Deuteronomy 2 & 3 (selected)

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• The wicked nations in Canaan are stronger and mightier than Israel. But God will destroy them and give the land to Israel... just like he destroys and gives the lands of other wicked nations to other peoples (v. 19-23).

Details and/or Comments

• This is just one of the ways that God has destroyed nations that have become "irreversibly" wicked. For further information, see: Destruction of Wicked Nations.

• Evil or ignorant people may falsely accuse God (or Israel) of committing "genocide"; but this word cannot legitimately apply to situations in which desperately wicked (and persistently unrepentant) people are judged by the holy and righteous God who created them and owns them. For more about this, see: Genocide.

Scripture

Deuteronomy 2:17-35; 3:1-7, 11, 21-11 - Destruction of wicked nations.

• See also: Collective Accountability and Judgment and Israel's Conquest of Canaan.

Moses is speaking to the people, rehearsing past events...

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Deu 2:17 Yahweh spoke to me, saying, Deu 2:18 You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab: Deu 2:19 and when you come near over against the children of Ammon, don't bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.	Possession of the land is based on who God gives it to. Ownership of Land Land Given by God COMMENTS:* As other passages have said, God is the owner, not people. This is why Israel could not take over any other land, besides what God had allotted to them. See also v.5 - I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. / v.9 - I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession (also v. 19).
Deu 2:20 (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived therein before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, Deu 2:21 a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place; Deu 2:22 as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day: Deu 2:23 and the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and lived in their place.)	Other examples of land being given to a people, by God. Land Given by God
Deu 2:24 Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon: behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. Deu 2:25 This day will I begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.	The land of the Amorite would be given to Israel. God would begin to put fear in the peoples. (It is important to remember that these nations were stronger than Israel. It wasn't that Israel was "bullying" the weak! Compare to Deuteronomy 4:38, etc.)
Deu 2:26 I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Deu 2:27 Let me pass through your land: I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. Deu 2:28 You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only let me pass through on my feet, Deu 2:29 as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me; until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.	Moses offered them words of peace, as he did with some of the other nations.
Deu 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as at this day. Deu 2:31 Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you: begin to possess, that you may inherit his land. Deu 2:32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. Deu 2:33 Yahweh our God delivered him up before us; and we struck him, and his sons, and all his people. Deu 2:34 We took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: Deu 2:35 only the livestock we took for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken.	But GOD set the king's heart against peace, and delivered the land to Israel.

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Deu 3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. Deu 3:2 Yahweh said to me, Don't fear him; for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into your hand; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.	God will give the land of Bashan to Israel. As before, God set them against peace.
Deu 3:3 So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we struck him until none was left to him remaining. Deu 3:4 We took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we didn't take from them; sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. Deu 3:5 All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the unwalled towns a great many. Deu 3:6 We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. Deu 3:7 But all the livestock, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.	It happened the way God promised.

Two additional observations:

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Deu 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; isn't it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth, after the cubit of a man.)	It was natural, at that time in history, for people to be larger than today. This is compatible with what we see in the fossil record of what conditions were like prior to the Flood. Many of the fossilized animals are significantly larger than their modern counterparts!

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Deu 3:21 I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings: so shall Yahweh do to all the kingdoms where you go over. Deu 3:22 You shall not fear them; for Yahweh your God, he it is who fights for you.	God did this. This is the reason Israel was victorious. God Fights for His People

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—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.