Numbers 21:33: North out of Sihon's land to the second king, and a battle at the edge of his plain

Then they went to Bashan, another Amorite city, and King Og came out with his people to fight them. The Lord had told them not to fear Og, because God had already given him into their hand. So Israel defeated him easily and took his land. In Deuteronomy 3:11 we read that Og was a giant. His bed was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, which is over thirteen feet by six feet. Some of the spies had once been afraid of the giants in the land. Now Israel attacked without fear and fully subdued the Amorites.

It had been a war of extermination. Every man, woman and child was killed, and as far as we read, not one Israelite was wounded (Deuteronomy 2:33-34; 3:6). And Og, one of the Rephaim, an ancient and very powerful race, found that his walled cities, with their high walls, gates and bars, could give him no protection against the invading army. Israel swept over his land like a flood that carries everything before it. They took all his cities.

God's instructions about Og king of Bashan were exactly like those He gave in the previous chapter about Sihon the Amorite. To understand either one, we must look at them only in the light of the government of God. Few people understand this subject, though it is deeply interesting and very practical. We must carefully distinguish between grace and government. When we look at God in government, we see Him using His power in the way of righteousness, punishing evildoers.

He is king of Bashan, or the Bashan, which means "the fertile." His strong city is Edrei, "plenty of pasture," and he lives in Ashtaroth, a city named after the Phoenician goddess Venus, whose worship involved shameful acts. Add to this that the only thing left of him is a monstrous bed, and that is perhaps all that can be said of him. It may be enough to identify him with the spirit of luxury and soft living, the second enemy of the church at Corinth. That this Og is a giant we know only too well: he has brought down many a strong man.

Sihon had struck Moab, but now he falls before Israel. So does Og the king of Bashan, though he was a giant, as we learn in Deuteronomy 3:11. The events that picture victory over the flesh within come first, and then comes the record of victory over the enemies outside. And this is indeed the way things work in our spiritual experience.

He had given His people such a victory over the Amorites. He had destroyed a fearsome enemy like Og king of Bashan, and handed them the whole land of the giants. What could He not do for them? In all the land of Canaan they were unlikely to meet any enemy stronger than Og, whose bed was so huge that Moses gave it special mention. But what was he in the presence of his Almighty Creator? Dwarfs and giants are all alike to Him. The great thing is to keep God Himself always before our eyes. Then difficulties vanish.