Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

August 4, 2017

Og King of Bashan: Giant Warlord or Ruler of the Underworld?

Ancient rabbis got it right; modern scholars got it wrong.

The book of Numbers describes the Israelites’ decisive military victory over Og, king of Bashan, and their subsequent takeover of his kingdom, which appears to have overlapped with the Golan Heights. Throughout scripture there are several references to this victory; one of them, Deuteronomy 3:11, adds two noteworthy details: that Og was “left of the remnant of the Rephaim” and that he had a gigantic iron bed, “nine cubits in length and four cubits in breadth.”

SaveGift