Joshua 12 Study Notes

12:7 The geography mentioned here is repeated from 11:17.

12:8 The summary of the regions conquered resembles that already given in 10:40. This is followed by another list of the people groups conquered (3:10; 9:1; 11:3; 12:8).

12:9-24 The thirty-one kings listed cover the entire region, with those in vv. 9-16 including the victories in the south described in chaps. 6-10 and those in vv. 17-24 summarizing the victories in the north as discussed in chap. 11. The structure of this list parallels many itineraries of Egyptian pharaohs that describe their conquests in Canaan between the fifteenth century BC and the tenth century BC. The hieroglyphic writings show individual prisoners, one tied to the next with their hands bound behind them. On the bodies of each of these prisoners is written the name of one of the towns of Canaan. Each of these represents either a town in Canaan that the pharaoh defeated or an army from that town that was defeated. All these elements are found in the Israelite summary. Its resemblance to the Egyptian texts may have been intentional. As Egypt’s New Kingdom empire declined and disappeared by 1150 BC, Israel’s presence and increasing power would replace and thus continue the defeat of Egypt, its gods, and its pharaoh. This process began with the plagues and the exodus.