Commentaria in Josue
Chapter 12. Synopsis of the Chapter
The thirty-one kings slain by Josue in Chanaan are enumerated. See here how Josue was the terror of all kings, and indeed their judge and avenger.
1. These are the kings whom the children of Israel slew, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the torrent Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the east side that looketh towards the wilderness. 2. Sehon king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon, and had dominion from Aroer, which is situate on the bank of the torrent Arnon, and from the middle of the valley, and the half of Galaad, as far as the torrent Jaboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon; 3. and from the wilderness as far as the sea of Ceneroth toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Desert, which is the most salt sea, on the east side, by the way that leadeth to Beth-simoth: and on the south side, that which lieth at the foot of Asedoth, Phasga. 4. The border of Og the king of Basan, of the remnant of the Raphaim, who dwelt in Astaroth, and in Edrai, and had dominion in mount Hermon, and in Salecha, and in all Basan, unto the borders 5. of Gessuri, and of Machati, and of half Galaad: the borders of Sehon king of Hesebon. 6. Moses the servant of the Lord, and the children of Israel smote them: and Moses gave their land in possession to the Rubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses. 7. These are the kings of the land whom Josue and the children of Israel smote beyond the Jordan, on the west side, from Baalgad in the field of Libanus, unto the mountain a part of which goeth up to Seir: and Josue gave it in possession to the tribes of Israel, to every one their parts, 8. as well in the mountains as in the plains and the champaign countries. In Asedoth, and in the wilderness, and in the south were the Hethite and the Amorrhite, the Chanaanite and the Pherezite, the Hevite and the Jebusite. 9. The king of Jericho one, the king of Hai, which is on the side of Bethel, one, 10. the king of Jerusalem one, the king of Hebron one, 11. the king of Jerimoth one, the king of Lachis one, 12. the king of Eglon one, the king of Gazer one, 13. the king of Dabir one, the king of Gader one, 14. the king of Herma one, the king of Hered one, 15. the king of Lebna one, the king of Odullam one, 16. the king of Maceda one, the king of Bethel one, 17. the king of Taphua one, the king of Opher one, 18. the king of Aphec one, the king of Saron one, 19. the king of Madon one, the king of Asor one, 20. the king of Semeron one, the king of Achsaph one, 21. the king of Thenac one, the king of Mageddo one, 22. the king of Cades one, the king of Jachanan of Carmel one, 23. the king of Dor, and of the province of Dor, one, the king of the nations of Galgal one, 24. the king of Thersa one:
in all thirty-one kings.
2. HAD DOMINION, etc., FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE VALLEY.—In Hebrew, he had dominion in the midst of the valley. So the Septuagint, as if one should say: He ruled over half the valley, which is divided by the river Arnon, so that one half of the river and of the adjoining valley belonged to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and the other half to the Moabites. See Deuteronomy 3:16.
4. RAPHAIM,—So were called the giants sprung from Rapha, as the Enakim from Enac. See what is said on Genesis 14:5.
WHO DWELT IN ASTAROTH.—So was called this city and royal seat of Og, king of Basan, from Astarte, the idol of Diana or Juno, that is, of the moon, who was worshipped there; whence it was also surnamed Karnaim, that is, of two horns, because the moon when it is new is two-horned. See what is said on Genesis 14:5; so also Baalgad, says Arias, took its name from the deity of Fortune, who was worshipped there: for Gad is fortune, as I said on Genesis 30:11; Baal is God.
9. THE KING OF JERICHO ONE.—“King,” that is, petty king or prince. For single cities with their towns had their own kings, that is, rulers and princes, as is plain from what follows; for of old the lords of single cities were called kings, as Aristotle testifies, book 3 of the Politics, Strabo, book 16, and Pliny, book 6, chapter 9. Hence gather how great was the simplicity of that age, when kings, content with their own cities, did not covet others, but conspired with them against common enemies, for example the Hebrews. But now we often see such ambition in men that the whole world is not enough to satisfy it. Whence of Alexander the Great the poet sang:
One world suffices not the Pellaean youth; a sarcophagus will content him.
Why, wretched mortals, do you covet land? Why do you strive to add field to field, city to city, kingdom to kingdom? Why do you torment yourselves all your life in the enlargement of estates, who tomorrow must die, to render to God, the judge and avenger, a strict account of ambition, injustice and tyranny? to be buried in a grave of earth eight feet long? to burn in Gehenna for all eternity? This is the point of earth which is divided among mortals by iron and fire. O how narrow are the bounds of mortals! O how narrow and blind the minds of mortals! Do you so prefer a point of earth to the vastest, fairest and richest orbs and kingdoms of the heavens?
23. THE KING OF THE NATIONS OF GALGAL ONE.—In Hebrew the article lamed is added to goyim, “of Galgal”: as if to say, “The king of the nations of Galgal,” or in Galgal “one.” It is certain that this Galgal is not the Galgala where Josue, having crossed the Jordan, pitched his camp: for there was no city there, no king. Wherefore Masius and others with probability hold that Galgal is Galilee. For this in Hebrew is called Galil. Galgal, however, is the same as Galil, with merely the letter gimel doubled, which is frequent among the Hebrews. Whence the Septuagint in the Roman edition translate Galgal as Galilee, nor do we anywhere find another Galgal than Galilee. It is called of the Nations, both because it had as neighbours the Tyrians, Sidonians and other Gentiles; and because in it dwelt, mingled together, various nations of the Chanaanites and other peoples, says Abulensis; and because to it, on account of the sea-ports and merchandise, there was a great concourse of other nations, says Masius. A fourth cause was added afterwards, that Solomon gave to Hiram, the Gentile king of Tyre, twenty cities in Galilee, for the work he furnished in building the temple, as St. Jerome notes. But this gift did not first give Galilee the surname of the Nations, but strengthened and confirmed one already given. Of Galilee I shall say more in the following chapter, verse 2.
24. IN ALL THIRTY-ONE KINGS.—St. Jerome notes, in his epistle to Dardanus, that the land promised and given by God to the Hebrews contains in length, from Dan to Bersabee, only a hundred and sixty thousand paces, or a hundred and sixty Italian miles; and in breadth, which we measure from Joppe to the Jordan, sixty thousand paces: it was therefore narrower than Italy, indeed than Belgium. Wherefore that so many petty kings ruled in so narrow a land, and so many other peoples remained in it, of whom in the following chapter, argues the wonderful fertility of that soil in olden time, and that it was deservedly called a land flowing with milk and honey.