Joshua 12:2

Jos 12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, [and] ruled from Aroer, which [is] upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, [which is] the border of the children of Ammon;

Ver. 2. And from half Gilead.] For the other half was held by Og. {Jos 12:5}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:2 King Sihon (see Num 21:24-25) had controlled the northern Jordan Valley as far as the Sea of Galilee but not the northern part of Gilead (Josh 12:5).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. From Aroer] Aroer was situated on the western side of the river Arnon, in the middle of the valley through which this river takes its course. The kingdom of Sihon extended from the river Arnon and the city of Aroer on the south to the river Jabbok on the north.

And from half Gilead ] The mountains of Gilead extended from north to south from Mount Hermon towards the source of the river Arnon, which was about the midst of the extent of the kingdom of Sihon: thus Sihon is said to have possessed the half of Gilead, that is, the half of the mountains and of the country which bore the name of Gilead on the east of his territories.

River Jabbok] This river has its source in the mountains of Gilead; and, running from east to west, falls into Jordan. It bounds the territories of Sihon on the north, and those of the Ammonites on the south.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Sihon king of the Amorites] See Num_21:24; Deu_2:33; Deu_3:6; Deu_3:16.

who dwelt in Heshbon] On the western border of the high plain (Mishor, Jos_13:17), and on the boundary line between the tribes of Reuben and Gad. “The ruins of Hesbân, 20 miles east of the Jordan, on the parallel of the northern end of the Dead Sea, mark the site, as they bear the name, of the ancient Heshbon.” “There is little, of a place once famed in olden story, for the traveller to see. A large piece of walling at the west end of the bold isolated hill, on which the old fortress stood; with a square block house, and a pointed archway adjoining; a temple on the crest of the hill, with the pavement unbroken and the bases of four columns still in situ; on the east, in the plain, just at the base of the hill, a great cistern, called by some ‘the fish-pools of Hesbon,’ but more probably only the reservoir for the supply of the city—these are all that remain.” Tristram’s Land of Moab, pp. 338, 339.

from Aroer] “which is set on the brenke of the stronde of Arnon,” Wyclif. Aroer lay partly on and partly in the Arnon, i. e. on an island, now ’Arâir. It was allotted to Reuben (Jos_13:16), but later came into the possession of Moab (Jer_48:19). Bochardt found ruins with the name ’Arâir on the old Roman road, upon the very edge of the precipitous north bank of the Wady Mojeb.

half Gilead] Properly Gilead denotes (i) a mountain on the south bank of the Jabbok (Gen_31:21-48) with a city of the same name; (ii) the immediate neighbourhood of this mountain (Num_32:1; Deu_2:36-37); (iii) the whole mountain district between the Arnon and the Jabbok, now called Belka (see Deu_34:1; 1Ki_4:19).

the river Jabbok] “The streem of Jabuch,” Wyclif, = “the gushing-brook,” now the Wady Zurka.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon,.... Which he took from the Moabites, and made his capital city, Num 21:26,

and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon; a city of Moab, which never fell into the hands of Sihon, and therefore he is said to rule from it but not over it:

and from the middle of the river; that is, the river Arnon, which being the boundary of the Moabites and Amorites, the king of the Amorites might be said to rule from the middle of it:

and from half Gilead even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; so it is said to be, Deu 3:16; it should be rendered, not "from half Gilead", but "and half Gilead", as it is in the Hebrew text, and so in the Targum; for half Gilead belonged to the kingdom of Sihon, as the other half did to the kingdom of Og, as in Jos 12:5; and so Jarchi remarks.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Galaad. Sehon occupied from the middle of the torrent Arnon, as far as half of the mountains of Galaad, and the torrent Jaboc. (Calmet) --- Og possessed the other half of the mountains northward, while the Ammonites had the eastern parts. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

From the middle of the river: it is not unusual, even amongst us, for a river to be divided between two lords, and for their territories or jurisdictions to meet in the middle of the river; and besides, here is a very particular reason for this expression, because the city Ar, which was no part of Sihon’s dominions, but belonged to the Moabites, Deu 2:9,18, was in the middle of the river Arnon, Deu 2:36 Deu 3:16; and therefore the middle of the river is most fitly and properly here mentioned, as the bound of Sihon’s dominion on that side.

And from half Gilead, Heb. and the half Gilead, i.e. half of the country of Gilead: the particle from is not in the original, and this doth not seem to denote the term or bound from which his dominion begun, as our version implies, for so indeed it was not; but the place or country in and over which his dominion was, which, as is here said, began at Arnon, and took in half Gilead, and ended at Jabbok, beyond which was the other half of Gilead, which belonged to Og, as is expressly said, Jos 12:5, where the words being wholly the same that are here, it is most reasonable to understand and translate them in the same manner.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Aroer — See on Jos_13:16.

The middle of the river — The midst of the valley of the Arnon. This is “a more exact definition of the previous clause, since the Arnon, which flowed through the middle of the valley, formed the actual boundary; whereas Aroer stood not upon the river itself, but on the northern slope of the valley.” — Keil. Compare chap. Jos_13:16, note.

And from half Gilead — The word from should be omitted both here and in the next verse. Sihon ruled over the southern half of Gilead, Og over the northern half. Jos_12:5. Gilead is the name of the great mountain region of limestone on the east of the Jordan, stretching from Mount Lebanon nearly to the territory of Moab. Jabbok is now the Wady Zurka, which intersects the mountain range of Gilead, and falls into the Jordan about half way between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. See on Num_21:24. Ammon was a son of Lot, born of incestuous intercourse. Gen_19:30-38. The Ammonites at one time possessed the whole country between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok, from the Jordan on the west to the wilderness on the east. They were driven out of it by Sihon, king of the Amorites, and he was in turn expelled by the Israelites. Yet long subsequent to these events the country was popularly called the land of the Ammonites, and was even claimed by them. Jdg_11:12-22. For this reason the Jabbok is still called the border of the children of Ammon.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The river Jabbok. Literally, the pouring or emptying stream. It is remarkable that, while the LXX renders here by ceimarrov , a winter torrent, it steadily renders the same Hebrew word, when referring to Aruon, by faragx . This latter word indicates the rocky cleft through which the water flows; the former, the fact that, though rapid and impetuous in winter, it was usually dried up in summer. Cf. the term ceimarrov , applied to the Kedron by St. John; (Jos_18:1) are markable instance of accuracy, by the way, if, as we are confidently told, the author of that Gospel was an Ephesine Gentile who had never seen Jerusalem and was imperfectly acquainted with Jewish localities and customs. The Jabbok has been identified with the Wady Zerka, or blue stream.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Middle of the river - It is not unusual even among us, for a river to be divided between two lords, and for their territories or jurisdictions to meet in the middle of the river: and besides, here is a very particular reason for this expression, because the city Ar, which was no part of Sihon's dominions, but belonged to the Moabites, Deut. ii, 9, 18, was in the middle of the river Arnon, Deut. ii, 36; iii, 16, and therefore the middle of the river is properly here mentioned, as the bound of Sihon's dominion on that side. Half Gilead - Hebrew. and the half Gilead, that is, half of the country of Gilead; this doth not denote the bound from which his dominion began, but the country, over which his dominion was, which began at Arnon, and took in half Gilead, and ended at Jabbok, beyond which was the other half of Gilead which belonged to Og.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

To the Yabok river, which was the border of the land of the Bnei Amon, the end of the territory of the land of Bnei Amon. From there [the Yabok River] and further the Bnei Amon had dominion.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.