Is It Boring or Important?
Joshua 12:1-24
1Now these
are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took
possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley
of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward: 2 Sihon
king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is on the
edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as
the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, that is, half of Gilead, 3 and
the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of
Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, southward to the foot
of the slopes of Pisgah; 4 and Og king of Bashan, one of the
remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei 5 and
ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan to the boundary of the
Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of
Sihon king of Heshbon. 6 Moses, the servant of the Lord, and
the people of Israel defeated them. And Moses the servant of the Lord gave
their land for a possession to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the
half-tribe of Manasseh. 7 And these are the kings of the land
whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan,
from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir
(and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according
to their allotments, 8 in the hill country, in the lowland, in
the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the
Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites): 9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which
is beside Bethel, one; 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 in Carmel, one; 23 the
king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee, one; 24 the
king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.
If you made it through that list of kings' names and kingdoms,
strong work. I usually relegate these types of readings to software or an app
that will read it to me! Why is this bare catalog of names and numbers part the
Bible? With one sweep of the eye the reader is able to see that the Lord
toppled a long list of Israel’s foes to fulfill His promises.
The rest of Joshua is really very similar to this chapter. The
author (Joshua) takes the time to tell us with great detail who was conquered,
the city they ruled and then who inherited the land. I won’t lie – it’s boring.
There’s no great story or details of conquest. There are no stories of loving relationships
or miracles. But it is history; real people in real places living out God’s
story of redemption. All of these names represent real people who are loved by
the Only God and used in His plan for our salvation. God’s story is not fantasy
or the workings of someone’s imagination. It is our history. In chapter 12 we
find the victories of Moses east of the Jordan River and Joshua’s victories in The
Promised Land we now know as Israel. This is our story and it ends well for us,
so it doesn’t hurt us to know a few of the details.
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