Deuteronomy 3:1-11 – In God’s developmental program.

In Deuteronomy 3, Moses continued to recollect the conquest. Having defeated Sihon the Amorite king, taken his land and destroyed his people, the Israelites now turned to tackle Bashan. The Lord once again encouraged them saying, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” Again the initiator of the battle was King Og of Bashan. He and his men came out against the people of Israel and the Lord delivered them to His people in the battle of Edrei.

In this battle against King Og, the people of Israel captured all his cities and destroyed the king and his people till there was not a single survival left. The number of cities captured was indicated as sixty. So Israel conquered and took all the land that belonged to King Og of Bashan. Verse 5 seems to indicate that this battle to gain Bashan was more challenging. For the cities were “…fortified with high walls, gates, and bars.” However, besides conquering the cities, the Israelites also took a great number of unwalled towns. Verse 6 indicates that they did to King Og of Bashan just as they had done to King Sihon. They also exterminated the men, women, and children of every city and took only all the animals and the spoil of the cities as their booty.

This second conquest was greater than the first in size. The land they had taken extended as far north as Mount Hermon. Besides, the sixty cities they captured were all fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars. In Deuteronomy 1:28, the spies who returned from the recce of Canaan, described the cities in the promised land as “large and fortified to heaven.” From the conquest of the sixty fortified cities of Bashan, we surmise that God was preparing the people of Israel to take on the fortified cities of Canaan.

Not only was God using the conquest of Bashan to prepare them to take on the fortified cities in Canaan, but He was also preparing them to take on the giants in the promised land. Verse 11 suggests that Og was a formidable king. He was a remnant of the Rephaim, the tall and terrified people. This verse revealed how tall he was from the measurement of his bed.

The lesson we get from the encounter Israel had with Og is that God uses our encounters in life to prepare us to face the bigger and larger challenges that will come. From smaller victories, God helps us to develop our spiritual muscles so that we can cross harder and tougher hurdles of life. We must not despise the days of small beginnings. God usually takes us incrementally from one level of success to another. So learn from every encounter. To be successful over the bigger challenges of life, we must lay hold and conquer the smaller ones first. He is taking us from one degree of glory to another. Praise His name!