands the land on with it: "Moses the servant of the LORD gave it for a possession" (12:6), and "Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession" (12:7). The word comes 14 times in the Hebrew Bible, and three are in Joshua. The first is Moses' word to the tribes east of the Jordan, as Joshua repeats it: "Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise" (1:15). The other two are here. In Hebrew, toward the sunrise in 1:15 is the same two words as in 12:1.
For your group
Joshua 12 Bible study questions
- 1Israel turned the first names on this list into a song of thanks: "Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever" (Psalm 136:19). What has God done in your life that you would want written down and remembered?
- 2Moses gave land east of the Jordan "for a possession" (12:6), and Joshua gave the land west of it the same way (12:7). What are you carrying on that someone before you started?
- 3The list counts thirty-one kings (12:24), and the next chapter opens with "there remains yet very much land to be possessed" (13:1). How do you give thanks for what God has done while so much still remains?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Joshua 12 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home