So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also the king of Bashan, and all his people ,.... As well as Sihon king of Heshbon: and we smote him, till none was left to him remaining ; or left alive, all were slain with the sword; See Gill on Numbers 21:35 . read more
And we took all his cities at that time ,.... Not only Edrei where the battle was fought, and Ashteroth his capital city, but all the rest in his kingdom: there was not a city which we took not from them ; not one stood out, but all surrendered on summons; the number of which follows: three score cities ; which was a large number for so small a country, and shows it to be well inhabited: all the region of Argob ; which was a small province of the kingdom of Og in Bashan :... read more
All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars ,.... That is, all the cities in the kingdom of Bashan; and though they were, it hindered not their falling into the hands of the Israelites; and this might serve to encourage them against those fears they were possessed of by the spies, with respect to the cities in the land of Canaan; see Numbers 13:28 . besides unwalled towns a great many ; small towns and villages adjacent to the several cities, as is common. read more
And we utterly destroyed them ,.... Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them: as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon ; they did not destroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt in them; but the people that lived there, as follows here: utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city ; see Deuteronomy 2:34 . read more
All the region of Argob - ארגב חבל כל col chebel Argob , all the cable or cord of Argob; this expression, which is used in various other parts of Scripture, (see, in the original, Amos 7:17 ; Micah 2:5 ; Deuteronomy 32:9 ; Psalm 16:6 ;), shows that anciently land was measured by lines or cords of a certain length, in a similar way to that by the chain among us, and the schoenus or cord among the Egyptians. Some think that it was the region of Argob that was afterwards called... read more
Verse 4 4.And we took all the cities. He here more fully relates what He had brieflytouched upon in Numbers. He says that sixty, well-fortified cities were taken, besides the villages. Hence we infer both the extent of the country, and also the special power of God in the aid He afforded them, in that they took, in so short a time, so many cities well closed in, and begirt with high walls; as if they were merely travelling, through a peaceful land in security, and with nothing to do. After the... read more
EXPOSITION 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... read more
The conquest of Og. Og, King of Bashan, was a yet more formidable adversary than Sihon. We read with wonder of that extraordinary territory over which he ruled, the region of Argob, with its sixty cities built of black stone, hard as iron, and perched amidst the masses of basaltic rock, which are the characteristic feature of the district, and which formed an apparently impregnable barrier against assault. The suddenness, completeness, and decisiveness of the conquest of this region,... read more
The destruction of Og, King of Bashan. We have here an account of another conquest, for which the victory over Sihon, King of the Amorites, prepared the people. Bashan was "called the land of the giants" ( Deuteronomy 3:13 ), and Og, the king, was manifestly the greatest of the giants—hence the particulars about his bedstead, as being nine cubits long and four broad ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ). In a rude age and country , force was the recognized ruler, and the biggest man in consequence... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 3:1-11
We have here another brave country delivered into the hand of Israel, that of Bashan; the conquest of Sihon is often mentioned together with that of Og, to the praise of God, the rather because in these Israel's triumphs began, Ps. 135:11; 136:19, 20. See, I. How they got the mastery of Og, a very formidable prince, 1. Very strong, for he was of the remnant of the giants (Deut. 3:11); his personal strength was extraordinary, a monument of which was preserved by the Ammonites in his bedstead,... read more