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Bible Dictionaries
Bashan
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or BASHAN . The name of the territory east of the Sea of Tiberias. It was the kingdom of Og, the Rephaite opponent of Israel, and with his name the country is almost invariably associated ( Numbers 21:33 , Deuteronomy 29:7 , Nehemiah 9:22 etc.). The territory was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, with a reservation of two cities, Golan and Be-eshterah (Ashtaroth in 1 Chronicles 6:71 ), for the Gershonite Levites ( Joshua 21:27 ). In the time of Jehu the country was smitten by Hazael ( 2 Kings 10:33 ). It was noted for mountains ( Psalms 68:15 ), lions ( Deuteronomy 33:22 ), oak trees ( Isaiah 2:13 , Ezekiel 27:6 , Zechariah 11:2 ), and especially cattle, both rams ( Deuteronomy 32:14 ) and bullocks ( Ezekiel 39:18 ); the bulls and kine of Bashan are typical of cruelty and oppression ( Psalms 22:12 , Amos 4:1 ). The extent of the territory denoted by this name cannot be exactly defined till some important identifications can be established, such as the exact meaning of ‘the region of Argob’ (included in the kingdom of Og, Deuteronomy 3:4 etc.), where were threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars, administered for Solomon by Ben-geber of Ramoth-gilead ( 1 Kings 4:13 ). It included Salecah ( Salkhat , on the borders of the desert), Edrei ( ed-Der‘a ?), Ashtaroth (perhaps Tell Ashareh ), and Golan, one of the cities of refuge, the name of which may be preserved in the Jaulan , the region immediately east of the Sea of Tiberias.
R. A. S. Macalister.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Bashan'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/b/bashan.html. 1909.
