Companion: Deep Study
A condensed companion to the full study. For each section of the expanded outline: key insights, applications, and the application questions for discussion.
Section 1 — The Land Beyond the Jordan and the Kingdom of Sihon (Joshua 12:1–3)
Key Insights
- The chapter is a register of defeated kings that closes the conquest and prepares for the division of the land.
- Two verbs frame the list, for Israel defeated (nakah) the kings and took possession (yarash) of their land (Joshua 12:1).
- The exact borders of Sihon’s kingdom show that God kept His precise oath to Abraham (Genesis 15:18).
- Sihon fell because the LORD hardened his heart in order to give him into Israel’s hand (Deuteronomy 2:30).
- Christ is the stronger man who overcomes the enemy and divides his spoil (Luke 11:22).
Applications
- Take God’s promises as exact commitments, not vague sentiments (Joshua 21:45).
- Name God’s past mercies specifically, because forgetfulness is overcome by detail (Psalm 103:2).
- Face the obstacle at the threshold of obedience trusting the God who fights for you (Deuteronomy 3:22).
Application Questions
- Which of God’s promises do you treat as a vague generality, and how would your week change if you believed He means it as precisely as He meant the borders of Sihon’s kingdom?
- What obstacle at the threshold of obedience do you regard as too strong for God to remove, and how does the fall of Sihon speak to that fear?
Section 2 — Og of Bashan, the Remnant of the Rephaim (Joshua 12:4–5)
Key Insights
- Og was “one of the remnant of the Rephaim” (Joshua 12:4), the race of giants that once made Israel feel like grasshoppers.
- God promised the victory before the battle began, saying, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand” (Numbers 21:34).
- Matthew Henry notes that Og, who held two palaces, was left with one grave.
- The Geshurites and Maacathites on Og’s border were never driven out, and their presence later troubled David’s house (Joshua 13:13).
- Christ has defeated the last and greatest giant, for “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26).
Applications
- Measure every looming fear against the LORD, not against your own strength (Numbers 14:9).
- Deal with small compromises while they are small, because tolerated sin waits (Romans 8:13).
- Do not treat faith as a guarantee that every hardship will vanish, since some giants are overcome by endurance (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Application Questions
- What giant in your life has made you feel like a grasshopper, and whose measurement have you been trusting when you look at it?
- Are there small areas of compromise in your life, like the Geshurites on Og’s border, that you have left untouched because they seem insignificant?
Section 3 — Moses the Servant of the LORD Gave Their Land (Joshua 12:6)
Key Insights
- Verse 6 names Moses twice as the servant of the LORD, crediting him with both the victory and the gift of land.
- Henry teaches that new blessings should never crowd out the memory of earlier ones or the honor due to earlier servants.
- The eastern tribes received their land first and then crossed over to fight for their brothers (Numbers 32:20).
- Moses was faithful “as a servant” (Hebrews 3:5), but Christ is faithful over God’s house as the Son.
- Christ is the true Servant of the LORD who conquered by humility and now gives gifts to His people (Ephesians 4:8).
Applications
- Honor the faithful who brought you to Christ, and thank God for them by name (Hebrews 13:7).
- Let present success make you humble, since every worker builds on another’s foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10).
- Use the rest God has given you to help others still in the battle (Galatians 6:2).
Application Questions
- Whom has God used in earlier seasons of your life to bring you to Christ or build you up, and how have you honored their labor?
- If you have already received rest and blessing from God, in what ways are you crossing the Jordan to help brothers and sisters who are still in the battle?
Section 4 — The Land West of the Jordan Given to the Tribes (Joshua 12:7–8)
Key Insights
- The western boundaries run from Baal-gad in the north to Mount Halak in the south, covering the whole of Canaan (Joshua 11:17).
- Before naming a single western king, the text records that Joshua gave their land to the tribes by allotment (Joshua 12:7).
- The six terrains of verse 8 show a good land in all its variety, from hill country to Negeb.
- Henry observes that God kept every promise, though Israel would fail to keep all it was given.
- Jesus bears Joshua’s name and has gone to prepare the inheritance Himself (John 14:2).
Applications
- Receive every blessing as gift before achievement (1 Corinthians 4:7).
- Accept your allotment, both valley and wilderness, with contentment rather than comparison (Philippians 4:11).
- Hold fast what God has given through the means of grace (Hebrews 2:1).
Application Questions
- Do you receive your present circumstances, both the fruitful valleys and the wilderness places, as an allotment from God’s hand, or do you measure your portion against the portion of others?
- In what areas of your life are you tempted to credit your own strength, skill or planning for what God has given?
Section 5 — Jericho, Ai and the Kings of the South (Joshua 12:9–18)
Key Insights
- The kings are listed in the order of their defeat, beginning with Jericho and Ai.
- Jericho and Ai recall that victory is God’s gift and that disobedience within Israel forfeits it (Joshua 7:12).
- The word one after each king refuses to blur God’s mercies together, as Spurgeon urged of Sihon and Og.
- Hormah, once the place of Israel’s rout, now stands in the register of Israel’s victories (Numbers 14:45).
- The king of Jerusalem heads the southern list, yet Jerusalem became the city where Christ the King of righteousness won salvation (Matthew 21:5).
Applications
- Count God’s mercies one by one, because they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).
- Fight particular sins by the Spirit rather than resolving vaguely to be better (Romans 8:13).
- Bring your places of past failure to Christ, who turns the Valley of Achor into a door of hope (Hosea 2:15).
Application Questions
- Do you tend to thank God for His mercies in the mass, or do you name them one by one, and what practical habit could help you remember them in detail?
- Is there a place of past failure in your life, a Hormah, that you assume must always remain a place of defeat?
Section 6 — The Kings of the North and the Sum of Thirty-One (Joshua 12:19–24)
Key Insights
- The northern kings, led by Hazor, were the coalition routed at the waters of Merom (Joshua 11:10).
- Taanach, Megiddo and Dor lost their kings, yet their towns still had to be possessed (Judges 1:27).
- Poole sees the land’s many small kingdoms as God’s providential arrangement for defeating them in turn.
- The chapter ends with a complete count, “in all, thirty-one kings” (Joshua 12:24).
- Goiim in Galilee anticipates Galilee of the nations, where Christ’s light first dawned (Matthew 4:16).
Applications
- Trust that the God who completed the list will complete His work in you (Philippians 1:6).
- Pray for rulers and watch for open doors that God’s providence provides (Proverbs 21:1).
- Refuse prophetic speculation about Megiddo and rest in Christ’s certain victory (Acts 1:7).
Application Questions
- How does the final total, in all thirty-one kings, strengthen your confidence that God will finish the work He has begun in you?
- The king of Goiim in Galilee appears in this register, yet Galilee of the nations became the place where Christ’s light first dawned. Whom have you regarded as too far outside God’s reach?
Every king in this register fell because the LORD kept His word, and every rival throne will bow before Jesus Christ, the King of kings, who gives His people an inheritance that cannot fade.
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