Commentaria in Deuteronomium
Chapter 3
Synopsis of the chapter.
Moses repeats the victory over Og, and how he divided his dominion, as well as that of Sehon, among the tribe of Gad, Ruben and half of Manasses, on the condition that they should go before the other tribes and lead them into Chanaan. Finally, verse 23, Moses prays that he may be allowed to enter into Chanaan; but God imposes silence on him.
1. And we turned and went up by the way of Basan: and Og the king of Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai. 2. And the Lord said to me: Fear him not: for he is delivered into thy hand with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon. 3. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also the king of Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them, 4. Wasting all his cities at one time: there was not a town that escaped us: sixty cities, all the country of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Basan. 5. All the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars, besides innumerable towns that had no walls. 6. And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying every city, men and women and children: 7. But the cattle and the spoils of the cities we took for our prey, 8. And we took at that time the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites that were beyond the Jordan, from the torrent Arnon unto mount Hermon, 9. Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir; 10. All the cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and Basan unto Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan. 11. For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, being nine cubits long, and four broad, after the measure of the cubit of a man’s hand. 12. And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, to the half of mount Galaad, and I gave the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad. 13. And the rest of Galaad, and all Basan of the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the land of giants. 14. Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of Argob unto the borders of Gessuri and Machati. And he called Basan by his own name, Havoth Jair, that is, the towns of Jair, until this present day. 15. And to Machir I gave Galaad. 16. And to the tribes of Ruben and Gad I gave of the land of Galaad unto the torrent Arnon, the middle of the torrent, and the confines unto the torrent Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon: 17. And the plains of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the sea of the wilderness, which is most salt, at the foot of mount Phasga toward the east. 18. And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth you this land for an inheritance: go ye armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all of you that are able to fight, 19. Without your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much cattle, and they must remain in the cities which I have delivered to you; 20. Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you, and they also possess the land which he will give them beyond the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have given you. 21. Josue also at that time I commanded, saying: Thy eyes have seen what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass. 22. Fear them not: for the Lord your God will fight for you. 23. And I besought the Lord at that time, saying: 24. O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy most mighty hand: for there is no other God either in heaven or on earth, that can do thy works, and is to be compared to thy strength. 25. I will pass over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and this goodly mountain, and Libanus. 26. And the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and heard me not, but said to me: It is enough, speak no more to me of this matter. 27. Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west, and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and view it: for thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. 28. Command Josue, and encourage and strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide to them the land which thou shalt see. 29. And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor.
8. UNTO MOUNT HERMON, WHICH THE SIDONIANS CALL SARION, AND THE AMORRHITES SANIR.—Mount Hermon is therefore called Sarion and Sanir; it is called also Sion, or Seon, as is plain from chapter iv, verse 48. Rabbi Solomon thinks Sanir, or Senir, to be a German name as well as Chanaanite, signifying snow, with which mount Hermon is always covered. The Chaldee likewise interprets Sanir as snowy. Masius adds that this mountain is contiguous to Libanus, and as it were the part of it looking toward the east, which, being rigid with snow, is vast and uncultivated, and hence is called Hermon or Chermon. For cherem, or herem, signifies a thing lost and corrupt, cut off, laid waste, which is of no use or fruit.
11. FOR ONLY OG KING OF BASAN REMAINED OF THE RACE OF GIANTS,—understand, in that region; for that giants existed elsewhere still is plain from Numbers xiii, 33. Of the giants only the race of Og had remained: for the others were smitten and destroyed by Codorlahomor, Genesis xiv, 5. The Jews fable that Og was a survivor of the flood, and of the giants who were before the flood, Genesis vi, 4, and that therefore Og lived eight hundred years and more; of which I spoke on Genesis vi, at the end.
HIS BED OF IRON IS SHEWN IN RABBATH (afterwards called Philadelphia, as St. Jerome testifies in his book on Hebrew Places), BEING NINE CUBITS LONG, AND FOUR BROAD.—The Talmudic writers relate that this bed was the cradle of Og, when he was an infant: for when he grew to manhood, they say, Og’s foot alone was 120 cubits, not of the common sort but of giants’ cubits, such as Og was; and consequently both he and his bed would have occupied a whole league, says Abulensis; concerning which fable I said more on Numbers xxi, 35.
It is commonly said, after Sophocles, anous makros, a tall fool; for they say that the very tall lack mind, and that spirit is in the small: for the small are bold. Of a very tall man it is said: “He is a Longurio, and the shoe of Maximinus,” that is, he is very long and silly. Hence also Vegetius, book I, chapter v: “In war,” he says, “it is not so fitting to take account of the stature of a soldier as of his strength.” That saying of Athenæus is celebrated: “No big fish is good”; and it is said of those who are very large in body but of no wit. Virtue of soul united is stronger in the small than divided in the great. Symbolically, Abulensis here, Question II: “Og, in Hebrew, is the same as heaping together, and signifies the sinner who piles sins upon sins until he comes to the depth of evils. For sin, for which no remedy is applied by penance, soon gathers to itself worse companions, so that it becomes the dwelling of every unclean spirit, especially of lust; in which when a man has nine cubits of length and four of breadth, he rests immovable as in a bed. The first cubit, or step, is in exquisite foods. The second, in sweet and continual drinking, because the belly seething with wine foams over into lust, as St. Jerome says. The third is in spectacles. For, as the Poet says:
They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen. This place holds the ruin of chaste modesty.
And Jeremias, chapter ix: Death is come up through our windows; and: My eye hath wasted my soul. The fourth is in wanton songs. The fifth is in perfumes, which provoke to lust. The sixth is in gifts and little presents. The seventh, in soft beds. The eighth, in the temporal mirth of companions. The ninth, in the shameful use of women. This bed of the impure has also four cubits of breadth. The first is the shameful thought. The second, the consent to carry it out. The third, the operation that follows. The fourth, long habit, which at length makes this bed iron, so that it can be overcome by no good admonition or inspiration.” So far Abulensis.
AFTER THE MEASURE OF A MAN’S HAND.—In Hebrew, according to the cubit of a man.
14. JAIR THE SON OF MANASSES POSSESSED ALL THE COUNTRY OF ARGOB.—“Son,” that is, grandson. See Numbers xxxii, 41. For the Hebrews call all descendants sons. So the Jews are called children of Israel. So Elisabeth is called a daughter of Aaron, Luke i, 5. Asa and Ezechias are called sons of David, 3 Kings xv, 11, and 4 Kings
UNTO THIS PRESENT DAY.—Abulensis will have these words to have been added not by Moses but by Esdras, who by the instinct of God restored the books of the law burnt by the Chaldeans, and wrote them anew; as also that in verse 11, “His bed is shewn,” etc., because these things happened a little before the death of Moses.
But it is not necessary to say this: for three months and more passed from these deeds to the death of Moses.
Add that if these were added by anyone else, it was not Esdras but he who a little after arranged these journals of Moses. Finally, it is not likely that Esdras restored the Pentateuch and the whole Bible from memory, or by the instinct of God: for the Chaldeans could not burn all the copies, which were scattered throughout all Judea and other nations. Of which matter more fully elsewhere.
15. AND TO MACHIR (that is, to his posterity) I GAVE GALAAD,—that is, part of Galaad. For the Rubenites and Gadites also had part of it, as follows.
17. THE BORDERS OF CENERETH.—“Cenereth” is Genezareth, or the sea of Galilee, or of Tiberias, as I said on Numbers xxxiv, 12.
UNTO THE SEA OF THE WILDERNESS,—unto the Dead Sea, or the Asphaltite lake, Numbers chapter xxxiv,
18. GO BEFORE YOUR BRETHREN,—armed into Chanaan.
20. UNTIL THE LORD GIVE REST TO YOUR BRETHREN,—until, namely, you overthrow the Chanaanites dwelling beyond the Jordan, which was done in seven years after the death of Moses, under Josue: then by the same, in another seven years, the land was divided among the tribes and peacefully possessed by them: therefore after fourteen years the Rubenites and Gadites returned to their own, namely from Chanaan into Galaad. So Abulensis.
24. O LORD GOD, THOU HAST BEGUN TO SHEW THY SERVANT THY GREATNESS.—Abulensis notes that if one ask something of a covetous man, to persuade him he says that this and more is owed to him; but if he ask of a liberal and magnificent man (such as God is), to persuade him he alleges not things due, but his benefits. For the magnanimous gladly hear that they have given, and not received, a benefit.
25. I WILL PASS OVER THEREFORE, AND WILL SEE THIS EXCELLENT LAND BEYOND THE JORDAN.—(As if he said: Let me pass over, I pray, and see the land for which I have laboured forty years; for they are the words of one praying. It is plain from the Hebrew. So the Hebrews often take the future for the optative, which they lack.)
AND THIS GOODLY MOUNTAIN.—“Mountain,” namely Moria, on which Abraham offered Isaac, and on which Sion and the temple were to be built, which therefore is called the mountain of divine vision, and for that reason goodly, and in Hebrew by excellence called good. So Cajetan. The Chaldee translates: let me see this good mountain, and the house of the sanctuary.
29. AND WE ABODE IN THE VALLEY OVER AGAINST THE TEMPLE OF PHOGOR.—In Hebrew, over against the house, that is, the temple of Phogor.