Yehoshua - Perek 12: “31 Conquered Cities”
Part 1: The List of the Captured Cities and Military Campaigns (12:1-24)
Summary
Points to Ponder
Why does the chapter describe East Bank conquests of Moshe among the West Bank conquests of Yehoshua?
The Ralbag explains that the reason for this is because even Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest leader of all time, only succeeded because he had the merit of the children of Israel behind him. For this reason, Moshe’s name is added at the end in our chapter in order to indicate that he is part of a greater entity called Israel which did not end with him and his achievements. He was a representative of the people lived on as an entity under their new leader Yehoshua.
Is this list of thirty-one kings comprehensive? Does it include all the enemy leaders the Israelites vanquished?
The Chida authored a book called Chomas Anach on Nach. In it, he suggests that this list does not include all the kings Israel conquered, but these were the most powerful of them.
The Radak takes a different approach. He explains that in the Biblical era, the king was not just the ruler of the city. As was the case in the feudal era, the king was responsible for a region of area around the city. Surrounding the castle and city, there would be farmland and villages, all of which was under the feudal control of the king. Therefore, the conquest of each respective king means that Israel gained dominance over vast swaths of land surrounding each city. This speaks to a larger area than 31 cities.
The Malbim adds another point that if one reads this list carefully, there are a few kings mentioned among these thirty-one who were not actually conquered by Yehoshua. For instance, the king of Yerushalayim was not really vanquished until later on in the era of Shoftim. The king of Gezer will appear later during the times of Shmuel. Likewise, Afek was not really completely conquered. We already know of the campaigns to capture Taanach, Megido, Dor, some of which took a little bit of time to conquer. The broader point is that Yehoshua began the process of conquering the land, and indeed, in many cases he succeeded in finishing the process. However in numerous cases, he began the process for the future conquest. For this reason, these openings are listed as Yehoshua's starting points, and attributed to him alongside the completed campaigns.
This list leaves us with a very gratifying picture. In the next chapter, unfortunately, we are going to see that there are some holes in this picture.
Summary
- This chapter describes the conquest of the Land of Israel before we proceed to the division of the land.
- Tanach describes the land captured on the other side of the Yarden in the time of Moshe, which was given to the tribes of Reuven, Gad and half of tribe Menashe.
- Yehoshua captures mount ai in the north and south.
- We hear a long list of the thirty-one kings Yehoshua captured: Yericho, ai, Yerushalayim, Chevron, Yarmus, Lachish, Eglon, Gezer, Devir, Geder, Charma, Arad, Livnah, Adalam, Makeida, Beis‑Eil, Tapuach, Chefer, Afek, Lasharon, Madon, Chatzor, Shimron Meron, Achshaf, Tanach, Megido, Kedesh, Yokneam, Dor, Goyim and Tirtza.
Points to Ponder
Why does the chapter describe East Bank conquests of Moshe among the West Bank conquests of Yehoshua?
The Ralbag explains that the reason for this is because even Moshe Rabbeinu, the greatest leader of all time, only succeeded because he had the merit of the children of Israel behind him. For this reason, Moshe’s name is added at the end in our chapter in order to indicate that he is part of a greater entity called Israel which did not end with him and his achievements. He was a representative of the people lived on as an entity under their new leader Yehoshua.
Is this list of thirty-one kings comprehensive? Does it include all the enemy leaders the Israelites vanquished?
The Chida authored a book called Chomas Anach on Nach. In it, he suggests that this list does not include all the kings Israel conquered, but these were the most powerful of them.
The Radak takes a different approach. He explains that in the Biblical era, the king was not just the ruler of the city. As was the case in the feudal era, the king was responsible for a region of area around the city. Surrounding the castle and city, there would be farmland and villages, all of which was under the feudal control of the king. Therefore, the conquest of each respective king means that Israel gained dominance over vast swaths of land surrounding each city. This speaks to a larger area than 31 cities.
The Malbim adds another point that if one reads this list carefully, there are a few kings mentioned among these thirty-one who were not actually conquered by Yehoshua. For instance, the king of Yerushalayim was not really vanquished until later on in the era of Shoftim. The king of Gezer will appear later during the times of Shmuel. Likewise, Afek was not really completely conquered. We already know of the campaigns to capture Taanach, Megido, Dor, some of which took a little bit of time to conquer. The broader point is that Yehoshua began the process of conquering the land, and indeed, in many cases he succeeded in finishing the process. However in numerous cases, he began the process for the future conquest. For this reason, these openings are listed as Yehoshua's starting points, and attributed to him alongside the completed campaigns.
This list leaves us with a very gratifying picture. In the next chapter, unfortunately, we are going to see that there are some holes in this picture.