Deuteronomy 3 - Og, the Eastern Tribes, and the Prayer of Moses

Og’s cities have fallen, the eastern tribes have received land, and the next generation has seen that formidable powers are not beyond the Lord’s reach. Then Moses asks for something the victories have made painfully near: to cross the Jordan and see the good land. Deuteronomy 3 holds conquest, brotherly duty, succession, and an unanswered petition within one account. The Lord’s work advances, but His servant must accept that another will finish the task he longs to complete.

Orientation

Bashan, Brenton’s Basan, lies north of Sihon’s kingdom. Og rules there and meets Israel at Edrei, printed Edraim in this account. The territory taken from the two kings extends from Arnon toward Mount Hermon, Brenton’s Aermon. Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh receive lands east of the Jordan; their settled households do not release them from responsibility toward the remaining tribes.

Og and the power that looked immovable (Deuteronomy 3:1-11)

¹ And we turned and went by the way leading to Basan; and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us, he and all his people, to battle at Edraim. ² And the Lord said to me, Fear him not, for I have delivered him, and all his people, and all his land, into thy hands; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Seon king of the Amorites who dwelt in Esebon. ³ And the Lord our God delivered him into our hands, even Og the king of Basan, and all his people; and we smote him until we left none of his seed. ⁴ And we mastered all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we took not from them; sixty cities, all the country round about Argob, belonging to king Og in Basan:

⁵ all strong cities, lofty walls, gates and bars; besides the very many cities of the Pherezites. ⁶ We utterly destroyed them as we dealt with Seon the king of Esebon, so we utterly destroyed every city in order, and the women and the children, ⁷ and all the cattle; and we took for a prey to ourselves the spoil of the cities. ⁸ And we took at that time the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond Jordan, extending from the brook of Arnon even unto Aermon.

⁹ The Phœnicians call Aermon Sanior, but the Amorite has called it Sanir. ¹⁰ All the cities of Misor, and all Galaad, and all Basan as far as Elcha and Edraim, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan. ¹¹ For only Og the king of Basan was left of the Raphain: behold, his bed was a bed of iron; behold, it is in the chief city of the children of Ammon; the length of it is nine cubits, and the breadth of it four cubits, according to the cubit of a man.

The command begins with freedom from fear, grounded in what the Lord has promised and in what He has already done to Sihon. Og’s sixty cities have lofty walls, gates, and bars. Moses names their defenses so that Israel will remember an actual obstacle overcome, rather than imagine that faith mattered only where the task was easy.

Og is associated with the Raphain, commonly printed Rephaim, and his iron bed remains a striking witness to his formidable stature. The measurements are given according to a human cubit. They need not be converted into a speculative reconstruction of his body. The point within the account is that the king who seemed to belong to an older world of giants could not secure his kingdom against the Lord.

The destruction of the inhabitants, including women and children, is again stated plainly. It belongs to the severe ancient conquest narrative, not to a Christian pattern for dealing with opponents. Its spiritual reception cannot erase the victims from the words or turn delight in destruction into piety. Christ’s command to love enemies remains binding; spiritual warfare concerns sin, not an ethnic or religious people marked for harm.

Confidence grows when we remember God’s help truthfully. It becomes corrupt when former victories make us careless toward other people’s lives. Moses attributes the outcome to the Lord, leaving Israel no ground for boasting in its own greatness.

An inheritance with named boundaries (Deuteronomy 3:12-17)

¹² And we inherited that land at that time from Aroer, which is by the border of the torrent Arnon, and half the mount of Galaad; and I gave his cities to Ruben and to Gad. ¹³ And the rest of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og I gave to the half-tribe of Manasse, and all the country round about Argob, all that Basan; it shall be accounted the land of Raphain. ¹⁴ And Jair the son of Manasse took all the country round about Argob as far as the borders of Gargasi and Machathi: he called them by his name Basan Thavoth Jair until this day. ¹⁵ And to Machir I gave Galaad.

¹⁶ And to Ruben and to Gad I gave the land under Galaad as far as the brook of Arnon, the border between the brook and as far as Jaboc; the brook is the border to the children of Amman. ¹⁷ And Araba and Jordan are the boundary of Machanareth, even to the sea of Araba, the salt sea under Asedoth Phasga eastward.

The land is divided with care. Reuben and Gad receive part of Gilead; half Manasseh receives the remaining northern territory, including Bashan. Jair and Machir are named within that inheritance. Streams, adjoining peoples, and the Jordan define limits. What has been given is concrete enough to be entrusted, shared, and protected.

This distribution prepares for the obligation that follows. A tribe cannot accept the gift as though it had ceased to belong to the larger people. The distinction between households and the common calling matters in parish life too. A ministry entrusted to us, or a family responsibility rightly protected, need not become a private kingdom that has no concern for the burdens beyond its own door.

Your brothers must receive rest too (Deuteronomy 3:18-22)

¹⁸ And I charged you at that time, saying, The Lord your God has given you this land by lot; arm yourselves, every one that is powerful, and go before your brethren the children of Israel. ¹⁹ Only your wives and your children and your cattle (I know that ye have much cattle), let them dwell in your cities which I have given you; ²⁰ until the Lord your God give your brethren rest, as also he has given to you, and they also shall inherit the land, which the Lord our God gives them on the other side of Jordan; then ye shall return, each one to his inheritance which I have given you. ²¹ And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all things, which the Lord our God did to these two kings: so shall the Lord our God do to all the kingdoms against which thou crossest over thither.

²² Ye shall not be afraid of them, because the Lord our God himself shall fight for you.

Those already allotted land must cross before their brothers, while their wives, children, and livestock remain in the cities. The task lasts until the others receive rest and inheritance as they have. Their advantage is converted into an obligation to serve. A gift received early becomes a way of helping someone who is still on the road.

The text also respects their particular households. Common service does not require pretending that wives, children, or property have ceased to need protection. Faithfulness holds both responsibilities together. In Christian service, generosity should be ordered rather than reckless; a person cannot excuse neglect of dependents by appealing to a public ministry.

Joshua is instructed to remember the two kings. What his eyes have seen should strengthen him for what lies ahead. Encouragement is more than praise of a successor’s abilities. Moses gives Joshua evidence of the Lord’s faithfulness and the assurance that the Lord Himself will fight for the people. Good leadership prepares others to trust God when the former leader is absent.

Moses asks to see the good land (Deuteronomy 3:23-25)

²³ And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ Lord God, thou hast begun to shew to thy servant thy strength, and thy power, and thy mighty hand, and thy high arm: for what God is there in heaven or on the earth, who will do as thou hast done, and according to thy might? ²⁵ I will therefore go over and see this good land that is beyond Jordan, this good mountain and Antilibanus.

The prayer begins with God’s greatness. Moses has seen the beginning of His mighty work, and he desires to see its fulfillment beyond the Jordan. The longing is intelligible and reverent. Scripture does not require us to conceal a desire merely because God may refuse it.

His petition is also personal. The servant who has borne the people’s burdens wants to enter the good land himself. Prayer can carry both love for God’s work and grief about the part we may never receive. We bring these motives into His presence so that they may be purified, rather than pretending that every cherished request is already free of attachment.

“Let it suffice thee”: The servant relinquishes the request (Deuteronomy 3:26-29)

²⁶ And the Lord because of you did not regard me, and hearkened not to me; and the Lord said to me, Let it suffice thee, speak not of this matter to me any more. ²⁷ Go up to the top of the quarried rock, and look with thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes, for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. ²⁸ And charge Joshua, and strengthen him, and encourage him; for he shall go before the face of this people, and he shall give them the inheritance of all the land which thou hast seen. ²⁹ And we abode in the valley near the house of Phogor.

The words first heard at Horeb return with a changed demand. Deuteronomy 1:6 commanded the people to leave the mountain: “Let it suffice you.” Here Moses is told to stop asking to cross. The verbal echo joins the opening and closing of the wilderness recollection. Obedience can require departure from a place, or relinquishment of a desired destination. In both cases, God remains the Lord of the road.

“Because of you” belongs to Moses’ account of serving a resistant people. It should be read beside Numbers 20:1-13, where Moses and Aaron fail to honor the Lord at Meribah. Their exclusion is explicitly connected there with their own failure to trust and hallow Him before Israel. The people’s provocation does not remove the leaders’ accountability. A burden placed upon us can explain our temptation without excusing the act to which we yielded.

The Lord still gives Moses something to do. He may see the land, and he must charge, strengthen, and encourage Joshua, who will give the people their inheritance. The final clause of verse 28 puts the task ahead of Moses’ disappointment. His refusal does not mean that his remaining service is meaningless. He can make another person’s obedience stronger.

This is a difficult mercy for anyone whose years of labor end short of a cherished result. A parent may not live to see a child’s recovery; a servant may prepare work that another completes. Moses’ particular judgment cannot be used to explain all such disappointments as punishment. His final task can nevertheless teach us to entrust an unfinished good to God without withholding love from its next servant.

Language insight: Joshua and “Jesus”

The Greek Septuagint names Joshua Ἰησοῦς, Iēsous, the same Greek name used for Jesus in the New Testament. The name is shared, not merely similar in shape. This does not identify the son of Nun with the eternal Son. It makes a received Christian comparison audible: Joshua leads into an earthly inheritance; Christ gives the final inheritance of life with God.¹

Gems from the Fathers: The greater inheritance

St. Justin Martyr makes this comparison explicitly in Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 113. He discusses Oshea’s renaming as Jesus, his succession to Moses, and his allotment of the land. Joshua’s gift is temporary, while Christ’s gift is eternal: “but the latter, after the holy resurrection, shall give us the eternal possession.”² Justin supplies a Christological reading of Joshua’s place in Israel’s history. It does not make Moses’ service false or worthless. The faithful servant leads to the threshold; the Son brings humanity into the life that an earthly territory cannot contain.

Glossary

• Bashan / Basan: Og’s northern kingdom east of the Jordan.
• Raphain / Rephaim: the older people with whom Og is associated.
• Meribah: the waters of strife where Moses and Aaron failed to honor the Lord before Israel.
• Typology: reading an earlier person or event as preparing for a fuller reality in Christ, without denying its historical identity.

Spiritual Fruit

Make your advantage serve a brother’s rest. Identify a gift that has made your life more stable: experience, time, income, or a trustworthy place in a community. Use some of it to help someone still struggling to find footing. The eastern tribes may settle because they remain willing to serve.

Strengthen a successor without keeping ownership. Give another person useful knowledge, a truthful account of difficulties, and confidence in God’s care. Avoid arranging the handover so that every later success must still confirm your importance. Moses is commanded to make Joshua strong.

Pray honestly, then receive the obedience that remains. Bring an unfinished longing to God. If its fulfillment is no longer yours to pursue, do not punish those whose path continues. Ask which act of encouragement, blessing, or preparation is still entrusted to you.

Moses can see the land, but he will not cross. Joshua must go forward with a blessing, not with the weight of Moses’ resentment. Let the work you cannot finish remain in God’s hands. Pray for freedom to love the person who will carry it further.

Teaching Notes

Teacher guidance

Allow Moses’ grief to be real. Keep Meribah’s account of responsibility beside “because of you,” and do not turn every disappointed vocation into a diagnosis of punishment. Read the conquest soberly; the Christian fulfillment is not permission for violence.

Discuss: Og and the power that looked immovable (Deuteronomy 3:1-11)

• Ask: What is the difference between remembering God’s help and boasting in our success?
• Watch for: Speculative claims about Og’s body or a celebratory tone toward the destruction of families.

Discuss: An inheritance with named boundaries (Deuteronomy 3:12-17)

• Ask: How can an entrusted responsibility become an isolated private kingdom?
• Emphasize: The allotment belongs within Israel’s common life.

Discuss: Your brothers must receive rest too (Deuteronomy 3:18-22)

• Ask: What do those who have already received stability owe those who are still struggling?
• Watch for: Service used to excuse neglect of dependents.

Discuss: Moses asks to see the good land (Deuteronomy 3:23-25)

• Ask: How can prayer hold a deep longing without assuming that God must fulfill it in our preferred way?
• Emphasize: Moses’ desire is brought openly before the Lord.

Discuss: “Let it suffice thee”: The servant relinquishes the request (Deuteronomy 3:26-29)

• Ask: What does obedience look like when the remaining task is to strengthen someone else?
• Emphasize: Justin offers a typological comparison. Do not repeat his statement about Joshua’s surviving contemporaries as an exhaustive historical claim, since Caleb also survived.

Sources

1. Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX), Deuteronomy 3. Biblical comparisons: Deuteronomy 1:6; Numbers 20:1-13; Matthew 5:44; Ephesians 6:12.

2. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 113, direct text.

3. No Coptic lectionary placement is known for this chapter in the references used here.

Footnotes

1. H. B. Swete’s Greek Septuagint, Deuteronomy 3:21, 28; St. Justin’s explicit name comparison in Dialogue with Trypho 113. ↩

2. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 113, translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, direct text. ↩