A Help for the Understanding of the Holy Scriptures, Deuteronomy · Chapter 3
CHAP. III.
Verſ. 2. ANd the Lord ſaid unto me, Fear him not, &c.]
Becauſe this King was a giant of ſuch a formidable ſtature, verſ. 11. therefore the Lord doth particularly encourage his people not to be afraid of him.
Verſ. 4. Threeſcore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdome of Og in Baſhan.]
As if it had been ſaid, There were amongſt others 60. cities which we took in the region of Argob, a province or ſhire in Baſhan, and therefore it is called the region of Argob which is in Baſhan, 1. Kings 4. 13.
Verſ. 5. All theſe cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and barres, &c.]
The ſtrength of this countrey is here thus deſcribed, both thereby the better to ſet forth the mighty power of God, who had ſubdued ſo ſtrong a countrey before them; and withall to put them in mind how ſafely they might rely upon God ſtill for the time to come againſt their ſtrongeſt enemies.
Verſ. 9. Which Hermon the Sidomans call Sirion, &c.]
Some Expoſitours conceive that the mount here ſpoken of is the ſame that is elſewhere called mount Gilead; and o…hers, that which is elſewhere called L…banus; however evident it is that in the Scripture it is called by five ſeverall names, to wit, Hermon, Sirion, and Shenir here, and then Sion, Deut. 4. 48. and Hor, Numb. 34. 7. and that partly, becauſe by divers people it was diverſly named, and partly, with reſpect to divers parts of this mountain, which had ſeverall names; and hence it is that, Cant. 4. 8. Shenir and Hermon are mentioned together as diſtinct mountains.
Verſ. 11. For onelyonly Og the King of Baſhan remained of the remnant of giants.]
That is, there was none left of that gig…ntine race in the kingdome of Baſhan but Og onelyonly. That there were many other giants at this time in other places is moſt evident: for immediately after the Iſraelites en…ed Canaan Caleb drove out of Hebron Sheſhai and Ahiman and Tal…ai the children of Anak, Joſh. 15. 14. Yea in Davids time there were many giants, as Goliah, whom David ſlew, Iſhbi-benob, and divers others, 2. Sam. 21. 16. &c. But this is ſpoken onelyonly of the countrey of Baſhan.
Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron: is it not in Rabbath of the chilof Ammon?]
How this bedſtead (which was made of iron, that it might be ſtrong enough to bear his huge maſſ…e body) ſhould come to be in Rabbath the chief citie of the Ammonites, being not expreſſed, we cannot ſay; ſufficient it is that thither it might be conveyed by many ſeverall means, as it might be taken in ſome war between the Ammoni…es and this King, and ſo kept as a glorious Trophic of their victory; or it might be given as a preſent to the Ammonites, and ſo kept as a ſtrange memoriall of the huge ſtature of thi… King of Baſhan.
Nine cubits was the length thereof, and foure cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.]
That is, the common cubit of an ordinary man. Now the cubit of a man being uſually a foot and half, according to this meaſure his bed was foure yards and a half long and two yards broad.
Verſ. 13. And the rest of Gilead, and all Baſhan, being the kingdome of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manaſſ…h, &c.
See Numb. 32. 39, 40.
Verſ. 14. Jair the ſonne of Manaſſeh took all the countrey of Argob, &c.]
See Numb. 32. 41.
Verſ. 17. Chinnereth even unto the ſea of the plain, even the ſalt ſea, under Aſhdoth Piſgah Eaſtward.]
What the ſea of Chinnereth was, which is mentioned here as a part of the bound of that land which was given to the Reubenites and Gadites, you may ſee in the note upon Numb. 34. 11, 12. As for Aſhdoth Piſgah, we ſee verſ. 27. that Piſgah was a hill, and ſo Aſhdoth Piſgah was after the name of a citie there adjoyning in Reubens land, Joſh. 13. 20. at the foot of this hill.
Verſ. 23. And I beſought the Lord at that time, &c.]
To wit, after all theſe things before related, when the Lord bad him go up into a mountain and ſee the land, Numb. 27. 12. then did Moſes intreat the Lord earneſtly that he might go into the land of Canaan, as knowing that his threatnings are many times conditionall, and therefore it might be the Lord would be intreated by him.
Verſ. 24. O Lord God, thou hast begun to ſhew thy ſervant thy greatneſſe, &c.]
There is here an argument drawn from former mercies to move God to go on, and to perfect the mercy begun.
Verſ. 25. I pray thee let me go over, and ſee the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.]
There is much arguing amongſt Expoſitours to find out what that goodly mountain is whereof Moſes here ſpeaks, ſome underſtanding it of one mountain, ſome of another: but I conceive that it is the land that lay next beyond Jordan, which they might ſee from the place where the Iſraelites now were, that is here called that goodly mountain, that is, that goodly mountanous countrey; and that then he adjoyns, & Lebanon, (which was in the farther part of the land of Canaan) to imply that he deſired to ſee the land quite through.
Verſ. 26. But the Lord was wroth with me for your ſakes.]
See the note upon chap. 1. 37.
Verſ. 27. Get thee up into the top of Piſgah, &c.]
See the note upon Numb. 27. 12.