Deuteronomy Chapter 3

This chapter is about the defeat of King Og, the division of land, & Moses being forbidden from even crossing the River Jordan. This chapter rehashes more of the Jewish diaspora after Egypt. This chapter is relatively short. Enjoy.

The Israelites went up along the road toward Bashan. King Og, king of Bashan, marched with his whole army to meet the Israelites at Edrei for battle. God told Moses that they didn’t have to be afraid of King Og or his army. And their land too. All they had to do was the same thing they did to King Sihon of the Amorites.

So God also gave into the Israelites’ hands to King Og & his army. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors. Except for the livestock & plunder. At that time, the Israelites took all their cities. There was not one of the 60 cities that they didn’t take from them, the whole region of Argob. All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, & bars. There were also many, many unwalled villages. They were all completely destroyed. As the Israelites had done with King Sihon’s kingdom.

At that time, the Israelites took from 2 kings of the Amorites territory east of the River Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. (Check out Deuteronomy 4:48. Mount Hermon was called Sirion by the Sidonians. The Amorites called it Senir.)

The Israelites took all the towns on the plateau. All Gilead, all of Bashan as far as Salecah & Edrei. Only King Og was the last remnant of the Rephaites. His sarcophagus was made of iron & was more than 13 ft. long & 6 ft. wide (or in Hebrew, 9 cubits long & 4 cubits wide or about 4 meters long & 1.8 meters wide). It was in the Rabbah of the Ammonites.

Of the land that was taken, the Reubenites & Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including 1/2 the hill country of Gilead, along with its towns. The rest of the Gilead & all of Bashan went to the 1/2 tribe of Manasseh.

The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as the land of the Rephaites. Jair, who was a descendant of Manasseh, took all of the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites & the Maacathites. It was named after him. So Bashan was then called Havvoth Jair (or the settlements of Jair.)

Gilead was given to Makir. But the Reubenites & Gadites were given the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge. The middle of the gorge was the border. Out to the Jabbok River, which was the border of the Ammonites.

The western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.

God told them that they had to take up arms & go across the River Jordan, fighting on the front lines. Their families & livestock could stay in the cities, whilst the men went off to fight. After the fighting was over, the Reubenites & Gadites could go back across the river to their families, livestock, & already-established cities.

Moses then said to Joshua, “Look boy, you’ve seen with your own 2 eyeballs what God has done with those 2 kings. God’s gonna do the same thing to all the other kingdoms over there. You know, where you’re going. Don’t be afraid. It’ll be fine, God’s gonna fight FOR you.” (Nice.)

At that time, Moses pleaded with God. Moses was trying to get God to let him at least SEE the Promised Land. God wasn’t having it. But He told Moses to the top of Pisgah & look in all 4 directions (like on a compass). “Look at the land right here with your own eyes, Moses. Since you ain’t crossing the River Jordan, Moses. But you can go ahead & commission Joshua. Because Joshua is the 1 who’s leading the Israelites across the River Jordan. Period.” So they stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.