Deuteronomy 3

Deuteronomy 3:1

Deuteronomy: God’s Law of Love Love and Obey the *LORD your God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Deuteronomy www.easyenglish.info Philip Smith This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 3 v1 ‘Next we turned and we went along the route towards Bashan. Og, king of Bashan, came out with his whole army to fight us. He wanted to fight us at the town called Edrei. v2 But the *LORD said to me, “Do not be afraid of him. I will give him, his whole army and his country to you. Fight against him in the same way as you fought against Sihon, king of the *Amorites. Sihon ruled in Heshbon.”

v3 So the *LORD our God handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, and all his army. We killed all of them. We left none of them alive. v4 At the same time, we *captured all his towns. We *captured all of his 60 towns. We took the whole region called Argob. It was Og’s *kingdom in Bashan. v5 All those towns had high walls with gates and bars to protect them. There were also many villages without walls. v6 We *destroyed them completely as we had done with Sihon, king of Heshbon. We *destroyed all the towns. We killed the men, the women and the children. v7 But we took for ourselves all the animals and the people’s possessions from the towns.

v8 So at that time, we *captured the territory on the east of the River Jordan. We took it from those two *Amorite kings. That territory was from the River Arnon to *Mount Hermon. v9 (The people from the country called Sidon called *Mount Hermon “Sirion”. The *Amorites call it “Senir”.) v10 We *captured all the towns on the plain. We *captured the regions called Gilead and Bashan up to Salecah and Edrei. Those were the towns in Og’s *kingdom in Bashan. v11 Og, king of Bashan, was the last of the *Rephaites. His bed was iron. It was more than 13 foot long and 6 foot wide (4 metres long and 2 metres wide.) It is still in Rabbah, the town where the *Ammonites live.’

Bashan was a region that grew good crops. It had good land for *cattle and it had large forests. It had high hills also. It was to the north and north east of the region called Galilee. There were more than 60 towns with high walls and gates to protect them. They called that region Argob. The *Israelites *destroyed the towns and all the people who lived in them. They did not kill the animals. They did not *destroy the things that they had taken from the towns. Some students think that the word for ‘bed’ (verse 11) means ‘the box for his dead body’. Because Og was a king, the bed or the box for his body was very large. People may have made a box from a rock that contained iron rather than all of iron.

God told the *Israelites to destroy some people and some things. Sometimes things can cause people to *sin. Jesus told people to free themselves from anything like that. (See Matthew 5:27-30.) He does not mean that people should damage their bodies. But they must do everything to avoid *sin.

v12 ‘I divided the country that we *captured at that time. I gave to the *tribes of Reuben and Gad the territory to the north of Aroer near the River Arnon. That included half of the hills in the region called Gilead together with its towns. v13 I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan to half the *tribe of Manasseh. That was where Og ruled. (People used to call the whole region of Argob in Bashan “the land that belongs to the *Rephaites”. v14 Jair, a *descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region called Argob. That region went to the border of Geshur and Maacath. He named the region after himself.

Today people still call Bashan “the villages that belong to Jair”.) v15 I gave Gilead to Machir. v16 I gave the territory from Gilead to the River Arnon to the *tribes of Reuben and Gad. Their boundary was the middle of the river. And their boundary was the River Jabbok. That was the boundary with the *Ammonites. v17 Their western border was the River Jordan in the Arabah valley. That was all the land from Galilee to the Dead Sea. It is below the slopes of *Mount Pisgah.’

Moses describes how he divided the land to the east of the River Jordan. He gave some land to the *tribes of Reuben and Gad. He gave the rest of the land to half the *tribe called Manasseh. Those *tribes had especially asked for that land. So Moses let them live there. They still had to help the rest of the *tribes to possess their parts of the land. They could not rest until they had done that.

v18 ‘I gave to you this command at that time. “The *LORD your God has given to you this country to possess it. But all your brave fighters with their military arms, must go ahead of the other *Israelites. They are your relatives. v19 However, your wives, your children and your animals can stay. I know that you have many animals. They can stay in the towns that I have given to you. v20 That will be until the *LORD allows your relatives, the other *Israelites, to live in peace like you. Then they too will possess the country that the *LORD your God is giving to them. Their country is across the River Jordan from your country. Then you can return to the country that I have given to you as your possession.”

v21 Then I gave this command to Joshua. “You have seen all that the *LORD your God did to those two kings. The *LORD will do the same to all the *kingdoms where you will go. v22 Do not be afraid of the people there. The *LORD your God will fight for you.” ’

The *Israelites who wanted to live on the east of the River Jordan still had to help the other *Israelites. The nation had to act as a group, with God as their leader. Their wives, their families and their *cattle would remain in their country. Perhaps the men who were too young or too old to fight would look after them. The men who crossed the River Jordan could return to their own country. However, they had to help the other *Israelites first. Moses ordered Joshua to lead the battle. Moses told him not to be afraid. Moses reminded Joshua about what God had done to the two kings, Sihon and Og. God would help Joshua to defeat other kings in the same way.

We should remember how God has helped us in the past. That will help us to trust him in the future.

v23 ‘Then I prayed to the *LORD very strongly. v24 “*LORD, our *Lord, I am your servant. You have begun to show me the great and powerful things that you can do. No false god in the sky or on the earth can do the great things that you do. v25 Let me cross over the River Jordan and see the good country. I want to see the pleasant hills and Lebanon.”

v26 But because of you, the *LORD was angry with me. He would not listen to me. Instead, he said, “That is enough! Do not speak to me about this again. v27 Go up to the top of *Mount Pisgah. Look to the north, south, east and west. You can look at the country, but you will not go across the River Jordan. v28 But appoint Joshua for his work. Encourage him and give him strength. He will lead the *Israelites across. And they will possess the country that you will see.” v29 So we remained in the valley near Beth Peor.’

Moses’ prayer shows that he knew God well. Moses believed that there was only one real God. He asked God very strongly to let him lead the *Israelites into the country. God did not allow him to do that. God punished Moses because the *Israelites’ action caused him to do wrong things. (Our notes about chapter 1 verses 34-39 also refer to this event.) In Numbers chapter 20, we read how Moses brought water out of the rock. He did not speak to the rock. He hit the rock. He did not obey God. God told Moses that he would be able to see the country. However, like Abraham, he had to trust that God would *keep his promises. Joshua would lead the *Israelites to *capture the country. God told Moses that he should encourage Joshua to do that.

God does not always say ‘yes’ to our prayers. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked God to take away his trouble. But he also prayed to do what God wanted. (See Mark 14:36.) We need to pray in the same way. God may not give to us what we desire. But he can make us content without it. So that gives a result that is as good or better.

© 1997-2012, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2012

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var w0 = new Array;w0[0]=’<b%3ELord</b%3E ~ a name for God. It translates the word ‘Adonai’ in the Hebrew language, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.