1And we turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2And Jehovah said to me, Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And you shall do to him as you have done to Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon. 3And Jehovah our God also gave Og the king of Bashan into our hands, and all his people. And we struck him until not one survivor was left to him. 4And we captured all his cities at that time, there not being a city which we did not take from them, sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates and double-leaved doors, besides a great many of the unwalled towns. 6And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sihon the king of Heshbon, destroying every city, the men, the women and the little ones. 7And we plundered for ourselves all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities. 8And we took the land that was beyond the Jordan from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon, out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites. 9 The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir; 10all the cities of the tableland, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11For only Og the king of Bashan remained of the rest of the giants. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, nine cubits long and four cubits broad, by the cubit of a man? 12And we possessed this land at that time: from Aroer by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, to all Bashan that is called the land of the giants. 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maachathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Towns of Jair, until today. 15And I gave Gilead to Machir. 16And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley and its border; even to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the sons of Ammon; 17and the Arabah, the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the Slopes of Pisgah eastward. 18And I commanded you at that time, saying, Jehovah your God has given you this land to possess it. And you shall pass over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel, all the warriors. 19Only, your wives and your little ones, and your livestock, shall dwell in your cities which I have given to you. I know that you have much livestock. 20 It shall be until Jehovah shall give rest to your brothers like yourselves, and they, too, have possessed the land which Jehovah your God is giving to them beyond the Jordan. Then you shall each man return to his possession which I have given to you. 21And I at that time commanded Joshua, saying, Your eyes have seen all that Jehovah your God has done to these two kings; so Jehovah shall do to all the kingdoms to which you are passing over. 22Do not fear them, for Jehovah your God, He shall fight for you. 23And I prayed to Jehovah for favor at that time, saying, 24Lord Jehovah, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand (for who is a god in the heavens or in the earth who can do according to Your works and according to Your might?) 25Please let me pass over and see the good land which is beyond the Jordan, this good hill country, and Lebanon. 26But Jehovah was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. And Jehovah said to me, Let it be enough for you; do not speak any more to Me about this thing. 27Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and see with your eyes; for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28And command Joshua and make him strong, and make him brave, for he shall cross over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see. 29So we stayed in the valley across from Beth-peor.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONQUEST OF OG, KING OF BASHAN. (Deu. 3:1-20)
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 [
Num 21:25].
3 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" (
Deut 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 (
Josh 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 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 (
Deut 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 (
Deut 3:12-
Deut 3:13) 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
Josh 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 (
Deut 12:5;
Exod 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.