Joshua, or whoever else is the historian before he comes to sum up the
new conquests Israel had made, in these verses receives their former
conquests in Moses's time, under whom they became masters of the great
and potent kingdoms of Sihon and Og. Note, Fresh mercies must not drown
the remembrance of former mercies, nor must the glory of the present
instruments of good to the church be suffered to eclipse and diminish
the just honour of those who have gone before them, and who were the
blessings and ornaments of their day. Joshua's services and
achievements are confessedly great, but let not those under Moses be
overlooked and forgotten, since God was the same who wrought both, and
both put together proclaim him the Alpha and Omega of Israel's great
salvation. Here is, 1. A description of this conquered country, the
measure and bounds of it in general (v. 1): From the river Arnon in the
south, to Mount Hermon in the north. In particular, here is a
description of the kingdom of Sihon (v. 2, 3), and that of Og, v. 4, 5.
Moses had described this country very particularly (Deut. ii. 36; iii.
4, &c.), and this description here agrees with his. King Og is said to
dwell at Ashtaroth and Edrei (v. 4), probably because they were both
his royal cities; he had palaces in both, and resided sometimes in one
and sometimes in the other; one perhaps was his summer seat and the
other his winter seat. But Israel took both from him, and made one
grave to serve him that could not be content with one palace. 2. The
distribution of this country. Moses assigned it to the two tribes and a
half, at their request, and divided it among them (v. 6), of which we
had the story at large, Num. xxxii. The dividing of it when it was
conquered by Moses is here mentioned as an example to Joshua what he
must do now that he had conquered the country on this side Jordan.
Moses, in his time, gave to one part of Israel a very rich and fruitful
country, but it was on the outside of Jordan; but Joshua gave to all
Israel the holy land, the mountain of God's sanctuary, within Jordan:
so the law conferred upon some few of God's spiritual Israel external
temporal blessings, which were earnests of good things to come; but our
Lord Jesus, the true Joshua, has provided for all the children of
promise spiritual blessings--the privileges of the sanctuary, and the
heavenly Canaan. The triumphs and grants of the law were glorious, but
those of the gospel far exceed in glory.