Joshua 12 · a question people ask
Why does the Bible give a whole chapter to a list of kings?
The chapter doesn't say why. It only says, twice, "these are the kings of the land" (12:1, 12:7). Christians give two main answers, and they can be held together. Both agree that the list names who was struck and says the land was given "for a possession" (12:6, 12:7).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
It closes the wars and opens the dividing
Those who hold this view point to what the list leads into. It begins by saying where the land went: "Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions" (12:7). The next chapter begins the dividing: "Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh" (13:7), and it goes on to the land Moses had given east of the Jordan, "all the kingdom of Og in Bashan" (13:12). On this view the list closes the account of the wars and leads into the sharing out of the land.
Joshua 12:7 · Joshua 13:7-12
It is a record to remember
Those who hold this view point to how Israel used these names later. Psalm 135 praises the LORD who "killed mighty kings— Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan" (Psalm 135:10-11), and Psalm 136 sings Sihon and Og line by line (Psalm 136:19-20). Joshua 4 set up stones at the Jordan so that children would ask, "What do you mean by these stones?" (4:6). On this view the list is a memorial in words.
Psalm 135:10-12 · Psalm 136:17-22 · Joshua 4:6-7
The verses
“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:”
“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;”