Joshua 12:24

The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Joshua 12:24. All the kings, thirty and one — It may seem strange to us that in so small a country there were so many kings; but in those ages kings were only petty princes, or lords of cities, which had a few villages depending on them. This appears by Joshua 12:9, where we read of the king of Beth-el; which was so small a place, that he and the king of Ai, joined together, had but twelve thousand subjects, Joshua 8:25. However, the conquering of so many cities and places, within so short a space of time, and with so little loss, showed that the Israelites were marvellously protected and assisted, and was an evidence to them, as it is to us all, of the truth of all God’s promises; and that they will certainly be accomplished, what obstacles soever there may be in the way of them. We here see the Israelites put in possession of that very country, and those very places, which God had promised ages before, to their pious ancestors, to give to their posterity, when they had not so much as a foot of land in any of these countries, and wandered about from place to place, having no possessions anywhere. This promise is not only once, but many times repeated, in books which we are certain were written many years before the Israelites came into possession of any part of the land, and when there was little likelihood of their obtaining it. And, therefore, their coming into actual possession of it, and with so little loss, is a very corroborating proof of the truth of those books which record the promises of God on this occasion; as the event so fully justified what they had recorded.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:7-24 We have here the limits of the country Joshua conquered. A list is given of the kings subdued by Israel: thirty-one in all. This shows how fruitful Canaan then was, in which so many chose to throng together. This was the land God appointed for Israel; yet in our day it is one of the most barren and unprofitable countries in the world. Such is the effect of the curse it lies under, since its possessors rejected Christ and his gospel, as was foretold by Moses, De 29:23. The vengeance of a righteous God, inflicted on all these kings and their subjects, for their wickedness, should make us dread and hate sin. The fruitful land bestowed on his chosen people, should fill our hearts with hope and confidence in his mercy, and with humble gratitude.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Tirzah - This place, the capital of Jeroboam and his successors until the clays of Omri (1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:21, etc.), is identified by some with "Tulluzah", a town 3 miles northeast of Nablous, (by others with Teiasir).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jos 12:7-24. The One and Thirty Kings on the West Side of Jordan, Which Joshua Smote.

7. Baal-gad … even unto … Halak—(See on [188]Jos 11:17). A list of thirty-one chief towns is here given; and, as the whole land contained a superficial extent of only fifteen miles in length by fifty in breadth, it is evident that these capital cities belonged to petty and insignificant kingdoms. With a few exceptions, they were not the scenes of any important events recorded in the sacred history, and therefore do not require a particular notice.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Each being confined to a narrow compass, and being king only of one city, or small province belonging to it, which was by the wise and singular providence of God, that they might be more easily and successively conquered by the Israelites one after another, as they were.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The king of Tirzah, one,.... To what tribe this place fell is nowhere said: Adrichomius (u) places it in the tribe of Manasseh; and so does Bunting (w), who says of it, that it was a fair and beautiful city, situated on a high and pleasant mountain, in the tribe of Manasseh, twenty four miles from Jerusalem to the north: here Jeroboam had his royal seat, and so his successors unto Omri, 1 Kings 14:17; and Dr Lightfoot (x) seems to suspect as if Shechem in Mount Ephraim and Tirzah were the same; for, he says, if Shechem and Tirzah were not one and the same town, it appears that Jeroboam had removed his court, when his son died, from where it was when he first erected his idols; compare 1 Kings 12:25, with 1 Kings 14:17; and so it may argue that there was some space between: it was, no doubt, a very pleasant and beautiful city, as not only appears from its name, but from the allusion to it in Sol 6:4,

all the kings thirty and one: it may seem strange that, in so small a country as Canaan was, there should be so many kings in it, since the length of it from Dan to Beersheba was scarce an hundred sixty miles, as Jerom (y) says; who further observes, that he was ashamed to give the breadth of it, lest it should give occasion to Heathens to blaspheme; for, adds he, from Joppa to our little village Bethlehem (where they then were) were forty six miles, to which succeeded only a vast desert: but it may be observed, that in ancient times, in other countries, there were a great many kings, as here in Britain, and in France, Spain, and Germany, as Bishop Patrick has observed from several writers; and Strabo (z) testifies the same of the cities of Phoenicia or Canaan, that they had each of them separate kings, as Joshua here describes them.

(u) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 74. (w) Travels, &c. p. 160. (x) Works, vol. 1. p. 78. (y) Epist. Dardano, tom. 3. p. 22. I. K. (z) Geograph. l. 16. p. 519.

Geneva Study Bible

The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Tirzah] Three miles from the city of Samaria, now called Tellûzah, of proverbial beauty. Song of Solomon 6:4, “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah.” It was to Shechem afterwards “what Windsor is to London,” and became the residence of Jeroboam and his successors (1 Kings 14:17). Here Zimri was besieged by Omri, and perished in the flames of his palace (1 Kings 16:18).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Tirzah meets us as the residence of the kings of Israel for a time in the narrative in 1 Kings. Jeroboam's wife went thither after her interview with Ahijah (Joshua 14:17). Baasha dwelt there (Joshua 15:21, 33; Joshua 16:6), Elah was slain there by Zimri (Joshua 16:9, 10), and it. remained the capital until Omri built Samaria (Joshua 16:23, 24). Thenceforward we hear no more of it till the time of Menahem (2 Kings 15:14, 16), when it disappears from history. It has been variously identified - by Robinson and Yandevelde (whom Knobel follows) with Talluza, two hours journey north of Shechem; by Conder with Teiasu, where there are numerous rock sepulchres. It was a place of great beauty, if we may judge from Song of Solomon 6:4, "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem."



Joshua 12:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Dor: see Joshua 11:2. Gilgal: the seat of the king of the Goyim (a proper name, as in Genesis 14:1), in all probability the same place as the villa nomine Galgulis mentioned in the Onom. (s. v. Gelgel) as being six Roman miles to the north of Antipatris, which still exists in the Moslem village of Jiljule (now almost a ruin; see Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 136), although this village is only two miles E.S.E. of Kefr Sba, the ancient Antipatris (see Ritter, Erdk. xvi. pp. 568-9). Thirza, the capital of the kings of Israel down to the time of Omri (1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:21, 1 Kings 15:33; 1 Kings 16:6.), is probably the present Talluza, an elevated and beautifully situated place, of a considerable size, surrounded by large olive groves, two hours to the north of Shechem (see Rob. Bibl. Res. p. 302, and Van de Velde, ii. p. 294).