Joshua 13:12

All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:7-33 The land must be divided among the tribes. It is the will of God that every man should know his own, and not take that which is another's. The world must be governed, not by force, but right. Wherever our habitation is placed, and in whatever honest way our portion is assigned, we should consider them as allotted of God; we should be thankful for, and use them as such, while every prudent method should be used to prevent disputes about property, both at present and in future. Joshua must be herein a type of Christ, who has not only conquered the gates of hell for us, but has opened to us the gates of heaven, and having purchased the eternal inheritance for all believers, will put them in possession of it. Here is a general description of the country given to the two tribes and a half, by Moses. Israel must know their own, and keep to it; and may not, under pretence of their being God's peculiar people, encroach on their neighbours. Twice in this chapter it is noticed, that to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance: see Nu 18:20. Their maintenance must be brought out of all the tribes. The ministers of the Lord should show themselves indifferent about worldly interests, and the people should take care they want nothing suitable. And happy are those who have the Lord God of Israel for their inheritance, though little of this world falls to their lot. His providences will supply their wants, his consolations will support their souls, till they gain heavenly joy and everlasting pleasures.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The writer appends to the command of God Joshua 13:1-7 a statement that the other two tribes and a half had already had their inheritance marked out for them by Moses in the land east of Jordan. The boundaries of this territory as a whole are first set forth Joshua 13:8-14, and afterward the portions assigned within it to the two tribes and a half are severally described Joshua 13:15-33.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. With whom—Hebrew, "him." The antecedent is evidently to Manasseh, not, however, the half-tribe just mentioned, but the other half; for the historian, led, as it were, by the sound of the word, breaks off to describe the possessions beyond Jordan already assigned to Reuben, Gad, and the half of Manasseh (see on [190]Nu 32:1; [191]Nu 32:33; also see De 3:8-17). It may be proper to remark that it was wise to put these boundaries on record. In case of any misunderstanding or dispute arising about the exact limits of each district or property, an appeal could always be made to this authoritative document, and a full knowledge as well as grateful sense obtained of what they had received from God (Ps 16:5, 6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These did Moses smite; not all now mentioned, as appears from Joshua 13:13, but Sihon and Og, and their people, and the generality of them, which he had now named, some of them being excepted.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,.... See Gill on Joshua 12:4,

who remained of the remnant of the giants; was descended from those that remained in Ashtaroth, after the rest were cut off by Chedorlaomer, Genesis 14:5; called there the Rephaim, as here:

for these did Moses smite, and cast them out: that is, not only the giants, but the inhabitants of the above kingdom, the greatest part of them; for the Geshurites and the Maachathites are excepted in Joshua 13:13.

Geneva Study Bible

All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, which reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei, who remained of the remnant of the giants: for these did Moses smite, and cast them out.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. all the kingdom of Og in Bashan] “With respect to the two tribes and a half beyond the Jordan, nothing is more striking at the first glance than their wide extent, compared with the narrow space into which the western tribes were compressed … it is certainly a domain which, taken in its entire superficies, would not yield in extent to the whole region on the west of the Jordan.” Ewald’s History of Israel, 11. 294, 295.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Giants. See note on Joshua 12:4. Joshua 13:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Gilead is the whole country of that name on both sides of the Jabbok (see at Joshua 12:2 and Deuteronomy 3:10), the present Belka and Jebel Ajlun, for the description of which see the remarks at Numbers 32:1. "The territory of the Geshurites and Maachathites" is referred to in Joshua 12:5 as the boundary of the kingdom of Og, and in Deuteronomy 3:14 as the boundary of the land which was taken by Jair the Manassite; here it is included in the inheritance of the tribes on the other side of the Jordan, but it was never really taken possession of by the Israelites, and (according to Joshua 13:13) it had probably never been really subject to king Og. The other notices in Joshua 13:11 and Joshua 13:12 are the same as in Joshua 12:4-5.