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:
On the east of Jordan, called the plain, Deuteronomy 1:1, and the plains of Moab, Deuteronomy 34:1.
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;
From the middle of the river: it is not unusual, even amongst us, for a river to be divided between two lords, and for their territories or jurisdictions to meet in the middle of the river; and besides, here is a very particular reason for this expression, because the city Ar, which was no part of Sihon’s dominions, but belonged to the Moabites, Deuteronomy 2:9,Deuteronomy 2:18, was in the middle of the river Arnon, Deuteronomy 2:36 Deuteronomy 3:16; and therefore the middle of the river is most fitly and properly here mentioned, as the bound of Sihon’s dominion on that side.
And from half Gilead, Heb. and the half Gilead, i.e. half of the country of Gilead: the particle from is not in the original, and this doth not seem to denote the term or bound from which his dominion begun, as our version implies, for so indeed it was not; but the place or country in and over which his dominion was, which, as is here said, began at Arnon, and took in half Gilead, and ended at Jabbok, beyond which was the other half of Gilead, which belonged to Og, as is expressly said, Joshua 12:5, where the words being wholly the same that are here, it is most reasonable to understand and translate them in the same manner.
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 Beth-jeshimoth; and from the south, under Ashdoth-pisgah:
To the sea of Chinneroth on the east; which words describe the situation not of the sea of Chinneroth, which was part of the western border of Sihon’s dominion, but of the plain, which is here said to lie eastward from the sea of Chinneroth, and also eastward from the Salt Sea, as it here follows. And this was indeed the situation of the plains of Moab, which are here spoken of, to wit, that they lay between the two seas, that of Chinneroth and the Salt Sea, and eastward to them both.
The sea of the plain; the Salt Sea is so called because it was a famous plain, pleasant and fruitful, before it was turned into a salt sea. From the south, or, on or towards the south.
4.
And the coast of Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,
To wit, successively; sometimes at the one, sometimes at the other city; both being his royal mansions.
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.
The Geshurites, of which see Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 13:13; 2 Samuel 13:37; 2 Samuel 15:8.
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.
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 Baal-gad 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;
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:
The wilderness: this word here and elsewhere in Scripture notes not a land wholly desert and uninhabited, but one thin of inhabitants, as 1 Kings 2:34; 1 Kings 9:18; Matthew 3:1,Matthew 3:3.
9.
The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
Which is beside Beth-el: this is added to distinguish it from Ai of the Ammonites, of which Jeremiah 49:3.
10.
The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
11.
The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12.
The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
13.
The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
14.
The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
15.
The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
16.
The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
17.
The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
18.
The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;
19.
The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
20.
The king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
21.
The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
22.
The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;
23.
The king of Dor in the coast of Dor, one; the king of the nations of Gilgal, one;
Dor, of which Joshua 11:2.
Gilgal; not of that Gilgal where Joshua first lodged after his passage over Jordan; where it doth not appear that there was either king or city; but of another city of the same name, (as was frequent in those parts,) probably in Galilee towards the sea whither divers people might possibly resort for trade and merchandise, over whom this was king, as formerly Tidal seems to have been, Genesis 14:1.
24.
The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.
Each being confined to a narrow compass, and being king only of one city, or small province belonging to it, which was by the wise and singular providence of God, that they might be more easily and successively conquered by the Israelites one after another, as they were.