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Deuteronomy 3

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The Defeat of Og, King of Bashan 1–11

1
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
And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. ​
3
So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. ​
4
And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ​
5
All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.
6
And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.
7
But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
8
And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon;
9
(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) ​
10
All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
11
For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. ​

Allocation of the Transjordan Territory 12–17

12
And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites.
13
And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. ​
14
Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day. ​
15
And I gave Gilead unto Machir.
16
And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
17
The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward.

Moses Charges the Tribes and Joshua 18–22

18
And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.
19
But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;
20
Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. ​
21
And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. ​
22
Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.

Moses’ Final Plea and Succession 23–29

23
And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,
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O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? ​
25
I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. ​
26
But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. ​
27
Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. ​
28
But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. ​
29
So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 3

Verse 2

Fear him not — Moses repeats the word given him when Og came out to battle: ‘Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand’ (Num 21:34). The measure is the defeat of Sihon, ‘as thou didst unto Sihon’, and Ps 135:10–11 names the two kings together among the great kings the LORD slew.

Verse 3

until none was left — Sarid is a survivor, the word of ‘we left none to remain’ in the account of Sihon (Deut 2:34) and of Joshua’s victories (Josh 10:40). Num 21:35 records the same end for Og: ‘until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.’

Verse 4

threescore cities — ‘Region’ is chebel, a measuring line, so a measured district; Argob is named again in vv.13, 14. The cities were ‘fenced with high walls, gates, and bars’ (v.5), and 1 Kings 4:13 describes them as ‘threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars’.

Verse 9

Sirion… Shenir — The one mountain carried three names: Hermon, Sirion among the Sidonians, Shenir among the Amorites. Sirion stands beside Lebanon in Ps 29:6, and Shenir beside Hermon in Song 4:8; Ezek 27:5 spells it Senir and names its fir trees.

Verse 11

his bedstead was a bedstead of iron — Og is ‘of the remnant of giants’ (rapha, the Rephaim; Josh 12:4). Nine cubits by four, ‘after the cubit of a man’, is roughly thirteen feet by six. It was kept at Rabbath of the Ammonites, the city called Rabbah in 2 Sam 12:26.

Verse 13

the land of giants — The region is named for its people, rapha, as in v.11. Moses gives ‘all the region of Argob, with all Bashan’ to the half tribe of Manasseh, Gilead having gone to Machir (Num 32:39–40). The Rephaims are named already in Abraham’s day, in Ashteroth Karnaim (Gen 14:5).

Verse 14

Bashanhavothjair — Chavvoth means hamlets, so the name is ‘the hamlets of Jair’. Jair ‘took the small towns’ and ‘called them Havothjair’ (Num 32:41), and Judg 10:4 gives the name to thirty cities in Gilead that still bore it ‘unto this day’.

Verse 20

given rest — Nuach, to settle down. The two and a half tribes keep their land east of Jordan but cross armed ahead of their brethren until the rest comes (Josh 1:13–15). Josh 22:4 records the release: ‘now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren… therefore now return ye.’

Verse 21

Thine eyes have seen — Moses sets the defeat of Sihon and Og before Joshua as proof of what comes next, ‘so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest’. Joshua says the same to his captains over the captured kings: ‘thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight’ (Josh 10:24–25).

Verse 24

O Lord GOD — The double title (Adonai Yehovih) stands in Deuteronomy only here and in Moses’ other prayer, 9:26. He calls himself ‘thy servant’, and ‘greatness’ (godel) is the word of 5:24 and 11:2. His question, what God ‘can do according to thy works’, answers Ex 15:11, ‘Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?’

Verse 25

let me go over — Moses asks to cross for the sight of ‘the good land’, ‘that goodly mountain, and Lebanon’. Num 20:12 records the ground of the refusal, and Moses tells Israel again in Deut 4:21–22: ‘I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over.’

Verse 26

for your sakes — The cause is Meribah: ‘Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel’ (Num 20:12). Ps 106:32–33 gives the other side: ‘it went ill with Moses for their sakes… he spake unadvisedly with his lips.’ ‘Let it suffice’ is rab, enough; the matter is closed.

Verse 27

top of Pisgah — A sight replaces the entry: the four directions are named, as the LORD once bade Abram to ‘lift up now thine eyes’ (Gen 13:14). Num 27:12 names the mount as Abarim, and Deut 34:1 records the climb to Nebo, ‘the top of Pisgah’, where ‘the LORD shewed him all the land’.

Verse 28

charge Joshua, and encourage him — Three verbs: tsavah, to command; chazaq, to make strong; amats, to make firm of courage. Moses does so in Deut 31:7, ‘Be strong and of a good courage’, and the LORD says the same to Joshua in Josh 1:6. It is Joshua who ‘shall cause them to inherit’ the land (nachal).