James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
Deuteronomy 3:2
SIHON AND OG
‘Thou shalt do unto Og as thou didst unto Sihon.’
I. Had Og, the king of Bashan, remained within his city, the Israelites would have been foiled, unless they received special Divine help. But he came out. Perhaps Joshua 24:12 may afford us a clue. Swarms of hornets may so have harassed them in their towns as to drive them out into the plains. Oh, how reassuring to hear God’s ‘Fear not!’ as we enter the battle or undertake some new plan!
II. We may well be fearless, and keep festival, when as the forms of dreaded evils approach us, the Lord holds our right hand, and says of each, ‘Fear him not.’ And it is wonderful at such times how we actually get spoil out of objects of terror. Out of the eater comes meat, and out of the strong sweetness. At such times also, we cry out in our glee to others, ‘Ye shall not fear.’
III. It is noticeable that recent discoveries confirm these records of the many stone cities of Bashan. There are an immense number of remains; and it is a wonder how so many people could have subsisted on so small a tract of country. Porter says that the doors and gates are of stone, some of them nearly 18 in. thick. Some 500 ruined places still tell the might of the Amorites. The Israelites thus acquired fertile and beautiful pasture-lands, as far as Hermon, and including Gilead.
Illustration
(1) ‘The Israelites were now on the border of the territory of the Amorites, who had driven out their kinsmen, Moab and Ammon, from the region lying between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and established a new Canaanite capital at Heshbon. Sihon, the Amorite king, not only refused Israel a free passage, but led out his forces against them. He was, however, signally defeated at Jahaz. The capture of Heshbon was celebrated in a song of triumph which has been preserved (Numbers 21:27). Penetrating still further northwards, the children of Israel crossed the Jabbok, and overcame Og, king of Bashan, at Edrei. These victories gave them the mastery of Eastern Palestine from the river Arnon to mount Hermon. Moses divided the conquered region between the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, i.e. the families descended from Machir (Numbers 32:39 f.), at their own special request, after they had pledged themselves to assist in the subjugation of the territory to the west of the Jordan.’
(2) ‘I know my Sihons. I make them fair offers, but they refuse. I will not harm them, but they scout me. I offer commerce, they draw the sword. I, even I, have my enemies. But they are God’s enemies, too, if I am God’s, as Moses was; and they shall not stand before me.’
(3) ‘Fear argues Little Faith, or No Faith, just as Darkness implies Little or No Light; so by the reality of our fear we may know the unreality of much that we call faith. Where faith really rests, fear is not, and cannot be.’