Deuteronomy 3:1-22 English Standard Version The Defeat of King Og 3 “Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him and all his people and his land into your hand. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.’ 3 So the LORD our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left. 4 And we took all his cities at that time—there was not a city that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled villages. 6 And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon the king of Heshbon, devoting to destruction every city, men, women, and children. 7 But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as our plunder. 8 So we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon 9 (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir), 10 all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, according to the common cubit.) 12 “When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities. 13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. 14 Jair the Manassite took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) 15 To Machir I gave Gilead, 16 and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites; 17 the Arabah also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east. 18 “And I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel. 19 Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in the cities that I have given you, 20 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also occupy the land that the LORD your God gives them beyond the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession which I have given you.’ 21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So will the LORD do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. 22 You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.’ The LORD led the people of Israel through the land of Bashan and led them to war against the king of Bashan, King Og. They did not leave any survivors and took 60 fortified cities--the whole region of Argob--because the LORD gave them the victory and handed King Og and his kingdom into the hands of the Israelites. They were not to fear him or his vast kingdom or his fortifications because the LORD was on their side. Alll of these cities were devoted to destruction so that there was no remnant of the kingdom of Bashan. Once again, they only took the livestock as plunder, just as they did with King Sihon's kingdom. Together the land of these two Amorite kings made the land of the Trans-Jorden area where Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh would settle Apparently this king was a giant whose bed was of iron and 9 cubits (13 feet, 6 inches) tall and 4 cubits (6 feet) wide. The passage says he was the last of the Rephaim that Deuteronomy 2 told us were like the Anakim (the sons of Anak, where we believe Goliath would later come from), so apparently they were likewise giants--possibly with extra digits like the Anakim. We first hear about the people group known as the Rephaim in Genesis 15:20. Why make what seems to be a passing mention that King Og was the last of the Rephaim? Let's go back and look at that passage in Genesis 15 and examine the covenant that the LORD made with Abraham (and his descendants). Genesis 15:17-21 English Standard Version 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” We can mark at least one of these groups of this list and I think this note is made to say that the LORD is being faithful to keep His covenant and the people should not doubt that He will likewise give the land of the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites into their hands even if they too have giants and fortified cities. The next paragraph discusses the division of this land among the Trans-Jorden tribes that I mentioned before. They thought that their wives and children and livestock would be safer on that side of the Jorden, yet we know that to not be the case as they were within striking distance from the Edomites, Moabites, and were in the way of any army that wanted to invade Israel from the east (we'll see conquests by Assyria, Babylon, and Persia later. The command was given that these tribes must fight the battle for the Promised Land alongside all their brothers and only once all the others had inherited their land could they return to this land as their inheritance. I love how this passage ends and it does bring it right back to the Genesis 15 passage and the reason we mentioned it earlier. The LORD is using this as an object lesson to Joshua and the new generation. And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. 22 You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’ Are you able to look at the seemingly impossible victories of the past and present and meet the present circumstance with the rhetorical question "Is anything to hard for [the LORD]?" that we see in Genesis 18:14 and Jeremiah 32:27? If He is able to do the "impossible" here and when He led His people out of Egypt by way of the plagues and the Passover, through the Red Sea, through the wilderness for forty years eating manna and supernaturally providing water from a rock for them, and all the while preserving them from enemies on all sides--He is certainly able to keep His promise to Abraham, but we can also say that we can believe the promises that He's made to us. Here are a few songs that were rolling around in my head as I typed these final words today. Comments are closed.
|
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|