Deuteronomy 3

De 3:1-20.

CONQUEST OF

OG,

KING OF

BASHAN.

1. we turned, and went up the way to Bashan--Bashan ("fruitful" or

"flat"), now El-Bottein, lay situated to the north of Gilead and

extended as far as Hermon. It was a rugged mountainous country, valuable

however for its rich and luxuriant pastures.

Og the king of Bashan came out against us--Without provocation, he

rushed to attack the Israelites, either disliking the presence of such

dangerous neighbors, or burning to avenge the overthrow of his friends

and allies.

2. The Lord said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and

all his people, and his land, into thy hand--Og's gigantic appearance

and the formidable array of forces he will bring to the field, need not

discourage you; for, belonging to a doomed race, he is destined to

share the fate of Sihon

[Nu 21:25].

3-8. Argob was the capital of a district in Bashan of the same name,

which, together with other fifty-nine cities in the same province, were

conspicuous for their lofty and fortified walls. It was a war of

extermination. Houses and cities were razed to the ground; all classes

of people were put to the sword; and nothing was saved but the cattle,

of which an immense amount fell as spoil into the hands of the

conquerors. Thus, the two Amorite kings and the entire population of

their dominions were extirpated. The whole country east of the

Jordan--first upland downs from the torrent of the Arnon on the south

to that of the Jabbok on the north; next the high mountain tract of

Gilead and Bashan from the deep ravine of Jabbok--became the possession

of the Israelites.

9. Hermon--now Jebel-Es-Sheick--the majestic hill on which the long

and elevated range of Anti-Lebanon terminates. Its summit and the

ridges on its sides are almost constantly covered with snow. It is not

so much one high mountain as a whole cluster of mountain peaks, the

highest in Palestine. According to the survey taken by the English

Government Engineers in 1840, they were about 9376 feet above the sea.

Being a mountain chain, it is no wonder that it should have received

different names at different points from the different tribes which lay

along the base--all of them designating extraordinary height: Hermon,

the lofty peak; "Sirion," or in an abbreviated form "Sion"

(De 4:48),

the upraised, glittering; "Shenir," the glittering breastplate of ice.

11. only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of

giants--literally, "of Rephaim." He was not the last giant, but the

only living remnant in the trans-jordanic country

(Jos 15:14),

of a certain gigantic race, supposed to be the most ancient inhabitants

of Palestine.

behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron--Although beds in the

East are with the common people nothing more than a simple mattress,

bedsteads are not unknown. They are in use among the great, who prefer

them of iron or other metals, not only for strength and durability, but

for the prevention of the troublesome insects which in warm climates

commonly infest wood. Taking the cubit at half a yard, the bedstead of

Og would measure thirteen and a half feet, so that as beds are usually

a little larger than the persons who occupy them, the stature of the

Amorite king may be estimated at about eleven or twelve feet; or he

might have caused his bed to be made much larger than was necessary, as

Alexander the Great did for each of his foot soldiers, to impress the

Indians with an idea of the extraordinary strength and stature of his

men [LE

CLERC].

But how did Og's bedstead come to be in Rabbath, of the

children of Ammon? In answer to this question, it has been said, that

Og had, on the eve of engagement, conveyed it to Rabbath for safety. Or

it may be that Moses, after capturing it, may have sold it to the

Ammonites, who had kept it as an antiquarian curiosity till their

capital was sacked in the time of David. This is a most unlikely

supposition, and besides renders it necessary to consider the latter

clause of this verse as an interpolation inserted long after the time

of Moses. To avoid this, some eminent critics take the Hebrew word

rendered "bedstead" to mean "coffin." They think that the king of

Bashan having been wounded in battle, fled to Rabbath, where he died

and was buried; hence the dimensions of his "coffin" are given

[DATHE,

ROOS].

12, 13. this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer . . .

gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites--The whole territory

occupied by Sihon was parcelled out among the pastoral tribes of Reuben

and Gad. It extended from the north bank of the Arnon to the south

half of mount Gilead--a small mountain ridge, now called Djelaad, about

six or seven miles south of the Jabbok, and eight miles in length. The

northern portion of Gilead and the rich pasture lands of Bashan--a

large province, consisting, with the exception of a few bleak and rocky

spots, of strong and fertile soil--was assigned to the half-tribe of

Manasseh.

14. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob--The

original inhabitants of the province north of Bashan, comprising sixty

cities

(De 3:4),

not having been extirpated along with Og, this people were afterwards

brought into subjection by the energy of Jair. This chief, of the

tribe of Manasseh, in accordance with the pastoral habits of his

people, called these newly acquired towns by a name which signifies

"Jair's Bedouin Villages of Tents."

unto this day--This remark must evidently have been introduced by Ezra,

or some of the pious men who arranged and collected the books of Moses.

15. I gave Gilead unto Machir--It was only the half of Gilead

(De 3:12, 13)

which was given to the descendants of Machir, who was now dead.

16. from Gilead--that is, not the mountainous region, but the town

Ramoth-gilead,

even unto the river Arnon half the valley--The word "valley" signifies

a wady, either filled with water or dry, as the Arnon is in summer, and

thus the proper rendering of the passage will be--"even to the half

or middle of the river Arnon" (compare

Jos 12:2).

This prudent arrangement of the boundaries was evidently made to

prevent all disputes between the adjacent tribes about the exclusive

right to the water.

25. I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond

Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon--The natural and very

earnest wish of Moses to be allowed to cross the Jordan was founded on

the idea that the divine threatening might be conditional and

revertible. "That goodly mountain" is supposed by Jewish writers to

have pointed to the hill on which the temple was to be built

(De 12:5;

Ex 15:2).

But biblical scholars now, generally, render the words--"that goodly

mountain, even Lebanon," and consider it to be mentioned as typifying

the beauty of Palestine, of which hills and mountains were so prominent

a feature.

26. speak no more unto me of this matter--that is, My decree is

unalterable.