The Divine Audit: Thirty-One Kings Text: Joshua 12:7-24
Introduction: God's Bookkeeping
We have come to a passage in the book of Joshua that modern readers are tempted to skim. It is a list. It is a long list of unpronounceable names and forgotten places. It feels like reading an ancient inventory sheet, a divine audit of a completed military campaign. And in one sense, that is exactly what it is. But we must never forget that this is God's inventory sheet, and God's bookkeeping is never tedious. It is always theological. It is always freighted with glorious and weighty truth.
This chapter is the great hinge in the book of Joshua. The first half of the book, chapters 1 through 12, is about conquest. It is about warfare, judgment, and the mighty acts of God in tearing down strongholds. The second half of the book, chapters 13 through 24, is about settlement. It is about inheritance, division of the land, and rest. This chapter, then, is the grand summary of the conquest, the final report filed by Joshua, the general, before he puts on the hat of Joshua, the administrator. It is the receipt for services rendered, a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
Our age is allergic to this kind of thing. We are allergic to judgment, allergic to holy war, and allergic to lists of defeated enemies. We want a God who is a celestial guidance counselor, not a divine warrior. We want a gospel of affirmation, not a gospel of conquest. But the God of Joshua 12 is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The conquest of Canaan is not an embarrassing bit of Israel's primitive history that we must explain away. It is a type, a shadow, a preview of the greater conquest that Christ would accomplish on the cross and which He is now extending throughout the world by His Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
This list of thirty-one defeated kings is not just a historical record. It is a trophy case. It is a declaration that the wicked will not stand in the judgment. It is a promise that every enemy of God will be brought low. And it is a profound comfort to the people of God, reminding us that our God keeps His promises, down to the last king, the last city, and the last acre.
The Text
Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck down beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions, in the hill country and in the Shephelah and in the Arabah and on the slopes and in the wilderness and in the Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite: the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; the king of Dor in the heights of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one; the king of Tirzah, one: in all, thirty-one kings.
(Joshua 12:7-24 LSB)
The Scope of the Victory (v. 7-8)
The passage begins by defining the boundaries and nature of the conquest.
"Now these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel struck down beyond the Jordan toward the west, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon even as far as Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir; and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions, in the hill country and in the Shephelah and in the Arabah and on the slopes and in the wilderness and in the Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite:" (Joshua 12:7-8)
Notice the dual agency here. It was "Joshua and the sons of Israel" who struck down these kings. God commands His people to fight. He does not bypass human responsibility. The Israelites had to sharpen their swords, march into battle, and face their enemies. Faith is not passivity. But we know from the preceding chapters that it was the Lord who gave them the victory. It was the Lord who threw down the walls of Jericho, who cast down hailstones on the Amorites, and who caused the sun to stand still. God works through means, and the primary means He uses in His kingdom are His obedient people.
The geographical boundaries are specified, from Baal-gad in the north to Mount Halak in the south. This is the land God promised to Abraham. This is not arbitrary imperialism; it is covenantal fulfillment. God is giving His people what He swore to give their forefathers centuries before. Our God is a promise-keeping God, and His memory is long. The iniquity of the Amorites was now full (Gen. 15:16), and the time for judgment had come. This was not ethnic cleansing; it was divine justice executed against cultures that had institutionalized the most grotesque evils, including child sacrifice.
And the purpose of the conquest is stated plainly: "Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a possession." The goal of holy war is not destruction for its own sake; it is dispossession and inheritance. God tears down one kingdom in order to build another. He judges the wicked in order to make a place for His people to dwell in peace and worship Him. This is the pattern of redemption. God casts out the strong man in order to plunder his house (Mark 3:27). He defeats sin and death so that we might inherit eternal life.
The list of the "-ites" is a standard roll call of the inhabitants of Canaan. These were distinct peoples, but they were united in their rebellion against the God of heaven. They represent the fullness of pagan opposition to God's covenant purposes. And one by one, their power was broken.
The Roll Call of the Defeated (v. 9-24)
Then we come to the list itself. It is a drumbeat of victory, a monotonous recital of God's faithfulness.
"the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; ... in all, thirty-one kings." (Joshua 12:9-24)
Why record this list? Why not just say, "And Joshua defeated all the kings of the land"? Because God deals in particulars. Our God is not a God of vague generalities. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He knows the number of hairs on your head. And He knows the name of every single petty tyrant who sets himself up against the Lord and His anointed. Not one of them is anonymous to Him. Not one is forgotten.
Each name on this list represents a story of God's power. Jericho, the city whose walls fell down by faith. Ai, the city that taught Israel the hard lesson of corporate sin and the necessity of holiness in the camp. Jerusalem, the future capital, whose king Adoni-zedek led the southern coalition to its doom. Hebron, Lachish, Eglon, all part of that same campaign where God fought from heaven. Hazor in the north, whose king Jabin was the head of a mighty northern alliance, yet was utterly defeated at the waters of Merom. Each "one" is a testament.
This list is a form of spiritual accounting. It is a public record that the land was not taken by accident or by sheer human might. It was a gift, given after a righteous judgment. It says to Israel, and to us, "Do not forget what the Lord has done. Do not forget the enemies He has vanquished on your behalf." This is why we have the Lord's Supper. It is a public accounting of our redemption. We proclaim the Lord's death, the defeat of our great enemy, until He comes. We name the victory.
The repetition of "one" after each name is significant. It emphasizes the individual and total nature of the defeat. These were not abstract forces of evil; they were individual kings, individual thrones, individual strongholds of rebellion. And each one was dealt with. God's judgment is personal and exhaustive. In the end, there will be no loose ends. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The final audit will show that not one of His enemies remains standing.
The Greater Joshua and the Greater Conquest
This entire chapter, this entire book, points us to our greater Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. The name Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus, which means "Yahweh saves." The first Joshua was a faithful servant who led God's people into a temporary, earthly rest. But he could not give them the final rest, because the ultimate enemies, sin and death, still had to be dealt with.
The conquest of Canaan was a physical, bloody affair because it was a type. The antitype, the reality to which it pointed, is the spiritual warfare in which we are now engaged. Our weapons are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4). Our warfare is the Great Commission. We are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12)
The thirty-one kings of Canaan are a picture of the spiritual tyrants that rule in the hearts of fallen men. There is the king of Pride, the king of Lust, the king of Bitterness, the king of Unbelief. These are the strongholds that the gospel is designed to demolish. When the gospel is preached in power, the Spirit of God invades the human heart, binds the strong man, and sets the captive free. Every conversion is a D-Day, a beachhead established in enemy territory.
And just as Joshua gave the land as an inheritance, so our Lord Jesus has secured for us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). The conquest of Canaan was a down payment, a tangible promise of the ultimate inheritance: a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
The Final Tally
This list in Joshua 12 is a historical record of a completed campaign. But it is also a prophecy of a future, final accounting. The book of Revelation shows us the greater Joshua, riding on a white horse, His eyes a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns. He is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war (Rev. 19:11).
"And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army." (Revelation 19:19)
There will be a final gathering, a last stand of all the kings of the earth who have set themselves against the Lord. And the outcome is not in doubt. They will be thrown into the lake of fire. The final audit will be read, and the victory of the Lamb will be total and absolute.
Therefore, do not despise the day of small beginnings. Do not grow weary in the fight. The same God who meticulously recorded the defeat of thirty-one Canaanite kings is meticulously recording every victory won in the name of His Son. Every soul won, every sin mortified, every act of obedience is part of this grand conquest. He is keeping the books. And when the story is over, and the final list is read, it will be seen that His victory was complete. He will have subdued all His enemies, and He will hand the kingdom over to God the Father, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:24-28). And we, by His grace, will enter into our possession, our inheritance, our everlasting rest.