Joshua 12:2

2 Sichon king of the Amori, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from `Aro`er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [the city that is in] the middle of the valley, and half Gil`ad, even to the river Yabbok, the border of the children of `Ammon;

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 Now these are the kings of the land, whom the children of Yisra'el struck, and possessed their land beyond the Yarden toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the `Aravah eastward:

2 Sichon king of the Amori, who lived in Heshbon, and ruled from `Aro`er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [the city that is in] the middle of the valley, and half Gil`ad, even to the river Yabbok, the border of the children of `Ammon;

3 and the `Aravah to the sea of Kinnarot, eastward, and to the sea of the `Aravah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beit-Hayshimot; and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah:

4 and the border of `Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Refa'im, who lived at `Ashtarot and at Edre`i,

5 and ruled in Mount Hermon, and in Salkhah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshuri and the Ma`akhati, and half Gil`ad, the border of Sichon king of Heshbon.