HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  2.13–15 The Zered (Wadi el-Hesa), which flows westward into the southern end of the Dead Sea, is the boundary between Edom and Moab; the crossing marked Israel’s communal passage, hastened by divine agency, to a new generation of warriors.

  2.19 Lot’s Ammonite descendants also (cf. 2.9) received by divine grant their homeland on the plateau northeast of Moabite Ar (cf. 2.37).

  2.20–23 Folklore with theological commentary continuing vv. 10–12. Zamzummim (Hebrew, “Mumblers”?), another subset of Rephaim; cf. “Zuzim” in Gen 14.5. Avvim (Hebrew, “Ruiners”?). Cf. Josh 13.3. Caphtorim…from Caphtor, Philistines or a related people from Crete (cf. Gen 10.14; Jer 47.4; Am 9.7).

  2.24 Consignment of Sihon ’s realm to Israel renewed the Lord’s war against the Amorites (cf. Gen 15.16; Am 2.9–10). Other ancient claimants to the rich tableland north of the Arnon gorge (Wadi el-Mujib) included Ammon (Judg 11.4–33; cf. 1 Sam 11.1–11) and Moab (Num 21.13–15; Jer 48; cf. the Mesha Inscription).

  2.25 Conquest begins with dread and fear of you. See also 11.25; Ex 15.14–16; cf. Josh 2.9–11.

  2.26–3.7 The era of Israel’s conquests began under Moses’ command (as promised, Ex 34.10–11), with model holy-war campaigns against the forces of Sihon and Og in Transjordan (cf. Num 21.13–35).

  2.26 Kedemoth, at the desert’s edge east of Ar, near the Arnon’s upper reach (cf. Josh 13.18). Heshbon, Sihon’s capital, near the midpoint on the plateau stretching north from the Arnon to Gilead (cf. Josh 12.2; Jer 48.45; Song 7.4).

  2.27–29 The request for peaceful passage may be understood in context (vv. 24–25, 30–31) as the means to draw Sihon into battle (cf. 2.6; 23.3–4).

  2.30 Divine action to promote Sihon’s bellicose obstinacy and downfall recalls the “hardening of Pharaoh’s heart” theme of the exodus drama (e.g., Ex 4.21; 7.3; 14.4; cf. Josh 11.19–20; 1 Sam 16.14; 1 Kings 22.20–23; Isa 6.10).

  2.32 Jahaz, a fortified town on the plateau south of Heshbon (cf. Josh 13.17–18; Isa 15.4).

  2.33–35 The “ban” (Hebrew cherem) enforced here and against Bashan (3.6–7) straddles the rules of holy war given in 20.10–17: the human populations are totally annihilated (20.16–17), but livestock as well as goods are exempted (20.13–15). Cf. Josh 6.17–19; 7.1; 8.2, 26–27; 11.10–15; 1 Sam 15.3–9.

  2.36–37 Aroer, a fortress commanding the Arnon’s north rim (cf. Josh 13.9). Gilead, the fertile hill country of central Transjordan; it is bisected by the Jabbok River (Nahr ez-Zerqa), a major eastern tributary of the Jordan, which descends from the heights of Ammon (cf. Gen 32.22; Josh 12.2).

  DEUTERONOMY 3

  Defeat of King Og

  1When we headed up the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei. 2The LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” 3So the LORD our God also handed over to us King Og of Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was left. 4At that time we captured all his towns; there was no citadel that we did not take from them—sixty towns, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these were fortress towns with high walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages. 6And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and children. 7But all the livestock and the plunder of the towns we kept as spoil for ourselves.

  8So at that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon 9(the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites call it Senir), 10all the towns of the table-land, the whole of Gilead, and all of Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11(Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide.) 12As for the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory north of Aroer,a that is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns, 13and I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom. (The whole region of Argob: all that portion of Bashan used to be called a land of Rephaim; 14Jair the Manassite acquired the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named them—that is, Bashan—after himself, Havvoth-jair,b as it is to this day.) 15To Machir I gave Gilead. 16And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon, with the middle of the wadi as a boundary, and up to the Jabbok, the wadi being boundary of the Ammonites; 17the Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea,c with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.

  18At that time, I charged you as follows: “Although the LORD your God has given you this land to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your Israelite kin. 19Only your wives, your children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall stay behind in the towns that I have given to you. 20When the LORD gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too have occupied the land that the LORD your God is giving them beyond the Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to you.” 21And I charged Joshua as well at that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD will do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22Do not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.”

  Moses Views Canaan from Pisgah

  23At that time, too, I entreated the LORD, saying: 24“O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours! 25Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.” 26But the LORD was angry with me on your account and would not heed me. The LORD said to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again! 27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. 28But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of the land that you will see.” 29So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

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  a Heb territory from Aroer

  b That is Settlement of Jair

  c Heb Salt Sea

  3.1 Bashan, a region of rich highland forests, pastures, and fields in northern Transjordan, reaching beyond Gilead across the Yarmuk River into Syria (cf. 32.13–14; Ezek 27.6; 39.18). The battle site, Edrei (modern Dar‘a), near the upper reach of the Yarmuk’s southern tributary, was apparently one of Og’s two royal cities (cf. 1.4; Josh 9.10; 12.4).

  3.4 Argob seems here to designate the broad expanse of south-central Bashan, from the Golan Heights eastward to the Hauran massif (modern Jebel Druze); cf. 3.13–14.

  3.8–22 A brief report on the apportionment of conquered regions among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (cf. Num 32; Josh 13.8–32) plus instructions concerning participation of their militias in the invasion of the land west of the Jordan.

  3.8–9 Mount Hermon (Jebel esh-Sheikh), the towering southern spur of the Anti-Lebanon range, known also as Sirion and Senir, marks the northern limit of Israel’s primary territorial claims (cf. 4.48; Josh 11.16–17; Ps 29.6; Song 4.8).

  3.10 Salecah, a town at the eastern boundary of Bashan (cf. Josh 12.5; 13.11).

  3.11 The note offers an intriguing glimpse into lore about Og, here not an “Amorite” (cf. v. 8) but last of the giant Rephaim (cf. Josh 12.4; 13.12). His massive iron bed (ca. 13 by 6 feet) may have been a megalith or sarcophagus of black basalt. Rabbah (modern Amman), the Ammonite ro
yal citadel.

  3.13–15 Major clans of eastern Manasseh (i.e., half [of the] tribe) include Jair, here allotted most of Bashan (cf. Num 32.41; Judg 10.3–5; 1 Kings 4.13), and Machir, receiving Gilead (cf. Num 26.29; 32.39–40; Josh 17.1). Geshurites and the Maacathites, Aramean clans occupying the Golan Heights (cf. Gen 22.24; Josh 13.13; 2 Sam 3.3; 15.8).

  3.17 Chinnereth, the Sea of Galilee or Gennesaret. Pisgah, the northwestern flank of Mount Nebo (cf. 3.27; 32.49; 34.1).

  3.18–20 For the outcome of the commission, see Josh 1.12–18; 4.12; 22.1–6. The promised rest means not only relief from the urgency of war but also the Lord’s gift to Israel of a stable life in a secure homeland, thus bringing to completion the plan that began to unfold with the exodus (cf. 12.8–9; Ex 3.7–8; 15.17; 33.14; Josh 21.43–45; 1 Kings 8.56).

  3.21–22 Anticipation of Joshua’s succession. See 31.3–8, 23; Josh 1.3–6.

  3.23–29 Moses, who so often had interceded successfully on behalf of others (e.g., 9.20, 25–29; Ex 32.11–14; Num 11.2; 21.7), could not secure divine permission to cross with the new generation of Israel into the land beyond the Jordan.

  3.24 Moses’ plea begins with hymnic praise extolling the Lord’s incomparability (cf. Ex 15.11, 16; 2 Sam 7.22–24; Pss 89.5–8; 113.5–6).

  3.26–27 The Lord’s rebuke is softened by allowing Moses to survey visually the full expanse of Israel’s national homeland. See 32.48–52; 34.1–4.

  3.28 See note on 3.21–22.

  3.29 The valley (Wadi ‘Ayun Musa) lies beneath the northwest slope of Pisgah, where Moses is addressing the people (see 1.1, 5; cf. Num 21.20). Beth-peor, the “house,” or sanctuary, of the Baal of Peor; see 4.3–4.

  DEUTERONOMY 4

  Moses Commands Obedience

  1So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you. 3You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4while those of you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today.

  5See, just as the LORD my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” 7For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him? 8And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?

  9But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—10how you once stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, “Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their children so” 11you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. 12Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13He declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments;a and he wrote them on two stone tablets. 14And the LORD charged me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy.

  15Since you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, take care and watch yourselves closely, 16so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female, 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven. 20But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron-smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own possession, as you are now.

  21The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I should not cross the Jordan and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving for your possession. 22For I am going to die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to take possession of that good land. 23So be careful not to forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you, and not to make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

  25When you have had children and children’s children, and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and provoking him to anger, 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27The LORD will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be left among the nations where the LORD will lead you. 28There you will serve other gods made by human hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29From there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul. 30In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the LORD your God and heed him. 31Because the LORD your God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.

  32For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? 33Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? 34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 36From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. 37And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. 39So acknowledge today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

  Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

  41Then Moses set apart on the east side of the Jordan three cities 42to which a homicide could flee, someone who unintentionally kills another person, the two not having been at enmity before; the homicide could flee to one of these cities and live: 43Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

  Transition to the Second Address

  44This is t
he law that Moses set before the Israelites. 45These are the decrees and the statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites when they had come out of Egypt, 46beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned at Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites on the eastern side of the Jordan: 48from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as far as Mount Sirionb (that is, Hermon), 49together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

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  a Heb the ten words

  b Syr: Heb Sion

  4.1–40 This grand peroration advances the claim that diligent observance of God’s law, as mediated through Moses’ instruction, is the wellspring of Israel’s life and hence also the discipline that shapes its unique theological witness among the world’s nations.

  4.1–8 The thesis stated.

  4.1 So now is a rhetorical device (cf. 10.12; 26.10), here marking a shift in Moses’ address from the foregoing memoirs to climactic exhortation and admonition.

  4.2–4 Neither add…nor take away. Because Moses’ instruction in what the Lord demands is both authoritative and complete, it is the only guide to life that Israel ever needs or should follow (cf. 12.32; 30.11–14; Prov 30.5–6; Eccl 3.14). The consequences of conflicting claims on Israel’s loyalty were demonstrated by the Lord’s discriminating judgment in the Baal of Peor affair (cf. Num 25.1–13; Ps 106.28; Hos 9.10).