Joshua 12:2

2 Sihon king of the Amorites lived in Heshbon. He ruled [over the territory] from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, and half of Gilead up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites),

Joshua 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 12:2

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon
Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, ( Numbers 21:26 ) ;

[and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river of Arnon;
a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:

and from the middle of the river;
that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:

and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border
of the children of Ammon;
so it is said to be, ( Deuteronomy 3:16 ) ; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in ( Joshua 12:5 ) ; and so Jarchi remarks.

Joshua 12:2 In-Context

1 The Israelites struck down the following kings of the land and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan to the east and from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:

2 Sihon king of the Amorites lived in Heshbon. He ruled [over the territory] from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, and half of Gilead up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites),

3 the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

4 Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

5 He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all Bashan up to the Geshurite and Maacathite border, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon, king of Heshbon.