Deuteronomy 3:1-11 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… See — 1. How they got the mastery of Og, a very formidable prince. (1) Very strong, for he was of the remnant of the giants (ver. 11). His personal strength was extraordinary; a monument of which was preserved by the Ammonites in his bedstead, which was shown as a rarity in their chief city. You might guess at his weight by the materials of his bedstead; it was iron, as if a bedstead of wood were too weak for him to trust to, And you might guess at his stature by the dimensions of it: it was nine cubits long, and four cubits broad; which, supposing a cubic to be but half a yard, was four yards and a half long, and two yards broad; and if we allow his bed to be two cubits longer than himself, and that is as much as we need allow, he was three yards and a half high, double the stature of an ordinary man, and every way proportionable; yet they smote him (ver. 3). When God pleads His people's cause He can deal with giants as with grasshoppers. No man's might can secure him against the Almighty. His army likewise was very powerful, for he had the command of sixty fortified cities, besides unwalled towns (ver. 5); yet all this was nothing against God's Israel, when they came with commission to destroy him. 2. He was very stout and daring; he came out against Israel to battle (ver. 1). It was wonder he did not take warning by the ruin of Sihon, and send to desire conditions of peace: but he trusted to his own strength and so was hardened to his own destruction. Those that are not awakened by the judgments of God upon others, but persist in their defiance of heaven, are ripening apace for the like judgments upon themselves (Jeremiah 3:8). God bid Moses not fear him (ver. 2). If Moses himself was so strong in faith as not to need the caution, yet it is probable the people needed it; and for them these fresh assurances are designed, "I will deliver him into thine hand." Not only deliver thee out of his hand, that he shall not be thy ruin; but deliver him into thy band, that thou shalt be his ruin, and make him pay dear for his attempt. He adds, "Thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon"; intimating that they ought to be encouraged by their former victory to trust in God for another victory; for He is God, and changeth not. 2. How they got possession of Bashan, a very desirable country. They took all the cities (ver. 4), and all the spoil of them (ver. 7); they made them all their own (ver. 10), so that now they had in their hands all that fruitful country which lay east of Jordan, from the river Arnon unto Hermon (ver. 8). Their conquering and possessing of these countries was intended not only for the encouragement of Israel in the wars of Canaan, but for the satisfaction of Moses before his death; because he must not live to see the completing of their victory and settlement, God thus gives him a specimen of it. Thus the Spirit is given to them that believe, as the earnest of their inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. ( Matthew Henry, D. D..) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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