CHAPTER 3

(1452 B.C.)

VICTORY

¹Then 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.

²And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do unto him as you did unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

³So 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.

⁴And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities (60), all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

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

⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city (again, with the Lord leading the charge, victory is certain in all capacities).

⁷But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

⁸And 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;)

¹⁰All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

¹¹For 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 (13 feet) was the length thereof, and four cubits (6 feet) the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. (Once again, a part of the population was made up of the giants, which were easily defeated by Gods people. To have the help of the Lord is to have everything. To not have that help is to have nothing.)

EAST OF THE JORDAN

¹²And 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴Jair 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, unto this day.

¹⁵And I gave Gilead unto Machir.

¹⁶And 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;

¹⁷The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee) even unto the sea of the plain, even the Salt Sea (Dead Sea), under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward.

¹⁸And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it: you shall pass over armed before your brethren the Children of Israel, all who are meet for the war.

¹⁹But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that you have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;

²⁰Until 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 has given them beyond Jordan: and then shall you return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.

CHARGE TO JOSHUA

²¹And 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 unto all the kingdoms where you passed.

²²You shall not fear them: for the LORD your God He shall fight for you. (When the Lord fights for us, victory is guaranteed. He will do so presently, that is if our Faith has the correct Object, which must always be the Cross [Gal. 6:14].)

THE PROMISED LAND

²³And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,

²⁴O LORD God, You have begun to show Your Servant Your Greatness, and Your mighty Hand: for what God is there in heaven or in Earth, Who can do according to Your Works, and according to Your Might?

²⁵I pray You, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.

²⁶But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice you; speak no more unto Me of this matter. (As much as wrongly striking the Rock the second time, which, in effect, denied the veracity of Calvary, which was a grievous sin, Moses being the great Lawgiver, and due to the fact that the Law can never inherit the Promises, this, I feel, was at least a part of the reason that Moses could not go in [Gal. 3:18].)

²⁷Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan.

²⁸But 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 you shall see (the Law could see Salvation, but it took Faith to obtain it [Eph. 2:8-9]).

²⁹So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.