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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

III.

(1) Then.—In the Hebrew, a simple And. The history of this movement is given in Numbers 21:32-33. For Edrei, see Numbers 21:33, from which this whole verse is repeated.

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 3:1. Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us — As a further encouragement to the Israelites to confide in the power and faithfulness of God, Moses proceeds to remind them of the wonderful success they had had against Og, who appears to have been the first aggressor, Numbers 21:33.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-11 Og was very powerful, but he did not take warning by the ruin of Sihon, and desire conditions of peace. He trusted his own strength, and so was hardened to his destruction. Those not awakened by the judgments of God on others, ripen for the like judgments on themselves.br>

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon - Aroer stood on the north bank of the river, and was assigned Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:16 to the tribe of Reuben, of which it formed the most southerly city. The valley of the Arnon is here deep, and the descent to it abrupt. In Roman times it was spanned by a viaduct, the ruins of which still remain, and which was probably built on the lines of the original structure of Mesha 2 Kings 3:5. Aroer here must not be confounded with "Aroer, which is before Rabbah" Joshua 13:25. This latter place was "built," "i. e." rebuilt, by the Gadites Numbers 32:34; it belonged to that tribe, and was consequently far to the north of the Arnon. A third Aroer in the tribe of Judah is mentioned in 1 Samuel 30:28.

"The city that is by the river," literally, "in the midst of the river" (compare Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:16) is Ar Moab (compare Numbers 21:15 note).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

De 3:1-20. Conquest of Og, King of Bashan.

1. we turned, and went up the way to Bashan—Bashan ("fruitful" or "flat"), now El-Bottein, lay situated to the north of Gilead and extended as far as Hermon. It was a rugged mountainous country, valuable however for its rich and luxuriant pastures.

Og the king of Bashan came out against us—Without provocation, he rushed to attack the Israelites, either disliking the presence of such dangerous neighbors, or burning to avenge the overthrow of his friends and allies.Their march to Bashan, Deu 3:1. Og its king is put to flight; they possess his land, Deu 3:2-11; which is distributed to two tribes and half, Deu 3:12-17; who are commanded to assist their brethren to possess the land beyond Jordan, Deu 3:18-20. Moses encourages Joshua, Deu 3:21,22. His prayer to go into the promised land Deu 3:23-25. God grants not his request, Deu 3:26. He gives him a prospect of it, Deu 3:27; and bids him encourage Joshua, Deu 3:28.

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan,.... 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:

and Og the king of Bashan came out against us; got his forces together, and came out from Ashteroth, the royal city where he dwelt:

he and all his people, to battle at Edrei; another city in his kingdom, about six miles from the former; see Deuteronomy 1:4.

Geneva Study Bible

Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan {a} came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

(a) Therefore aside from the commandment of the Lord, they had just cause to fight against him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. turned, and went up] See on Deuteronomy 1:7.

Bashan] Heb. the Bashan, so in all historical statements and sometimes in poetry in which however the article is oftener omitted (HGHL, 549 n. 7). In its wider sense the name covered all the land from the. Yarmûk to Ḥermon, Deuteronomy 4:43, Deuteronomy 33:22. But its proper application was confined to the land immediately N. of the Yarmûk and E. of Geshur and Ma‘akah, the present Jaulan (see below Deuteronomy 3:14, Deuteronomy 4:43): the S. end of Ḥauran, including ‘Ashtaroth (perhaps Tell el ‘Ashari) on the W., Edre‘i on the S. and Salkah on the S.E. (Deuteronomy 1:4, Deuteronomy 3:10, Joshua 9:10; Joshua 12:4; Joshua 13:11 f., 31), 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 Lejá. Ar. Bathnah means level, loamy land (Freytag) and suits the region. See HGHL, 549, 553, 570 f.

Og] The name ‘Og, LXX Ιώγ and Ὤγ, 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. 83) arguing that in Heb. a king’s name is usually joined with that of his people or of his capital (e.g. Sîḥôn, king of the Amorites, or of Ḥeshbon) and that ‘Ôg’s is the only exception, takes ‘Ôg ‘who is a mythical figure’ as presumably ‘an old god of the region.’

Edrei] Edre‘i on the S. frontier of Bashan (Deuteronomy 3:10), 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 Ḥauran, 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, 576, ZDPV, xx. 118 ff. On the only possible remains in Bashan of ‘Ôg’s time see Driver, Deut., in loco.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 1-11. - CONQUEST OF OG, KING OF BASHAN. The Amorites had wrested from Moab a portion of the territory taken by the Moabites and the Edomites from the giant aborigines; and Og, who was of the same giant race, ruled over the northern half of the region of Gilead and over all Bashan. This district also God purposed Israel to possess; and therefore, before crossing the Jordan, a diversion was made north. wards by the Israelites, for the purpose of attacking this powerful chief. Og encountered them with all his host, but was signally defeated, and he and all his people were exterminated. Not fewer than three score fortified cities, besides villages, were captured by the Israelites, the whole country was subjugated, and all the cattle and material property taken as booty (cf. Numbers 21:33-35). Verse 1. - (Cf. Numbers 21:33 ) We turned - i.e. took a new route - and went up (וַנַּעַל, and we ascended). As Bashan was an upland region, they are very properly said to have gone up. Edrei, hod. Draa, with Roman and Arabian ruins, nearly three miles in circumference, but without inhabitants; not the same as the Edrei of ver. 10. Deuteronomy 3:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Help of God in the Conquest of the Kingdom of Og of Bashan. - Deuteronomy 3:1. 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. Numbers 21:33-34). They smote him at Edrei, the modern Dra, without leaving him even a remnant; and took all his towns, i.e., as is here more fully stated in Deuteronomy 3:4., "sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan." 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 Deuteronomy 3:5) all the fortified towns, besides the unfortified and open country towns of Bashan. חבל, the chain for measuring, then the land or country measured with the chain. The name "region of Argob," which is given to the country of Bashan here, and in Deuteronomy 3:4, Deuteronomy 3:13, Deuteronomy 3:14, and also in 1 Kings 4:13, is probably derived from רגוב, stone-heaps, related to רגב, a clump or clod of earth (Job 21:33; Job 38:38). The Targumists have rendered it correctly טרכונא (Trachona), from τραθών, 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, from its tells or hills (Burckhardt, Syr. p. 173).

(Note: The derivation is a much more improbable one, "from the town of Argob, πρὸς Γέρασαν πόλιν Ἀραβίας, according to the Onomast., fifteen Roman miles to the west of Gerasa, which is called Ῥαγαβᾶ by Josephus (Ant. xiii. 15, 5).")

This district has also received the name of Bashan, from the character of its soil; for בּשׁן signifies a soft and level soil. From the name given to it by the Arabic translators, the Greek name Βαταναία, Batanaea, and possibly also the modern name of the country on the north-eastern slope of Hauran at the back of Mount Hauran, viz., Bethenije, are derived.

The name Argob probably originated in the north-eastern part of the country of Bashan, viz., the modern Leja, with its stony soil covered with heaps of large blocks of stone (Burckhardt, 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 travels, and of which he says that the "southern portion, bearing the name Harra, is thickly covered with loose volcanic stones, with a few conical hills among them, that have been evidently caused by eruptions" (Wetzstein, p. 6). The central point of the whole is Safa, "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, pp. 6 and 7). At a later period this name was transferred to the whole of the district of Hauran ( equals 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 plain has been poured out from the craters of the Hauran mountains" (Wetzstein, p. 23). Through this volcanic character of the soil, Hauran differs essentially from Balka, Jebel Ajlun, and the plain of Jaulan, 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, Pal. pp. 75ff.). - The land of the limestone and chalk formation abounds in caves, which are not altogether wanting indeed in Hauran (as v. Raumer 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 and Sut (Wetzst. 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 found in Hibbike 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, 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, pp. 50ff.; compare with this the testimony of Buckingham, Burckhardt, Seetzen, and others, in v. Raumer's Palestine, pp. 78ff.).

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 1 Kings 4:13, "with walls and brazen bars."

(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, Pal. p. 80, after Porter's Five Years in Damascus).)

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 הפּרזי ערי, "towns of the inhabitants of the flat country," i.e., unfortified open hamlets and villages in Bashan, and put them under the ban, like the towns of king Sihon (Deuteronomy 3:6, Deuteronomy 3:7; cf. Deuteronomy 2:34-35). The infinitive, החרם, is to be construed as a gerund (cf. Ges. 131, 2; Ewald, 280, a.). The expression, "kingdom of Og in 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 Deuteronomy 3:8-11, 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 (Deuteronomy 3:9) in its whole extent from the Arnon to Hermon, then (Deuteronomy 3:10) 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 (Deuteronomy 3:9), and of the bed of king Og (Deuteronomy 3:11), are also subservient to this end. Hermon is the southernmost spur of Antilibanus, the present Jebel es Sheikh, or Jebel et Telj. The Hebrew name is not connected with חרם, anathema, 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, and was a name which had long been current at that time, for which the Israelites used the Hebrew name שׂיאן (Sion equals נשׂיאן, the high, eminent: Deuteronomy 4:48), though this name did not supplant the traditional name of Hermon. The Sidonians called it Siron, a modified form of שׁריון (1 Samuel 17:5), or נשׂיון (Jeremiah 46:4), a "coat of mail;" the Amorites called it Senir, probably a word with the same meaning. In Psalm 29:6, Sirion is used poetically for Hermon; and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 27:4) uses Senir, in a mournful dirge over Tyre, as synonymous with Lebanon; whilst Senir is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 5:23, and Shenir in Sol 4:8, 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 and Maraszid, call that portion of Antilibanus which stretches from Baalbek to Emesa (Homs, Heliopolis) by the name of Sanir.