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Og

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

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OG . The king of Bashan, who, with his children and people, was defeated and destroyed by the Israelites at Edrei, directly after the defeat of Sihon. His rule extended over sixty cities, of which the two chief were Ashtaroth and Edrei ( Joshua 12:4 ). The whole of his kingdom was assigned to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh ( Deuteronomy 3:1-13 , Numbers 32:33; see also Deuteronomy 1:4; Deuteronomy 4:47; Deuteronomy 31:4 , Joshua 2:10; Joshua 9:10; Joshua 13:12; Joshua 13:30 ). The conquest of this powerful giant king lingered long in the imagination of the Israelites as one of the chief exploits of the conquest ( Psalms 135:11; Psalms 136:20 ). The impression of the gigantic stature of Og is corroborated by the writer of Deuteronomy 3:11 , who speaks of the huge ‘iron bedstead’ (or sarcophagus) belonging to him. According to the measurements there given, this sarcophagus was nine cubits long and four cubits broad. It is, however, impossible to estimate his stature from these dimensions, owing to the tendency to build tombs unnecessarily large in order to leave an impression of superhuman stature. The ‘iron’ of which the sarcophagus was made, probably means black basalt. Many basaltic sarcophagi have been found on the east of the Jordan.

T. A. Moxon.