Deeper Commentary
Deu 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-
God gives us potential victories, but we still have to
fight the human battle.
Deu 3:2 Yahweh said to me, Don’t fear him, for I have delivered him and
all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did
to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon-
See on Ex. 34:27. Moses seems to have appreciated fully
his representative role when he addressed Israel: "The Lord said unto
me... I will deliver [Og] into thy [singular] hand... so the Lord our
God delivered into our hands Og" (Dt. 3:2,3). David recognized this unity
between Moses and Israel; David describes both Israel and Moses as God's
chosen (Ps. 16:5,23). All these things looked forward to our victory on
account of being "in" Christ; through baptism, and then through a life
lived in Him and in identity with Him.
Deu 3:3 So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of
Bashan and all his people, and we struck him until none remained-
Just as all the animals and everything in the eretz promised
to Abraham was 'delivered into the hands' of Noah (s.w. Gen. 9:2), so the
nations of that eretz were delivered into the hands of Israel
(s.w. Ex. 6:8; 23:31; Dt. 2:24; 3:2,3; 7:24; 21:10; Josh. 2:24; Jud. 1:2).
Tragically, like Adam in Eden [perhaps the same eretz promised to
Abraham] and Noah in the new, cleansed eretz, Israel didn't
realize this potential. What was delivered into the hand of Joshua (Josh.
2:24) actually wasn't delivered into their hand, because they disbelieved
(Jud. 2:23); and this looks ahead to the disbelief of so many in the work
of the Lord Jesus, who has indeed conquered the Kingdom for us. They
considered the promise of the nations being delivered into their hand as
somehow open to question, and only a possibility and not at all certain
(Jud. 8:7; Num. 21:2 cp. Num. 21:34). Some like Jephthah (s.w. Jud. 11:32;
12:3), Ehud (Jud. 3:10,28), Deborah (Jud. 4:14), Gideon (Jud. 7:15) did,
for a brief historical moment; but as individuals, and their victories
were not followed up on. Instead they were dominated by the territory. And
so instead, they were delivered into the hands of their enemies within the
eretz (s.w. Lev. 26:25; Jud. 13:1).
Deu 3:4 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-
As noted in Num. 21:33; Dt. 3:4,10, some of the places
they had known in their wilderness journeys (cp. our life now after
baptism, which is like crossing the Red Sea, 1 Cor. 10:1,2) were revisited
and taken by Joshua (Josh. 12:4), and incorporated into God's Kingdom.
Perhaps situations and places we know in this life will then become
eternally ours when we possess them in God's Kingdom.
Deu 3:5 All these were fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars,
besides the unwalled towns very many-
Deu 3:6 We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon,
utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little
ones-
"Utterly destroyed" is the word herem, used of 'devotion' to
Yahweh; see on :8. Their complete destruction therefore was as if these
cities were whole burnt offerings, offered to Yahweh. And yet it would see
from Dt. 2:26; 20:10 that they all had the opportunity to accept peace
with God. They refused to devote themselves to Him- and so they devoted to
Him in their death. In this we see the logic of absolute devotion to
Yahweh. The death of unbelieving rebels is not as it were a victory for
sin; but it is all the same the glorification of God, His victory over
flesh. But if we consciously choose to devote ourselves to Him, then we
shall be as living sacrifices.
Deu 3:7 But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took for a
prey to ourselves-
I explained on :6 that the "utter destruction" of these cities is
described in terms which present them as sacrifices. But the people were
allowed to eat their animals. This recalls the priests eating parts
of the sacrifices, and confirms the desire of God for all Israel to see
themselves as a nation of priests (Ex. 19:5,6); just as we are all a
priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5), not leaving spiritual work to others, but
ourselves taking responsibility for it.
Deu 3:8 We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of
the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to
Mount Hermon-
It is significant that there were mountains called Hermon in the
extreme north and south of the land. It is a form of the word herem,
the term used in :6 for the 'devotion' of the conquered land to Yahweh.
Perhaps that was the idea. But we note that already, God has recalculated
Israel's inheritance, bounded now by these mountains; whereas His initial
intention was to give them the far wider area promised to Abraham. He
likewise adjusts His hopes and expectations of His individual people,
never giving up on any of us, but always seeking to lead us to at leas
some inheritance in His Kingdom.
Deu 3:9 (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it
Senir)-
This is an example of how some parts of the Bible which
we have were written for its primary readership, and the language used
reflects this (Dt. 3:9,11).
Deu 3:10 We took all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Bashan,
to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan-
These areas were as far north as the west of the sea of Galilee; a
very large area is in view.
Deu 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the
Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Rabbah
of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its
breadth, after the cubit of a man.)-
We note that the Rephaim had children like other human
beings (2 Sam. 21:16,18; Dt. 3:11), inhabiting an area known as the valley
of Rephaim (Josh. 15:8). The "giants" of Gen. 6:2-4 were therefore humans
and not celestial beings. The record at this point seems to have been
edited, under Divine inspiration, at some later point. For the bedstead or
sarcophagus of Og was now in Ammonite hands, presumably having taken it
from Israel. And that was a challenge to Israel at the time- they ought to
be able to take Ammon, seeing that with God's help they had destroyed Og.
The Israelites were aware of the existence of unusually large people –
the Zamzumin, Zumin, Rephaim, Nephilim, Emim, and Anakim (Dt. 1:28,
2:10,11, 20,21, 3:11). The bed of Og, King of Bashan, a Rephaim, was nine
cubits long, over four meters (14 feet) – Dt. 3:11. In Canaanite mythology
these giants came from intermarriage between human beings and the gods;
but Moses in Genesis 6 is surely addressing this myth and correcting it.
He’s saying (by implication) that this didn’t happen, but rather the Godly
seed and the wicked intermarried; and yes, at that time, there were giants
in the earth, but they were judged and destroyed by the flood, and the
implication surely was that the Israel who first heard Moses’ inspired
history could take comfort that the giants they faced in Canaan would
likewise be overcome by God.
Deu 3:12 This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer which is
by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its
cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites-
"Drive out" is s.w. "possess". We must note the difference between the
Canaanite peoples and their kings being "struck" and their land "taken" by
Joshua-Jesus; and the people of Israel permanently taking possession. This
is the difference between the Lord's victory on the cross, and our taking
possession of the Kingdom. Even though that possession has been "given" to
us. The word used for "possession" is literally 'an inheritance'. The
allusion is to the people, like us, being the seed of Abraham. The Kingdom
was and is our possession, our inheritance- if we walk in the steps of
Abraham. But it is one thing to be the seed of Abraham, another to take
possession of the inheritance; and Israel generally did not take
possession of all the land (Josh.
11:23 13:1; 16:10; 18:3; 23:4). The language of inheritance / possession
is applied to us in the New Testament (Eph. 1:11,14; Col. 3:24; Acts
20:32; 26:18; 1 Pet. 1:4 etc.). Israel were promised: "You shall possess
it" (Dt. 30:5; 33:23). This was more of a command than a prophecy, for
sadly they were "given" the land but did not "possess" it. They were
constantly encouraged in the wilderness that they were on the path to
possessing the land (Dt. 30:16,18; 31:3,13; 32:47), but when they got
there they didn't possess it fully.
Deu 3:13 and the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave
to the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, all of Bashan.
(The same is called the land of Rephaim)-
These are the 60 cities of "Argob" (Dt. 3:4), which is
"called the land of giants / Rephaim" (Dt. 3:13; Josh. 13:30). The two and
a half tribes saw good pasture land and wanted it there and then, as a
king of short cut to the Kingdom of God. But there are no short cuts to
the Kingdom. The conditions they were given demanded even more faith from
them. Their men had to leave their flocks and families unprotected on the
east of Jordan whilst they fought in the front line vanguard of Joshua's
army to secure the territory on the west of Jordan. And the territory they
were asked to possess was huge, far larger than the pasture lands they
initially coveted, and inhabited by giants.
Deu 3:14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob to the
border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even
Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day-
The boundaries of Gad appear to in practice encroach upon that given to
Manasseh (1 Chron. 5:11 cp. Josh. 13:8,7,11,25,30; Dt. 3:10-13). But the
tribe of Manasseh had extended their borders northward (1 Chron. 5:23).
The territory was given to Israel as their intended inheritance in the
Kingdom of God; but God was open to some flexibility about this. We think
of Caleb and Othniel asking for territory as an inheritance. And so it is
with our dialogue with God's and His eternal intentions for us.
Deu 3:15 I gave Gilead to Machir-
Num. 32:39 describes how the tribes of Gilead were displaced by
Machir; but Dt. 3:15 says that God through Moses "gave Gilead to Machir".
The land they took was not therefore taken so much by their human effort,
swords and bows, even though they played a role- but by the gracious gift
of God. And it's the same with our inheritance of the Kingdom. We note
that it was God's intention that Israel lived permanently in the promised
land. Yet their specific inheritances were related to their behaviour
during the time when they took the kingdom; thus Machir received the
territory which he had ethnically cleansed. And so our eternal
inheritances, the nature of our eternity, will be a direct reflection of
our work in this life. It's not that works can save us. Salvation itself
is the gift of grace, represented by how Gilead was given to Machir by
God. But it is so that the nature of our eternity will is being forged by
our experiences and spiritual intentions now. We are right now shaping the
nature of our eternal future.
Deu 3:16 To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead to the
valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley and its border, to the river
Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon-
Josh. 1:13 describes this as having been "given rest". After the pattern of the Reubenites, we have been given the promised
rest of the Kingdom here and now (Josh. 1:13 cp. Heb. 4:3); but we will,
like them, only take possession of that inheritance after we have ensured
that our brethren have received their possession (Josh. 1:15). Josh.
1:13,15 present a paradox: the Reubenites were given their "rest", but
they would only get their "rest" once their brethren had. Those
Reubenites really were symbols of us: for this passage is surely behind
the reasoning of Heb. 4, where we are told that we have
entered into rest, but that we must labour if we want to enter into it.
Deu 3:17 the Arabah also, and the Jordan and its border, from Chinnereth
to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah
eastward-
These descriptions imply a birds eye awareness of the geography of
the land which no man then living would have had. Clearly Moses was given
Divinely inspired understanding in order to define the various allotments
of the tribes at this time.
Deu 3:18 I commanded you at that time, saying Yahweh your God has given
you this land to possess it; you shall pass over armed before your
brothers, the children of Israel, all the men of valour-
Moses has just said that
he gave Israel their land
possessions (:12,13,15,16). So often we encounter this kind of thing;
Moses loves to emphasize that God is working through him, that he is
identified with God and merely His agent doing His work. Likewise the
language of God can be applied to all His servants and supremely to His
Son. This doesn’t mean that they were God in person, neither was Jesus;
but it also doesn’t mean that we as individuals are meaningless because
God is manifest through us.
Deu 3:19 But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know
that you have much livestock)-
We see here God's awareness of every human situation. The livestock
had come from the spoil of the towns they had destroyed.
Shall live in your cities
which I have given you-
Deu 3:20 until Yahweh gives rest to your brothers as to you, and they also
possess the land which Yahweh your God gives them beyond the Jordan; then
you shall return every man to his possession which I have given you-
See on Josh. 22:2-4.
He had promised Reuben and Manasseh that they could return to their possessions only when the others had possessed the land (Dt. 3:20). This condition never happened- yet they were allowed to return. And our very salvation from death and the consequences of sin is in a sense another example of this kind of grace.
Indeed, the conditions of Dt. 3:20 were in their turn an easier form, a
concession to, the terms of the initial agreement in Num. 32:20-32.
Although context is indeed important, it isn't always so. The New Testament writers so often quote the Old Testament without (apparently) attention to the context of the words they are quoting. And this is indeed the approach of the Rabbis, who tend to expound each Bible verse as a separate entity. But all the same, in seeking to understand a verse, attention should be paid to the context. Because a word or phrase means something in one context doesn't mean it always means this in any context. Thus "leaven" can be a symbol of both the Gospel and also sin. And the eagle is a symbol of several quite different enemies of Israel, as well as of God Himself. Another simple example is in Dt. 3:20; the land "beyond Jordan" refers to land on the West of the river; but in Josh. 9:10 the same phrase refers to land on the East. That same phrase "beyond Jordan" means something different in different contexts. We can't always assume, therefore, that the same phrase must refer to the same thing wherever it occurs.
Deu 3:21 I commanded Joshua at that time saying, Your eyes have seen all
that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so shall Yahweh do to
all the kingdoms where you go-
We are given some foretastes of the Kingdom of God even
in this life; just as their victories in the wilderness were foretastes of
the greater victories they would have against the inhabitants of Canaan.
Deu 3:22 You shall not fear them, for Yahweh your God, He it is who fights
for you-
Fear was therefore disbelief in God's fighting for them. And so much
wrong human behaviour arises from fear- fear of possible consequences,
ever dwelling upon 'what if?' scenarios. But this is not the stuff of
faith, but rather of secular life. Fear is
always the antithesis of faith. God is often called an "awesome God" (Dt.
7:21 etc.). The Hebrew word for "awesome" is that for 'fear' (s.w. Gen.
3:10; 15:1; 18;15 etc.). The idea is that God's people are to be in such
fear / awe of Him that they fear / are in awe of nothing else. Hence Dt.
7:21 says that Israel should "not be scared of" their enemies, because
their God is "awesome", He is the one to be feared.
Deu 3:23 I begged Yahweh at that time saying-
"Begged" is s.w. "gracious" in Ex. 33:19, where Moses was told that
Yahweh had sovereign power to "be gracious to whom I will be gracious". He
cast himself upon that grace, in asking for God to change His decision
about barring Moses from entry to the land (:25). Moses knew God well
enough to know that He was capable of changing His stated purposes.
Indeed, Moses had persuaded God to do so with regard to Israel's
destruction.
Deu 3:24 Lord Yahweh, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness
and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can
do according to Your works and according to Your mighty acts?-
The might of Yahweh's hand was shown through His grace in as it were
forcing Israel out of Egypt, when they actually wanted to remain there and
He wished to destroy them (Ez. 20:8). They were idolatrous and had told
Moses to leave them alone and let them serve the Egyptians. Yahweh's
strength therefore refers to the power of His grace in continuing His
program with them.
Moses was to stretch forth his hand to cause the waters of the Red Sea to part and return, not his rod; because he was manifesting the hand of Yahweh which was to deliver Israel (s.w. Ex. 7:5). The repeated references to the stretched our arm or hand of Yahweh to save His people invite us to recall this incident, and to perceive that Yahweh's hand had been manifest through the hand of Moses (Dt. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8). That stretched out, saving arm and hand of Yahweh was and is stretched out still, to save His people (1 Kings 8:42; Ez. 20:34; Dan. 9:15 "as at this day") and bring about a new creation in human lives (Is. 45:12). For the deliverance through the Red Sea is intended to be experienced by all God's people, and is now seen through His saving grace at baptism (1 Cor. 10:1,2). What happened there was but the beginning of the work of God's outstretched arm (Dt. 3:24). Yet the stretched out arm / hand of God is also a figure for His judgment (1 Chron. 21:16; Is. 9:12; 10:4). His hand is at work in our lives- either to our condemnation or our salvation. And it is for us therefore to humble ourselves beneath that mighty hand (1 Pet. 5:6).
Deu 3:25 Please let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the
Jordan, that good mountain, and Lebanon-
Moses asked at least twice (maybe three times?) for him
to be allowed to enter the land (Dt. 3:25; Ps. 90); but the answer was
basically the same as to Paul when he asked for his thorn in the flesh to
be removed: "My grace is sufficient for you". The fact Moses had been
forgiven and was at one with his God was so great that his physical
entering the land was irrelevant. And for Paul likewise, temporal
blessings in this life are nothing compared to the grace of forgiveness
which we have received (Ex. 34:9).
Moses knew God well enough to know that He is capable
of changing His stated intentions; for Moses had persuaded God not to
destroy Israel as He once planned in His wrath. God is open to dialogue,
He isn’t the impervious ‘Allah’ of Islam who must be merely submitted to;
and this gives our prayer life real energy and zest, knowing that we’re
not simply firing requests at God in the hope we might get at least some
response; we can dialogue with God, wrestling in prayer over specific,
concrete situations and requests.
Deu 3:26 But Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes and didn’t listen to
me; and Yahweh said to me, Let it suffice you; speak no more to Me of this
matter-
Moses says “for your sakes” several times. Although he
spoke Deuteronomy in his spiritual maturity at the end of his life, it
could be argued that like all of us, he died with some spiritual point of
weakness; and in his case it would have been his failure to own up fully
to his sin of striking the rock, still blaming it on others even at the
end of his life. But Moses will be saved; without any complacency, we all
the same shouldn’t think that we won’t be saved because we have weaknesses
we failed to overcome, and likewise we shouldn’t assume others won’t be
saved because they can’t recognize what to us is an obvious failure in
their behaviour or personality.
The
Lord Jesus would have meditated upon the way righteous men had taken upon
themselves the sins of their people. Thus Jeremiah speaks as if he has
committed Israel's sins; Ezra rends his clothes and plucks off his hair,
as if he has married out of the faith (Ezra 9:4 cp. Neh. 13:25; the
Lord received the same sinner's treatment, Is. 50:6). Moses' prayer for
God to relent and let him enter the land was only rejected for the sake of
his association with Israel's sins.
At the very end of his life, Moses reeled off this great speech of
Deuteronomy, knowing full well that he was to die without entering the
land. In Dt. 9:18 he says that his prayer of Ex. 32:32 was heard- in that
he was not going to enter the land, but they would. Hence his urging of
them to go ahead and enter the land- to experience what his self-sacrifice
had enabled. In this we see the economy of God, and how He works even
through sin. On account of Moses’ temporary rashness of speech, he was
excluded- and yet by this, his prayer was heard. He was temporarily
blotted out of the book, so that they might enter. Moses’ fleeting
requests to enter the land must be read as a flagging from the height of
devotion he reached, rather like the Lord’s request to escape the cross in
Gethsemane. But ultimately he did what he intended- he gave his place in
the Kingdom / land so that they might enter [although of course he will be
in the future Kingdom]. This is why Moses stresses on the last day of his
life that he wouldn’t enter the land for Israel’s sake (Dt. 1:37; 3:26;
4:21). He saw that his sin had been worked through, and the essential
reason for him not entering was because of the offer he had made. It “went
ill with him for their sakes” (Ps. 106:32).
Deu 3:27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and
northward and southward and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you
shall not go over this Jordan-
This was to encourage him that he was indeed as Abraham, who had been
bidden do the same. He like Abraham was seeing the land which he would
possess eternally in the Kingdom, but not in this life.
Moses truly was made spiritually strong out of weakness. His faith fluctuated, until at last he came to a spiritual height at the end of his life. We have seen something of the intensity and passion of his love for Israel, to the point where he was willing to give his physical and eternal life for Israel's salvation. In a sense, his desire was heard. Because of the sin of a moment, caused by the provocation of the people he loved, God decreed that he could not enter the land of promise. For their sakes he was barred from the land; this is the emphasis of the Spirit (Dt. 1:37; 3:26; 4:21); and Ps. 106:32,33 says that Moses was provoked to sin because Israel angered God, and that therefore "it went ill with Moses for their sakes". Truly, God works through sinful man to achieve His glory. Ez. 20:38 says that the rebels in the wilderness “shall not enter into the land”, with reference to how when Moses called the people “rebels” and beat the rock, he was disallowed entry into the land. Because he called them rebels, i.e. unworthy of entry to the Kingdom, he also was treated as a rebel. If we condemn others, we likewise will be condemned. On another level, he was simply barred for disobedience; and on yet another, his prayer to the effect that he didn’t want to be in the land if his people weren’t going to be there was being answered; and on yet another and higher level, his offer to be blotted out of the book of inheritance for Israel’s sake was also being heard. Thus God works within the same incident in so many ways! Thus Moses says that he must die “Because ye [plural] trespassed against me” (Dt. 32:51 AV). This all helps explain why Christ had to die, apart from the fact that he was mortal. He died the death of a sinner for our salvation, he felt all the emotions of the rejected, the full weight of God's curse; for "cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" in crucifixion (Gal. 3:13). Moses was a superb and accurate type of the Lord Jesus. Therefore Moses in his time of dying must grant us insight into the death of our Lord, the prophet like him (Dt. 18:18). As Christ declared God's Name just before his death (Jn. 17:26), so did Moses (Dt. 32:3 LXX).
Deu 3:28 But commission 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 you shall see-
Deu 3:29 So we stayed in the valley over against Beth Peor-
The way Israel remained in the valley and didn't enter the land is
parallel with how Moses was not to pass over Jordan (:27). He was sharing
in their condemnation. I suggest God forgave his sin, but he didn't enter
the land because he had wished to share their judgment as their
representative, so that they might enter.
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