Joshua Defeats the Thirty-One Canaanite Kings

Joshua 12:7-24 preserves what amounts to a victory catalog of every Canaanite king Joshua and the tribes of Israel defeated in the long campaign west of the Jordan. Thirty-one kingdoms are named in geographical sweep: the kings of Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, Eglon, Gezer, Debir, Geder, Hormah, Arad, Libnah, Adullam, Makkedah, Bethel, Tappuah, Hepher, Aphek, Lasharon, Madon, Hazor, Shimron-meron, Achshaph, Taanach, Megiddo, Kedesh, Jokneam, Dor, Goiim, and Tirzah. The accompanying summary insists that Joshua and Israel struck down all these kings "from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak which rises toward Seir" — a geographic spread covering the whole land of Canaan. The catalog also contrasts pointedly with the parallel list in Joshua 12:1-6 of the two Transjordan kings (Sihon of Heshbon and Og of Bashan) defeated under Moses. Together the two lists frame the conquest as a single sweeping victory under God's direction, even though Joshua 13:1 immediately concedes that "very much land remains to be possessed."

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