M² n 1,2. Command of Yahaveh's.
o 3-11. Land. Conquest.
o 12-17. Land. Division {Manasseh, 12-15. Reuben, 16,17}.
n 18-29. Commands of Moses.
1452 B.C.
Deuteronomy 3)
1: Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan (cp. Num. 21:33,34): and Og the king of Bashan came out against us (Og was the transgressor. Num. 21:33), he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
2: And the Lord (Yehovah) said to me, ‘Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.’
3: So the Lord our God (Elohim) 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 (they can all be seen, and counted today. See Dr. Porter's Giant Cities of Bashan), all the region (Heb. "cord",put by Fig., for the region marked out by it) of Argob (=stony. Cp. 1 Kings 4:13. Ps.136:18-22), the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5: All these cities (v.4) were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.
6: And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying (cp. 7:2. Heb. haran = devoted to destruction) the men, women, and children, of every city.
7: But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities (for the laws regulating this see Num. 31), 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 (= across, a neutral term, see 1:1), from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon (= high mountain);
9: {Which (notice these topographical parentheses, vv.9,11,14. Cp. 2:20-23,29) Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion (= Yehovah has prevailed, i.e. sheeted with snow, also breastplate); and the Amorites call it Shenir (= to be pointed; peak; also coat of mail);}
10: All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead(= rocky region, the rough country), 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 (Heb. "Rephaim", descendants of one Rapha, a branch of the offspring of the Nephilim, see Gen. 6:3); behold, his bedstead (= bed or couch, but not the usual word which is mishkåb. It is ‘eres, and is exactly the same measurement, as the tomb of Marduk in Babylon. The mythological significance of "eres [Bab. irsu] is nuptial bed, or funeral couch. Probably = tomb) was a bedstead of iron (probably basalt); is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? (was the capital of Ammon, where the temple of Milchom was: and where Og's tomb would naturally be) nine cubits (apox. 15 3/4 feet) was the length thereof, and four cubits (7 feet) the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man (a common cubit is equal to a man's forearm).}
12: And this land, which we possessed at that time (cp. Num. 32:33; 21:24. Josh. 12:1-6; 13:8-12, 15-32), 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 to 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, Bashan-havoth-jair (= the villages [or cluster of villages] of Jair in Bashan. Heb. Harvoth = towns, used only of Jair's. Cp. Nu.32:41. Josh.13:30. Judg.10:4. 1 Kings 4:13. 1 Chron.2:23), unto this day } (= unto the time of writing. Here the time mentioned is from Num. 21 to 11th month of the 40th year [Deut. 1:3]).
15: And I gave Gilead unto Machir.
16: And to the Reubenites and to 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 (afterward called Gennesaret, Cp. Num. 34:11. Josh. 19:35. So called from its shape, kinnôr = a harp) even unto the sea of the plain (Heb. ‘Aråbåh, see 1:1), even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward (= ravines of the cleft, the soaring of the peak).
n p 18-20. Manasseh and Rueben to go over.
q 21,22. Charge to Joshua.
p 23-27. Moses not to go over.
q 28,29. Charge to Joshua.
18: And I commanded you at that time (see Num.32:20-24), saying, ‘The Lord your has given you this land to possess it: you all shall pass over armed before your brethren the sons of Israel, all that are meet for the war (Heb.= sons of valor = valiant men, emphasis on valiant. Cp. 2 Sam. 2:7. 1 Kings 1:52).
19: But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, {for I know that you all have much cattle,} shall abide in your cities which I have given you;
20: Until the Lord has given rest to your brethren, as well as to you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God has given them beyond Jordan: and then shall you all return every man unto his possession (cp. Josh. 22:4), which I have given you.’
21: And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done unto these two kings: so shall the Lord do to all the kingdoms to which place you pass.
22: You all shall not fear them (cp. 1:29,30. Ex. 14:13,14): for the Lord your God He shall fight for you.’
23: And I besought the Lord at that time, saying,
24: ‘O Lord God (Adonai Yehovah. This prayer not mentioned elsewhere), You have begun to show your servant Your greatness, and Your mighty hand (Fig., put for works wrought by the hand): for what God is there in heaven or in earth (El = God as the omnipotent One), that can do according to Your works, and according to Your might?
25: I pray You, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan (cp. Ps. 106:24. Num. 13:27), that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.’
26: But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes (see Num. 20:12), and would not hear me: and Yehovah said to me, ‘Let it suffice you; speak no more to Me of this matter.
27: Get you up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward (the points of the compass here are seaward, darkness-ward, Teman-ward, and sunrise-ward, Teman-ward, i.e. south of Edom, first used for south in Ex. 26:18. See Num. 27:12), and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan(cp. Num. 27:13. Will he lead us over another Jordan in the end times? will he be one of the 2 witnesses that are slain by antichrist in the streets of Jerusalem?).
28: But charge Joshua (cp. Num. 27:18,19), and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.’
29: So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor (=house [or temple] of the cleft, where Baal was worshiped [Num. 23:28; 25:3. Deut .4:3]. Here Moss was buried [Deut. 34:6]. It was a Moabite holy place [Num. 25:18; 31:16. Josh. 22:17]. Allotted to Rueben [Josh. 13:20]).