_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ The conquest of Og and his country, Deuteronomy 3:1. The distribution of it to the two tribes and a half, Deuteronomy 3:12; on condition of assisting their brethren, Deuteronomy 3:18. Joshua encouraged, Deuteronomy 3:21; Deuteronomy 3:22. Moses prays that he may go into Cana... [ Continue Reading ]
_Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us_ As a further encouragement to the Israelites to confide in the power and faithfulness of God, Moses proceeds to remind them of the wonderful success they had had against Og, who appears to have been the first aggressor, Numbers 21:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
_On this side Jordan_ So it was when Moses wrote this book: but afterward, when Israel passed over Jordan, it was called the land beyond Jordan.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sirion_ Elsewhere called mount Gilead, and Lebanon, and here Shenir, and Sirion, which several names were given to this one mountain, partly by several people, and partly in regard of several tops and parts of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_All Gilead_ Gilead is sometimes taken for all the Israelites' possessions beyond Jordan, and so it comprehends Bashan; but here for that part of it which lies in and near mount Gilead, and so it is distinguished from Bashan and Argob.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Only Og remained of the remnant of giants_ Namely, in those parts; for there were other giants among the Philistines, and elsewhere. When the Ammonites drove out the Zamzummims, mentioned Deuteronomy 2:20, Og might escape, and so be said _to be left of the remnant of the giants_, and afterward, fle... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto this day_ This must be put among those passages which were not written by Moses, but added by those holy men who digested the books of Moses into this order, and inserted some few passages to accommodate things to their own time and people.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gilead_ That is, the half part of Gilead. _To Machir _ That is, unto the children of Machir, son of Manasseh, for Machir was now dead. _Half the valley_ Or rather, _to the middle of the river:_ for the word rendered _half_, signifies commonly _middle_, and the same Hebrew word means both a _valley... [ Continue Reading ]
_The plain_ The low country toward Jordan. _The sea of the plain_ That is, that salt sea, which before that dreadful conflagration was a goodly plain.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I commanded you_ Namely, the Reubenites and Gadites. _All that are meet_ In such number as your brethren shall judge necessary. They were in all above a hundred thousand. Forty thousand of them went over Jordan before their brethren.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I besought the Lord_ We should allow no desire in our hearts, which we cannot in faith offer unto God by prayer. _Thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness_ Lord, perfect what thou hast begun. The more we see of God's glory in his works, the more we desire to see. And the more affected we a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let me go over_ For he supposed God's threatening might be conditional and reversible, as many others were. _That goodly mountain_ Which the Jews not improbably understood of that mountain on which the temple was to be built. This he seems to call _that mountain_, emphatically and eminently, that w... [ Continue Reading ]
_He shall go over_ It was not Moses, but Joshua, or Jesus, that was to give the people rest, Hebrews 4:8. It is a comfort to those who love mankind, when they are dying and going off, to see God's work likely to be carried on by other hands when they are silent in the dust.... [ Continue Reading ]