Joshua 13:21

21 and all the cities of the tableland, the whole kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon, whom Moses put to death along with the princes of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who lived in that country, all puppets of Sihon.

Joshua 13:21 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 13:21

And all the cities of the plain
In the champaign country, as well as those in the mountainous part:

and all the kingdom of Sihon;
or, as Masius renders the words, "which all had been the kingdom of Sihon"; for the whole kingdom of Sihon was not given to Reuben, only a part of it, and the rest to Gad, as in ( Joshua 13:27 ) ;

king of the Amorites, which reigned in Heshbon;
as in ( Joshua 13:10 ) ;

whom Moses smote with the princes of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur,
and Hur, and Reba;
not at the same time that Sihon was smitten by him, but afterwards in a war with Midian, ( Numbers 31:8 ) ; where their names are given as here; and there they are called kings of Midian, petty kings, and, as it seems by what follows, were subject to Sihon, and therefore are here mentioned:

[which were] dukes of Sihon dwelling in the country;
for Midian, as Kimchi supposes, and not without reason, was under the government of Sihon, and these were his nobles, though they dwelt in the land of Midian.

Joshua 13:21 In-Context

19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on Valley Mountain,
20 Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, Beth Jeshimoth);
21 and all the cities of the tableland, the whole kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled at Heshbon, whom Moses put to death along with the princes of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who lived in that country, all puppets of Sihon.
22 (In addition to those killed in battle, Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer, was put to death by the People of Israel.)
23 The boundary for the Reubenites was the bank of the Jordan River. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites, their villages and cities, according to their clans.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.