Joshua 12:1–24 serves as a summary of the first eleven chapters of the book of Joshua. In the form of a list, details are given of the cities and kings that Israel conquered, beginning with those defeated by Moses (Joshua 12:1–6) and then mentioning those defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:7–24). In this manner, the work of Moses and Joshua is linked together.1 Even though a sense of closure has already been given in Joshua 11:16–23, this list is added because of the great importance placed in the book on Israel’s inheritance of the land.2
1 Now these are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward: