Did Israel inherit land from people who no longer deserved it? Do our people deserve to live where we do? Have we allowed a moment of arrogance to ruin our leadership? Let’s look at Deuteronomy 3.
What was God’s decree regarding Og and his kingdom of Bashan?
Next we turned and headed for the land of Bashan, where King Og and his entire army attacked us at Edrei. But the Lord told me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have given you victory over Og and his entire army, and I will give you all his land. Treat him just as you treated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.’ (Deuteronomy 3:1-2 NLT)
Was God’s judgment fair to include the innocent? Is God sparing them suffering in a perverse society? Will He give some kind of teaching even after death? Whatever our theories about this mystery, do we trust that God is pure love and righteous justice?
So Yahweh our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him remaining. We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls. We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. But all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities, we took for plunder for ourselves. (Deuteronomy 3:3-7 WEB)
Did God command Israel to take the land of both Amorite kings, Sihon and Og? Does God still punish gross national sins?
So at that time, we took the land that had belonged to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan, all the way from the Arnon Ravine to Mount Hermon (Sidonians call Hermon “Sirion,” but the Amorites call it “Senir”), including all the towns on the plateau, in the regions of Gilead and Bashan, and all the way to Salecah and Edrei—all the towns that belonged to Og’s kingdom in Bashan. (Deuteronomy 3:8-10 CEB)
How tall was Og, as a member of the Rephaim, a race of towering men? Does his bed or coffin give us a clue?
King Og was the last of the Rephaim, and his coffin [or bed] is in the town of Rabbah in Ammon. It is made of hard black rock and is four meters long and almost two meters wide. (Deuteronomy 3:11 CEV)
Which two and a half tribes of Israel inherited that land?
When we took possession of this land at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities. The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is, all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim. Jair the Manassite took all the region of Argob, that is, Bashan, as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called the villages after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) To Machir I gave Gilead, and to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Valley of the Arnon, with the middle of the valley as a border, as far over as the river Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites; the Arabah also, with the Jordan as the border, from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east. (Deuteronomy 3:12-17 ESV)
What were the two and a half tribes obligated to do before fully settling their land?
I commanded you at that time: The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your fighting men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites. But your wives, young children, and livestock—I know that you have a lot of livestock—will remain in the cities I have given you until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you. (Deuteronomy 3:18-20 HCSB)
Why was there a change of leadership from Moses to Joshua?
I also charged Joshua at that time, ‘You witnessed everything that the Lord your God did to the two kings. Indeed, the Lord will do this to all the kingdoms which you are about to enter. You are not to fear them, because the Lord your God will fight for you.’ I pleaded with the Lord at that time, ‘Lord God, you’ve begun to show your greatness and your strong power to your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can equal your works and mighty deeds? Let me cross over that I may see the good land on the other side of the Jordan River—the good hill country—as well as Lebanon.’ (Deuteronomy 3:21-25 ISV)
Did an otherwise humble Moses allow a moment of arrogance to destroy his leadership?
But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get 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. But 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. So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor. (Deuteronomy 3:26-29 KJV)
Did Israel inherit land from people who no longer deserved it? Do our people deserve to live where we do? Have we allowed a moment of arrogance to ruin our leadership? You decide!
