Deuteronomy 3
Deuteronomy 3 is Moses recounting the recent past - victories the people watched God win. Israel turned northward from Ammon into Bashan. Og, the last of the giants, came out to meet them at Edrei with his whole army. The Lord told Moses: "Fear him not." They struck him, his sons, and all his people. They took sixty fortified cities of Bashan - "fenced cities with high walls, gates, and bars, beside unwalled towns a great many." Cattle and spoil became Israel's.
Then the text pauses to describe Og's bedstead. He was the last of the great giants, and his iron bedstead was nine cubits long and four cubits wide - over thirteen feet by six - evidence of a world before the flood when humans were different, stronger, larger. But even this last of the old giants fell before the people who trusted in the name of the Lord.
The land east of Jordan was divided among Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh - a detailed geography of boundaries and cities. These tribes chose the easier path, the land already conquered, and did not cross into Canaan proper. But the men of war would cross with their brothers. Then Moses gave a charge to Joshua: you have seen what the Lord did to Sihon and Og. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms where you go.
But then Moses prayed. "O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand… let me go over, I pray thee, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan." God was wroth with Moses and would not hear him. "Speak no more unto me of this matter." Moses must go up Mount Pisgah and see the land, but he cannot enter it. Instead, he must charge Joshua, encourage him, strengthen him. The work belongs to God, not to one man. And the vision from Pisgah is a strange mercy - to see what you cannot possess, and to trust that what God promises, He will fulfill through others.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Deuteronomy 3:1-7The Defeat of Og
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 have delivered 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.
Before the battle, God speaks: "Fear him not." This is the grammar of conquest in Deuteronomy - the Lord does not give victory to courage or military prowess first. He first removes fear by promising the outcome. Every great thing Israel does in the Promised Land begins not with their strength, but with God's word saying, do not be afraid2.
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, 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.
Og is defeated completely. "None was left to him remaining." Bashan, the rich plains north of Gilead, was known for its cattle and its fertility. But it was also known as the place of the giants - and now the last of the giants has fallen.
These were not towns that could be easily taken. They were fortified - high walls, gates, bars. Unwalled towns were many as well. All of them were taken. The victory is not because Israel was mightier, but because the Lord had delivered them.
6And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. 7But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for our prey.
Deuteronomy 3:8-11The Last of the Giants
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 Arnon unto mount Hermon; 9(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Senir;) 10All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salcah 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 was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
The text lingers on the measurement of Og's bedstead. Nine cubits long - roughly thirteen feet. Four cubits wide - about six feet. These are the dimensions of a man who was not like other men. He was the last of an ancient kind. Yet he fell. The bedstead itself became a monument in Rabbath of the Ammonites, a memorial to Israel's victory. What looks impossible is always smaller than the God who defeats it.
Deuteronomy 3:12-20The Land East of Jordan; Moses Charges the Eastern Tribes
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, was called the land of the Rephaim;) 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshurites and Maachathites; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day.
Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh chose the land east of Jordan. It was already conquered, already settled, already known. It is the easier way. But the choice has consequences - they will not inherit the promise proper, the land of Canaan itself. They chose rest over inheritance .
15And I gave Gilead unto Machir. 16And unto the Reubenites and to 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 even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward.
18And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war. 19But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye 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 hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return unto your possessions, and enjoy it, which I have given you.
Moses gives a charge: the men of war from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh must not stay in their easy land. They must cross the Jordan armed, ahead of their brothers, until the conquest is complete. Even those who chose the lesser inheritance are still part of the people. Even those who rest must serve. The charge is clear: your rest does not come at the expense of your brothers' struggle.
Deuteronomy 3:21-22Moses Charges Joshua: "Fear Them Not"
21And 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. 22Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.
The same word that came to Moses comes to Joshua: "Fear them not." This is the word of succession. Moses is passing leadership to someone younger, someone who did not lead the wilderness, someone who will lead the conquest. But the word stays the same. The power does not flow from the leader - it flows from the Lord. Joshua does not inherit Moses' strength. He inherits the promise that the Lord fights for Israel.
Deuteronomy 3:23-27Moses Prays; God Says "No"
23And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, 24O Lord God, thou hast begun to show 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?
Moses prays. He has led the people for forty years through the wilderness. He has seen God work again and again. Now, at the edge of the Promise, his heart breaks with longing. "Let me go over and see the good land." This is the prayer of a man who has given everything and now asks for one thing - to enter what he has labored to make possible for others.
25I pray thee, 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 hearkened not unto me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.
God does not grant the prayer. Moses prayed once; God could deny it gently. But Moses asked again, and the text says the Lord was "wroth" - angry. The moment to accept the denial had passed. Now God speaks with finality: "Speak no more unto me of this matter." Some prayers are not answered yes. Some are answered no, and the answer stands. This is one of the hardest lessons in Scripture - that even the greatest servants of God cannot have everything, and that grace sometimes means accepting a no from the One who loves us most.
27Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
God does not leave Moses without mercy. He says: go to Pisgah. You will see the land. You will see it with your eyes. You will not enter it, but you will behold it. This is a strange grace - the grace of vision without possession. The grace of seeing what you cannot have, and trusting that what God promised will come to pass through others. It is the grace of surrender.
Deuteronomy 3:28-29Charge Joshua; Encourage Him; Strengthen Him
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 thou shalt see. 29So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.
God does not let Moses grieve forever. Instead, He redirects Moses' leadership gift to Joshua. "Charge him." The work is not over - it is being handed on. The conquest will happen. The Promise will be entered. But not by Moses. By Joshua.
Three times the word comes: charge, encourage, strengthen. The repetition shows the weight of it. Joshua is young. Joshua has not yet led in conquest. Joshua will face giants and walled cities and doubt. He needs to be encouraged. He needs to be strengthened. The greatest gift a leader can give is to pass on the work with confidence, not with hesitation or fear.
The word "strengthen" means to make firm, to make strong. Not by Moses' own power, but by the work of the Lord. Joshua will be strengthened as he trusts the Lord who has already delivered Sihon and Og into Israel's hands. The formula for Joshua's strength is the same as Israel's: remembrance of past faithfulness, and trust in present promise.
Further study
- Deuteronomy 3 - Giants and SuccessionSefaria [res:sefaria-deuteronomy-3]Medieval and modern Jewish commentary on the defeat of Og, the last giant, and Moses' vision from Pisgah.
- Bashan Archaeological SurveyOriental InstituteArchaeological research on the Iron Age kingdoms of Bashan, including fortified cities mentioned in Deuteronomy 3.