Og

Og king of Bashan stands at the close of the wilderness journey as the last named opponent before Israel crosses the Jordan. He is gathered under three headings: a man of gigantic stature, defeated and killed by Moses, and the donor (by conquest) of the trans-Jordan land assigned to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The narrative core is in Numbers and Deuteronomy; the recital runs through Joshua, 1 Kings, Nehemiah, and the historical psalms.

The Battle at Edrei

Israel's encounter with Og follows immediately on the defeat of Sihon. "And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei" (Num 21:33). Yahweh's word to Moses is patterned on the prior victory: "Don't fear him: for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you will do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon" (Num 21:34). The outcome is total: "So they struck him, and his sons and all his people, until there was left him none remaining: and they possessed his land" (Num 21:35).

Moses retells the same engagement in Deuteronomy with the perspective of the survivors: "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" (Deut 3:1). The Yahweh-word repeats almost verbatim (Deut 3:2), and the result is again unqualified: "So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining" (Deut 3:3). The campaign reduced threescore fortified cities — "the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan" (Deut 3:4) — "cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many" (Deut 3:5). Israel "completely destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, completely destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones" (Deut 3:6).

The location of the engagement is fixed in Deut 1:4: "after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei." Joshua's summary places his rule across the same axis: "Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, and ruled in mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and [as far as] half of Gilead which is the territory of Sihon king of Heshbon" (Josh 12:4-5).

The Last of the Rephaim

The detail that fixes Og as a man of gigantic stature is the parenthetical note in Deut 3:11: "(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; look, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits the width of it, after the cubit of a man.)" Joshua repeats the identification when summing the conquered territory: "all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (the same was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for these Moses struck, and drove them out" (Josh 13:12). Joshua 12:4 likewise names him "of the remnant of the Rephaim." The land itself carries the name in Deut 3:13: "the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim."

The Twin Defeat — Sihon and Og

From the conquest summary onward, Og is recited together with Sihon as the paired Amorite kings beyond the Jordan. Rahab repeats the report to the spies: "and what you⁺ did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you⁺ completely destroyed" (Josh 2:10). The Gibeonites give the same pair as their reason for seeking a covenant: "and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth" (Josh 9:10). Moses sets the pair before the second generation: "And when you⁺ came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we struck them" (Deut 29:7), and again as the pattern for the campaigns west of the Jordan: "And [the Speech of] Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land; whom he destroyed" (Deut 31:4).

The Land Given to Reuben, Gad, and Half-Manasseh

The conquered territory becomes the inheritance of the trans-Jordan tribes. Numbers 32:33 records the grant: "And Moses gave to them, even to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to its cities with [their] borders, even the cities of the land round about." Deuteronomy describes the same allotment in detail (Deut 3:12-17), and the summary in Deut 4:47-49 frames it as taking "the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to mount Sion (the same is Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward." Deut 29:8 closes the recital: "and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites."

Joshua's allotment lists confirm the partition. Joshua 12:6 names the executors: "Moses the slave of Yahweh and the sons of Israel struck them: and Moses the slave of Yahweh gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh." The portion for Machir — the half-tribe of Manasseh — is itemized in Josh 13:30-31: "And their border was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, threescore cities: and half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh." Generations later, Solomon's administrative roster still maps the territory by Og's name: "Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan" (1 Kings 4:19).

Recital in the Historical Psalms and Nehemiah

The defeat of Og passes into Israel's liturgical memory as a fixed item in the recital of Yahweh's saving acts. Psalm 135 lists it among the deeds for which Yahweh's name is praised: "Who struck many nations, And slew mighty kings, Sihon king of the Amorites, And Og king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan" (Ps 135:10-11). Psalm 136 sets the same pair within the antiphonal refrain of his loving-kindness: "And slew majestic kings; For his loving-kindness [endures] forever: Sihon king of the Amorites; For his loving-kindness [endures] forever; And Og king of Bashan; For his loving-kindness [endures] forever; And gave their land for a heritage; For his loving-kindness [endures] forever" (Ps 136:18-21). Nehemiah's prayer in the post-exilic assembly recalls the same gift: "Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted after their portions: so they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan" (Neh 9:22).