1<\/strong>. turned, and went up<\/em> ] See on Deu 1:7<\/span>.<\/p>\n Bashan<\/em> ] Heb. the Bashan<\/em>, so in all historical statements and sometimes in poetry in which however the article is oftener omitted ( HGHL<\/em>, 549 n<\/em>. 7). In its wider sense the name covered all the land from the. Yarmk to ermon, Deu 4:43<\/span>, Deu 33:22<\/span>. But its proper application was confined to the land immediately N. of the Yarmk and E. of Geshur and Ma‘akah, the present Jaulan (see below Deu 3:14<\/em><\/span>, Deu 4:43<\/span>): the S. end of auran, including ‘Ashtaroth (perhaps Tell el ‘Ashari) on the W., Edre‘i on the S. and Salkah on the S.E. (Deu 1:4<\/span>, Deu 3:10<\/span>, Jos 9:10<\/span>; Jos 12:4<\/span>; Jos 13:11<\/span> f., 31<\/span>), the district known in Greek times as Batanea, and in the 10th century still called ‘Ard-el-Bathaniyeh, containing Edre‘i (Idrisi); but to-day the name has drifted N.E. to the E. of the Lej. Ar. Bathnah<\/em> means level, loamy land (Freytag) and suits the region. See HGHL<\/em>, 549, 553, 570 f.<\/p>\n Og<\/em> ] The name ‘Og, LXX and , does not occur except as that of the king of Bashan; the root meaning ‘curved’ or ‘round’ supplies some Ar. geographical names. W. R. Smith ( Rel. of the Sem.<\/em> 83) arguing that in Heb. a king’s name is usually joined with that of his people or of his capital (e.g. Sn, king of the Amorites<\/em>, or of eshbon) and that ‘g’s is the only exception, takes ‘g ‘who is a mythical figure’ as presumably ‘an old god of the region.’<\/p>\n Edrei<\/em> ] Edre‘i<\/em> on the S. frontier of Bashan ( Deu 3:10<\/em><\/span>), the Otara‘a of Egyptian inscriptions, Adra of Ptolemy, Adraa of Euseb., now Edhra‘at, Dera‘at or on Bedawee lips ’Azra‘at, a strong site on the S. edge of the gorge that forms the S. limit of auran, and further entrenched by a tributary ravine. In the rock beneath the walled city, a labyrinth of streets with houses and shops was excavated. That this marvel is not mentioned in the O.T. proves it of later date, and indeed its architecture and inscriptions point to the Greek period: HGHL<\/em>, 576, ZDPV<\/em>, xx. 118 ff. On the only possible remains in Bashan of ‘g’s time see Driver, Deut., in loco<\/em>.<\/p>\n Duet Deu 1:6<\/span> to Deu 3:29<\/span>. Historical Part of the First Introductory Discourse<\/p>\n Spoken in the land of Moab (Deu 1:5<\/span>) in the gai<\/em> or glen, over against Beth Pe‘or<\/em> (Deu 3:29<\/span>), a review of Israel’s experiences since they left oreb. In the Plur. form of address except for the following fragments Deu 1:8<\/span>; Deu 1:21<\/span>; Deu 1:31<\/span> a<\/em>, Deu 2:7<\/span>; Deu 2:24<\/span> b<\/em>, Deu 2:25<\/span>; Deu 2:30<\/span> b<\/em>, Deu 2:37<\/span> [108] . We shall see how far these are detachable from the context, or give evidence of their later intrusion. There are, too, a number of parentheses, dealing with matters beyond Israel’s experience and therefore beyond the aim of the discourse: archaeological notes on the peoples who preceded Moab, Edom, Ammon, the Philistines and Israel, and on ermon; Deu 2:10-12<\/span>; Deu 2:10-23<\/span>, Deu 3:9<\/span>; Deu 3:11<\/span>; Deu 3:13<\/span> b<\/em>, 14<\/span>. The contents of these notes are suitable neither to the voice of the Deity, to whose words some of them are attached, Deu 2:10-12<\/span>; Deu 2:20-23<\/span>, nor in the mouth of Moses whose purpose is to recall to Israel their own experience. They are notes or glosses, either by the author or an editor. All the rest (except perhaps Deu 3:15-17<\/span>, which see) forms a unity, complete in itself.<\/p>\n [108] The Sing, in Deu 2:9<\/span> a<\/em> (LXX Plur.) and even in Deu 2:19<\/span> may be due, as in Deu 3:27<\/span>, to the fact that the address is to Moses himself.<\/p>\n The following are the divisions: (1) Deu 1:6-8<\/span>, order to depart from Horeb; (2) Deu 1:9-18<\/span>, institution of Judges; (3) Deu 1:19<\/span>, journey to adesh-Barnea‘, to which probably belong Deu 1:1<\/span> b<\/em>, Deu 1:2<\/span> (see above); (4) Deu 1:20-25<\/span>, mission of the spies; (5) Deu 1:26-43<\/span>, consequent disaffection of the people; (6) Deu 1:34-40<\/span>, wrath and judgement of God; (7) Deu 1:41-46<\/span>, defeat of the attempt to enter the land from the south, and residence at adesh; (8) Deu 2:1-8<\/span> a<\/em>, departure from adesh and circuit of Mt Se‘r; (9) Deu 2:8-15<\/span>, further march to Wdy-Zered, which they cross 38 years after leaving adesh, when all the adult generation have died; (10) Deu 2:16-25<\/span>, command to cross Arnon, the border of Moab, to avoid ‘Ammon and to fight Sn; (11) Deu 2:26-37<\/span>, defeat of Sn; (12) Deu 3:1-7<\/span>, defeat of ‘g; (13) Deu 3:8-17<\/span>, division of the conquered lands; (14) Deu 3:18-22<\/span>, directions to the tribes left there and to Joshua; (15) Deu 3:23-29<\/span>, Moses’ Prayer to cross Jordan and its rejection.<\/p>\n The same stretch of history from oreb to the Jordan is treated by JE, Exo 33:1-17<\/span>, and Num 10:29<\/span> onwards; and by P from Numbers 12<\/span> onwards. JE seems the basis of this deuteronomic review, even to the extent of supplying verbal details. But the review is not only written in a style peculiar to the deuteronomic writings; it adds some facts not found in JE and differs from JE in its presentation of others. On P the review shows no dependence, and P differs from it considerably both in the language used for the same events and in several matters of substance. On these see below.<\/p>\n Deu 3:1-11<\/span><\/p>\n So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, king of Bashan.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Mastery of formidable enemies<\/strong><\/p>\n See–<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>How they got the mastery of Og, a very formidable prince.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> Very strong, for he was of the remnant of the giants (Deu 3:11<\/span>). 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 (Deu 3:3<\/span>). When God pleads His peoples cause He can deal with giants as with grasshoppers. No mans 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 (Deu 3:5<\/span>); yet all this was nothing against Gods Israel, when they came with commission to destroy him.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>He was very stout and daring; he came out against Israel to battle (Deu 3:1<\/span>). 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 (Jer 3:8<\/span>). God bid Moses not fear him (Deu 3:2<\/span>). 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.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>How they got possession of Bashan, a very desirable country. They took all the cities (Deu 3:4<\/span>), and all the spoil of them (Deu 3:7<\/span>); they made them all their own (Deu 3:10<\/span>), so that now they had in their hands all that fruitful country which lay east of Jordan, from the river Arnon unto Hermon (Deu 3:8<\/span>). 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.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Review and prospect<\/strong><\/p>\n Is it not remarkable that good causes and good men should meet with constant opposition? We are now perusing the history of a journey which was undertaken by Divine direction, and again and again we come upon the fact that the journey was from end to end bitterly opposed. Were this matter of ancient history we might, in a happier condition of civilisation and in a happier mood of mind, dispute the theory that Israel travelled under Divine direction and guidance; but this very thing is done today in our country, in all countries, in our own heart and life. Never man, surely, went to church without some enemy in the form of temptation, suggestion, or welcome in other directions, seeking to prevent his accomplishing the sacred purpose. He who would be good must fight a battle; he who would pray well must first resist the devil. This makes life very hard; the burden is sometimes too heavy; but the voice of history so concurs with the testimony of conscience, and the whole is so corroborated by the spirit of prophecy, that we must accept the discipline, and await with what patience God Himself can work within us the issue of the tragic miracle. Is there no compensatory consideration or circumstance? The Lord Himself must speak very distinctly in some conditions and relations of life. And the Lord said unto me. That is how the balance is adjusted. In the one verse, Og, king of Bashan; in the next verse–Jehovah. Thus the story of our life alternates–now an enemy, now a friend; now the fight is going to be too severe for us and we shall certainly fall, and now the Lord of hosts is in the van, and kings are burned by His presence as stubble is burned by the fire. What was the Divine message? It was a message adapted to the sensitiveness of the circumstances: Fear him not; for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand: Get rid of fear, and you increase power. He who is strong in spirit is strong all through and through his nature; he who is only muscularly strong will fail in the fight. The brave heart, the soul alive with God–that will always conquer. Let us live and move and have our being in God. What was the consequence? We read the story in the fourth verse: 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. Opposition to God always means loss. There is no bad man who is successful. Do not let us interpret the word successful narrowly and partially, as if it were a term descriptive of mere appearances or momentary relationships. In the partial acceptation of the term the proposition will not bear examination; but in discussing great spiritual realities we must take in the full view; and, fixing the attention upon that view, the proposition remains an indestructible truth–that no bad man is really prosperous. He has no comfort. He eats like a glutton, but he has no true enjoyment; out of his bread he draws no poetry, no thought, no fire; it is lost upon him, for he is an evil eater. In his apparent wealth he is miserably poor. If it could be proved that a man can oppose God and be truly happy, the whole Christian kingdom would be destroyed by that proof, the word of the Lord, as written in the Book, is against the possibility. But what became of Og, the king of Bashan? We read in the eleventh verse, Behold his bedstead, etc. What an ending! How appropriate! How bitter the satire! Og, king of Bashan, came out to fight the people of God; a few verses are written in which battles are fought and cities taken, and at the end the bedstead of Og is nearly all that remains of the mighty king of Bashan! This is worthless fame; this is the renown that is pitiable. But there is no other renown for wicked men: they will leave a name in history, but a name the children will laugh at; they will leave behind them a memorial, but the memorial itself shall be an abiding sarcasm. The Lord turneth the counsel of the wicked upside down; the Lord will laugh at the wicked man and have all his devices in derision. His bedstead will be remembered when he himself is forgotten; he will be spoken of in the bulk and not in the quality; he will be measured like a log; he will be forgotten like an evil dream. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Who would be wicked? Who would oppose God? Who would not rather coalesce with the heavens, and pray that the Spirit of God would work in the human heart the miracle of reconciliation with things eternal and celestial? <\/em>(J. Parker, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n King Ogs bedstead<\/strong><\/p>\n Why did not the Bible give us the size of the giant instead of the size of the bedstead? Why did it not indicate that the man was eleven feet high, instead of telling us that his couch was thirteen and a half feet long? No doubt among other things it was to teach us that you can judge of a man by his surroundings. Show me a mans associates, show me a mans books, show me a mans home, and I will tell you what he is without your telling me one word about him. Moral giants and moral pigmies, intellectual giants and intellectual pigmies, like physical giants or physical pigmies, may be judged by their surroundings. That man has been thirty years faithful in attendance upon churches and prayer meetings and Sunday schools, and putting himself among intense religious associations. He may have his imperfections, but he is a very good man. Great is his religious stature. That other man has been for thirty years among influences intensely worldly, and he has shut himself out from all other influences, and his religious stature is that of a dwarf. But let no one by this thought be induced to surrender to unfavourable environments. A man can make his own bedstead. Chantrey and Hugh Miller were born stonemasons, but the one became an immortal sculptor, and the other a Christian scientist whose name will never die. The late Judge Bradley worked his way up from a charcoal burner to the bench of the supreme court of the United States. Yes, a man can decide the size of his own bedstead. Notice furthermore, that even giants must rest. Such enormous physical endowment on the part of king Og might suggest the capacity to stride across all fatigue and omit slumber. No. He required an iron bedstead. Giants must rest. Not appreciating the fact, how many of the giants yearly break down! Giants in business, giants in art, giants in eloquence, giants in usefulness. Let no one think, because he has great strength of body or mind, that be can afford to trifle with his unusual gifts. King Og, no doubt, had a sceptre, but the Bible does not mention his sceptre. Yet one of the largest verses of the Bible is taken up in describing his bedstead. So God all up and down the Bible honours sleep. Adam, with his head on a pillow of Edenic roses, has his slumber blest by a Divine gift of beautiful companionship. Jacob, with his head on a pillow of rock, has his sleep glorified with a ladder filled with descending and ascending angels. Christ, with a pillow made out of the folded up coat of a fisherman, honours slumber in the back part of the storm-tossed boat. One of our national sins is robbery of sleep. Walter Scott was so urgent about this duty of slumber that, when arriving at a hotel where there was no room to sleep in, except that in which there was a corpse, inquired if the deceased had died of a contagious disease, and, when assured he had not, took the other bed in the room and fell into profoundest slumber. Those of small endurance must certainly require rest if even the giant needs an iron bedstead. Notice furthermore, that Gods people on the way to Canaan need not be surprised if they confront some sort of a giant. Had not the Israelitish host had trouble enough already? No! Red Sea not enough. Water famine not enough. Long marches not enough. Opposition by enemies of ordinary stature not enough. They must meet Og, the giant of the iron bedstead. Do you know the name of the biggest giant that you can possibly meet–and you will meet him? He is not eleven feet high, but one hundred feet high. His bedstead is as long as a continent. His name is Doubt. His common food is infidel books and sceptical lectures, and ministers who do not know whether the Bible is inspired at all or inspired in spots, and Christians who are more infidel than Christian. You will never reach the promised land unless you slay that giant. Kill doubt, or doubt will kill you. Another impression from my subject. The march of the Church cannot be impeded by gigantic opposition. That Israelitish host led on by Moses was the Church, and when Og, the giant, he of the iron bedstead, came out against him with another host–things must have looked bad for Israel. Moses of ordinary size against Og of extraordinary dimensions. Besides that, Og was backed up by sixty fortified cities. Moses was backed up seemingly by nothing but the desert that had worn him and his army into a group of undisciplined and exhausted stragglers. But the Israelites triumphed. The day is coming. Hear it, all ye who are doing something for the conquest of the world for God and the truth, the time will come when, as there was nothing left of Og, the giant, but the iron bedstead, kept at Rabbath as a curiosity, there will be nothing left of the giants of iniquity except something for the relic hunters to examine. (T. De Witt Talmage.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The last of the giants<\/strong><\/p>\n We, in our warfare, have many giants to contend against. As we go through our wanderings there are many places waste and wild as the tangled brakes and rugged rocks of Argob, in the land of Bashan. We have our wildernesses of temptation to pass over. In those wildernesses are many giants bigger than Og, more terrible than Anak, vaunting with greater insolence than Goliath of Gath. Perhaps you have conquered many of them. Is it so? Do they lie smitten and vanquished at your feet? Envious man, have you bound envy hand and foot and put him without your house and home? He is not dead, only chained. Beware lest in some unguarded moment he should be freed, and lead you captive with the accumulated power of long repose and the increased caution brought about by his former defeat. Is the evil spirit of anger vanquished which was formerly of such gigantic proportions? Or does it still rise at will from its bedstead to which, in prosperous sunshine, when nothing crosses us or thwarts us, it voluntarily retires? Is it bound there, or does it merely lie there in hiding, with no cords of religion to compel its slumbering inactivity? There are also Bunyans giants, some dead, some living–giants Pope and Pagan sadly disabled, giants Maul and Slaygood also disabled–giant Despair, still living in his dark dungeon with Mrs. Doubting his terrible wife. Giant Despair tells men and women to kill themselves, tells them God will never forgive them, shuts them up in his grim castle, and how can they escape? Those pilgrims found a key called Hope. With Hope in the breast adversity may be borne. The giant of Lust is a mighty giant also. And of all other giants the most dangerous to some natures. Many a sinner and some saints have found this the Og which has been last vanquished. God says, Fear not. Will you fear when your Maker tells you not to fear? Shall we not rather go and do our best against the sin that still struggles in our souls and would fain bring us to destruction? (S. B. James, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n CHAPTER III <\/P> The war with<\/I> OG, king of<\/I> Bashan, 1, 2.<\/P> He is defeated<\/I>, 3.<\/P> Sixty fortified cities with many unwalled towns taken<\/I>, 4, 5.<\/P> The utter destruction of the people<\/I>, 6.<\/P> The spoils<\/I>, 7;<\/P> and extent of the land taken<\/I>, 8-10.<\/P> Account of<\/I> OG’S iron bedstead<\/I>, 11.<\/P> The land given to the<\/I> Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of<\/I><\/P> Manasseh, 12, 13.<\/P> Jair takes the country of<\/I> Argob, 14.<\/P> Gilead is given unto<\/I> Machir, 15.<\/P> And the rest of the land possessed by the<\/I> Reubenites and<\/I> Gadites,<\/P> 16,17.<\/P> The directions given to those tribes<\/I>, 18-20.<\/P> The counsel given to Joshua<\/I>, 21, 22.<\/P> Moses’s prayer to God for permission to go into the promised<\/I><\/P> land<\/I>, 23-25;<\/P> and God’s refusal<\/I>, 26.<\/P> He is commanded to go up to Mount<\/I> Pisgah to see it<\/I>, 27;<\/P> and to encourage Joshua<\/I>, 28.<\/P> They continue in the valley opposite to<\/I> Beth-peor, 29. <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. III<\/P><\/p>\n 1. we turned, and went up the way toBashan<\/B>Bashan (“fruitful” or “flat”), nowEl-Bottein, lay situated to the north of Gilead and extended as faras Hermon. It was a rugged mountainous country, valuable however forits rich and luxuriant pastures. <\/P> Og the king of Bashan cameout against us<\/B>Without provocation, he rushed to attack theIsraelites, either disliking the presence of such dangerousneighbors, or burning to avenge the overthrow of his friends andallies.<\/P><\/p>\n Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan<\/strong>,…. Which seems to have been higher than the kingdom of Sihon: this was a fine country for pasturage, for the breeding of cattle, larger and lesser, and was famous for its oaks: it is the same country which in Josephus and others goes by the name of Batanea:<\/p>\n and Og the king of Bashan came out against us<\/strong>; got his forces together, and came out from Ashteroth, the royal city where he dwelt:<\/p>\n he and all his people, to battle at Edrei<\/strong>; another city in his kingdom, about six miles from the former; see De 1:4<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Help of God in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Og of Bashan. – Deu 3:1<\/span>. After the defeat of king Sihon and the conquest of his land, the Israelites were able to advance to the Jordan. But as the powerful Amoritish king Og still held the northern half of Gilead and all Bashan, they proceeded northwards at once and took the road to Bashan, that they might also defeat this king, whom the Lord had likewise given into their hand, and conquer his country (cf. Num 21:33-34<\/span>). They smote him at Edrei, the modern Dra<\/em>, without leaving him even a remnant; and took all his towns, i.e., as is here more fully stated in Deu 3:4<\/span>., “sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan<\/em>.” These three definitions refer to one and the same country. The whole region of Argob included the sixty towns which formed the kingdom of Og in Bashan, i.e., all the towns of the land of Bashan, viz., (according to Deu 3:5<\/span>) all the fortified towns, besides the unfortified and open country towns of Bashan. , the chain for measuring, then the land or country measured with the chain. The name “ region of Argob<\/em>,” which is given to the country of Bashan here, and in Deu 3:4<\/span>, Deu 3:13<\/span>, Deu 3:14<\/span>, and also in 1Ki 4:13<\/span>, is probably derived from , stone-heaps, related to , a clump or clod of earth (Job 21:33<\/span>; Job 38:38<\/span>). The Targumists have rendered it correctly ( Trachona<\/em>), from , a rough, uneven, stony district, so called from the basaltic hills of Hauran; just as the plain to the east of Jebel Hauran, which resembles Hauran itself, is sometimes called Tellul<\/em>, from its tells or hills ( Burckhardt<\/em>, Syr. p. 173).<\/p>\n (Note: The derivation is a much more improbable one, “from the town of Argob<\/em>, , according to the Onomast<\/em>., fifteen Roman miles to the west of Gerasa<\/em>, which is called by Josephus<\/em> (Ant. xiii. 15, 5).”)<\/p>\n This district has also received the name of Bashan<\/em>, from the character of its soil; for signifies a soft and level soil. From the name given to it by the Arabic translators, the Greek name , Batanaea<\/em>, and possibly also the modern name of the country on the north-eastern slope of Hauran at the back of Mount Hauran, viz., Bethenije<\/em>, are derived.<\/p>\n The name Argob<\/em> probably originated in the north-eastern part of the country of Bashan, viz., the modern Leja<\/em>, with its stony soil covered with heaps of large blocks of stone ( Burckhardt<\/em>, p. 196), or rather in the extensive volcanic region to the east of Hauran, which was first of all brought to distinct notice in Wetzstein’s<\/em> travels, and of which he says that the “southern portion, bearing the name Harra<\/em>, is thickly covered with loose volcanic stones, with a few conical hills among them, that have been evidently caused by eruptions” ( Wetzstein<\/em>, p. 6). The central point of the whole is Safa<\/em>, “a mountain nearly seven hours’ journey in length and about the same in breadth,” in which “the black mass streaming from the craters piled itself up wave upon wave, so that the centre attained to the height of a mountain, without acquiring the smoothness of form observable in mountains generally,” – “the black flood of lava being full of innumerable streams of stony waves, often of a bright red colour, bridged over with thin arches, which rolled down the slopes out of the craters and across the high plateau” ( Wetzstein<\/em>, pp. 6 and 7). At a later period this name was transferred to the whole of the district of Hauran (= Bashan), because not only is the Jebel Hauran entirely of volcanic formation, but the plain consists throughout of a reddish brown soil produced by the action of the weather upon volcanic stones, and even “ the Leja<\/em> plain has been poured out from the craters of the Hauran mountains” ( Wetzstein<\/em>, p. 23). Through this volcanic character of the soil, Hauran differs essentially from Balka, Jebel Ajlun<\/em>, and the plain of Jaulan<\/em>, which is situated between the Sea of Galilee and the upper Jordan on the one side, and the plain of Hauran on the other, and reaches up to the southern slope of the Hermon. In these districts the limestone and chalk formations prevail, which present the same contrast to the basaltic formation of the Hauran as white does to black (cf. v. Raumer<\/em>, Pal.<\/em> pp. 75ff.). – The land of the limestone and chalk formation abounds in caves, which are not altogether wanting indeed in Hauran (as v. Raumer<\/em> supposes), though they are only found in eastern and south-eastern Hauran, where most of the volcanic elevations have been perforated by troglodytes (see Wetzstein, pp. 92 and 44ff.). But the true land of caves on the east of the Jordan is northern Gilead, viz., Erbed<\/em> and Sut<\/em> ( Wetzst<\/em>. p. 92). Here the troglodyte dwellings predominate, whereas in Hauran you find for the most part towns and villages with houses of one or more stories built above the surface of the ground, although even on the eastern slope of the Hauran mountains there are hamlets to be seen, in which the style of building forms a transition from actual caves to dwellings built upon the ground. An excavation is first of all made in the rocky plateau, of the breadth and depth of a room, and this is afterwards arched over with a solid stone roof. The dwellings made in this manner have all the appearance of cellars or tunnels. This style of building, such as Wetzstein<\/em> found in Hibbike<\/em> for example, belongs to the most remote antiquity. In some cases, hamlets of this kind were even surrounded by a wall. Those villages of Hauran which are built above the surface of the ground, attract the eye and stimulate the imagination, when seen from a distance, in various ways. “In the first place, the black colour of the building materials present the greatest contrast to the green around them, and to the transparent atmosphere also. In the second place, the height of the walls and the compactness of the houses, which always form a connected whole, are very imposing. In the third place, they are surmounted by strong towers. And in the fourth place, they are in such a good state of preservation, that you involuntarily yield to the delusion that they must of necessity be inhabited, and expect to see people going out and in” ( Wetzstein<\/em>, p. 49). The larger towns are surrounded by walls; but the smaller ones as a rule have none: “the backs of the houses might serve as walls.” The material of which the houses are built is a grey dolerite, impregnated with glittering particles of olivine. “The stones are rarely cemented, but the fine and for the most part large squares lie one upon another as if they were fused together.” “Most of the doors of the houses which lead into the streets or open fields are so low, that it is impossible to enter them without stooping; but the large buildings and the ends of the streets have lofty gateways, which are always tastefully constructed, and often decorated with sculptures and Greek inscriptions.” The “larger gates have either simple or (what are most common) double doors. They consist of a slab of dolerite. There are certainly no doors of any other kind.” These stone doors turn upon pegs, deeply inserted into the threshold and lintel. “Even a man can only shut and open doors of this kind, by pressing with the back or feet against the wall, and pushing the door with both hands” ( Wetzstein<\/em>, pp. 50ff.; compare with this the testimony of Buckingham, Burckhardt,<\/em> Seetzen<\/em>, and others, in v. Raumer’s<\/em> Palestine, pp. 78ff.).<\/p>\n Now, even if the existing ruins of Hauran date for the most part from a later period, and are probably of a Nabataean origin belonging to the times of Trajan and the Antonines, yet considering the stability of the East, and the peculiar nature of the soil of Hauran, they give a tolerably correct idea of the sixty towns of the kingdom of Og of Bashan, all of which were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, or, as it is stated in 1Ki 4:13<\/span>, “ with walls and brazen bars.”<\/p>\n (Note: It is also by no means impossible, that many of the oldest dwellings in the ruined towers of Hauran date from a time anterior to the conquest of the land by the Israelites. “Simple, built of heavy blocks of basalt roughly hewn, and as hard as iron, with very thick walls, very strong stone gates and doors, many of which were about eighteen inches thick, and were formerly fastened with immense bolts, and of which traces still remain; such houses as these may have been the work of the old giant tribe of Rephaim, whose king, Og, was defeated by the Israelites 3000 years ago” ( C. v. Raumer<\/em>, Pal.<\/em> p. 80, after Porter’s<\/em> Five Years in Damascus).)<\/p>\n The brazen bars were no doubt, like the gates themselves, of basalt or dolerite, which might easily be mistaken for brass. Besides the sixty fortified towns, the Israelites took a very large number of , “ towns of the inhabitants of the flat country<\/em>,” i.e., unfortified open hamlets and villages in Bashan, and put them under the ban, like the towns of king Sihon (Deu 3:6<\/span>, Deu 3:7<\/span>; cf. Deu 2:34-35<\/span>). The infinitive, , is to be construed as a gerund (cf. Ges.<\/em> 131, 2; Ewald<\/em>, 280, a<\/em>.). The expression, “kingdom of Og in<\/em> Bashan,” implies that the kingdom of Og was not limited to the land of Bashan, but included the northern half of Gilead as well. In Deu 3:8-11<\/span>, Moses takes a retrospective view of the whole of the land that had been taken on the other side of the Jordan; first of all (Deu 3:9<\/span>) in its whole extent from the Arnon to Hermon, then (Deu 3:10<\/span>) in its separate parts, to bring out in all its grandeur what the Lord had done for Israel. The notices of the different names of Hermon (Deu 3:9<\/span>), and of the bed of king Og (Deu 3:11<\/span>), are also subservient to this end. Hermon<\/em> is the southernmost spur of Antilibanus, the present Jebel es Sheikh<\/em>, or Jebel et Telj<\/em>. The Hebrew name is not connected with , anathema<\/em>, as Hengstenberg supposes (Diss. pp. 197-8); nor was it first given by the Israelites to this mountain, which formed part of the northern boundary of the land which they had taken; but it is to be traced to an Arabic word signifying prominens montis vertex <\/em>, and was a name which had long been current at that time, for which the Israelites used the Hebrew name ( Sion<\/em> = , the high, eminent: Deu 4:48<\/span>), though this name did not supplant the traditional name of Hermon<\/em>. The Sidonians called it Siron<\/em>, a modified form of ( 1Sa 17:5<\/span>), or (Jer 46:4<\/span>), a “coat of mail;” the Amorites called it Senir<\/em>, probably a word with the same meaning. In Psa 29:6<\/span>, Sirion<\/em> is used poetically for Hermon<\/em>; and Ezekiel (Eze 27:4<\/span>) uses Senir<\/em>, in a mournful dirge over Tyre, as synonymous with Lebanon<\/em>; whilst Senir<\/em> is mentioned in 1Ch 5:23<\/span>, and Shenir in Son 4:8<\/span>, in connection with Hermon, as a part of Antilibanus, as it might very naturally happen that the Amoritish name continued attached to one or other of the peaks of the mountain, just as we find that even Arabian geographers, such as Abulfeda<\/em> and Maraszid<\/em>, call that portion of Antilibanus which stretches from Baalbek to Emesa (Homs, Heliopolis) by the name of Sanir<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sihon and Og Subdued.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 1451.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 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<\/B> 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<\/B> 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<\/I> 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<\/I> on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; 9 (Which<\/I> 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<\/I> a bedstead of iron; Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n