Bible Commentaries

Deuteronomy 3:1 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.

Ver. 1. Then we turned.] How pleasant must the continuation of this holy history needs be to every good heart, out of the mouth of Moses! Methinks I see the people’s ears linked to his tongue with golden chains, as the heathens fable of their Hercules. And surely, if King Alphonsus and some others, of whom the physicians despaired, did recover health beyond all expectation, only by reading Livy, Curtius, Aventinus, &c., ^(a) what may we think may be done by these wholesome words, ^(b) these healing histories, if rightly regarded.

Deuteronomy 3:2 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.

Ver. 2. Fear him not.] Though of a formidable stature. [Deuteronomy 3:11] The lion is not so fierce as he is painted, saith the Spanish proverb. God will crack the hairy scalp of his enemies. [Psalms 68:21]

Deuteronomy 3:5 All these cities [were] fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.

Ver. 5. All those cities.] And they were threescore. How well might Moses have been styled πτολιπορθης? or, as King Demetrius was, Poliorcetes, the city taker?

Deuteronomy 3:6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.

Ver. 6. The men, women, and children.] The Hebrew word מהים, here rendered men, written with tsere, signifieth dead men: Surely every man in his best estate, or when best underlaid, is altogether vanity, Selah. [Psalms 39:5]

Deuteronomy 3:11 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.

Ver. 11. Og, ^(a) king of Bashan, remained,] sc., In Bashan; and he seems to have been of the remnant of those Rephaims, whom Chedorlaomer and his company smote in Ashteroth. [Genesis 14:5 Joshua 13:12]

Is it not in Rabbath?] Kept for a monument of so mighty and massy a man.

Deuteronomy 3:13 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.

Ver. 13. Land of giants.] Such as are said to be in another land, in another life. For "he knoweth not that the giants are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell." [Proverbs 9:18]

Deuteronomy 3:16 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;

Ver. 16. Unto the river Jabbok.] Famous for Jacob’s wrestling with God near unto it. [Genesis 32:22]

Deuteronomy 3:21 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.

Ver. 21. So shall the Lord.] God hath, and, therefore, God will, is a strong medium of hope, if not a demonstration of Scripture logic.

Deuteronomy 3:24 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?

Ver. 24. What god is there?] Whether deputed or reputed?

Deuteronomy 3:25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that [is] beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

Ver. 25. The good land.] The "glory of all lands." [Ezekiel 20:6]

Goodly mountain.] Moriah likely, whereon the temple afterwards stood.

Deuteronomy 3:26 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.

Ver. 26. Speak no more.] Christians must be sober in prayer. [1 Peter 4:7] Socrates, a heathen, could say, We should pray for no more but this, that good things may be given us of God, who best knoweth what is best for us to receive.