Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Deuteronomy-Chapter 3

Deut 3.1-29 tells us about further conquests; the allotment of the conquered land to Reuben, Gad and two sections of Manasseh; Joshua is told not to fear but to do to the Canaanite kings what he had seen done to the two Amorite kings; a prayer of Moses to go over into the land and its rejection.

v 1…”Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og (baked bread, and a type of false doctrine), king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei (strength).

v 2…But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

v 3…So the Lord our God delivered Og also, king of bashan, with all his people and his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left.

v 4…And we captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: six cities, all in the region of Argob (heaps of earth), the kingdom of Og in Bashan (south of Damascus, east of the sea of Galilee).

v 5…All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

v 6…And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city.

v 7…But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

v 8…Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan (east side), from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon.

v 9…Sidonians call Hermon Sirion (breastplate) and the Amorites call it Senir (snow mountain);

v 10…all the cities of the tableland (plain of Moab) and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah (southeast corner of Bashan) and Edrei.

v 11…For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim (terrible ones). Behold (take note), his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon (kept as a curiosity). Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.

v 12…So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer (ruins) which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead (taken from Og) and its cities, I gave to Reuben and the Gadites.

v 13…And the rest of Gilead (the part north of the Jabbok River), and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe (two sections of the eight sections of the tribe-Num 26.29-32; 32.33) of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (heap of earth), concerning all Bashan , it is called the land of Rephaim (v 11).

v 14…Jair (enlightened) son of Manasseh took the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites (two Aramean tribes-Gen 2224; 2 Sam 15.8), and called it, that is, Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-Jair (village of the enlightener), as it is to this day.

v 15…And to Machir (sold) I gave Gilead.

v 16…And to the Reubenites and to the Gadites, I gave Gilead even as far as the valley of Arnon (rushing); the middle of the valley as a border and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon;

v 17…the Arabah (desert)also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth (harps; sea of Galilee shaped like a harp) even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

v 18…Then I commanded you at that time , saying, ‘The Lord (Yehovah) our God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men (of Reuben, Gad and the two sections of Manasseh) shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel.

v 19…But your wives and your little ones and your livestock, I know that you have much livestock, shall remain in your cities which I have given you;

v 20…until the Lord gives rest to your fellow-countrymen, as to you, and also possess the land which the Lord (Yehovah) your God will give them beyond the Jordan (west side). Then you may return very man to his possession which I have given to you.

v 21…And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to the two kings (Sihon, Og); so the Lord shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross.

v 22…Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.’

v 23…So I pleaded (Hebrew “va’etchanan”; we see “chanan” in this word and in all forms of the word it means “a gift for free”; the word is also related to “chan” which forms the root for “Chanukah” meaning dedication. This is not to be understood as a handout, but it relates to effort. According to the effort put in is the reward. Chanan implies a deep desire for an intense relationship with Yehovah. When Moses uses “va’etchanan” he is saying, “Don’t grant my request because of all the good I’ve done, but on the relationship we have, my love for you”).

v 24…’O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as thine?

v 25…Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country (good mountain and alludes to the future Temple Mount-Isa 14.13; Rev 16.16) and Lebanon.’

v 26…But the Lord was angry with me on your account (for your good; he had to punish Moses or the people would have been hardened even more), and would not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘Enough (from you; this is as far as you are going; you have brought the people to the land, and have seen the conquest of the two kings). Speak to me no more of this matter.

v 27…Go up to the top of Pisgah (cleft) and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

v 28…But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he shall given them as an inheritance the land which you will see.’

v 29…So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor (in the plains of Moab where Moses was buried-Deut 34.6).

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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