Og

Deut. iii. 11.OG, King of Bashan, or of that Part of the Land of Promise which is beyond Jordan, between the Mountains of Gilead to the East, Jordan to the West, Libanus and Mount Hermon to the North, and the Brook Jabok to the South. Og was a Giant, of the Race of the Rephaims. We may judge of his Stature by the Length of his Bed, which was preserved for a long time in the City of Rabbath, the Capital of the Ammonites. It was nine Cubits long, and four Cubits broad; that is, fifteen Feet, four Inches and an half long, and six Feet ten Inches broad. The Rabbins say, that Og was one of those ancient Giants that liv’d before the Flood, and that he saved himself from the general Destruction, by getting on the top of the Roof of the Ark, wherein was Noah and his Sons: That Noah furnished him with Provisions, not out of Compassion to him, but that the Men that came after the Deluge might see how great the Power of God was, who had destroyed such Monsters from the Earth.

In the War he made with the Israelites, he lifted up, (say the Rabbins) a Mountain of six Miles in Breadth, in order to throw it on the Camp of the Israelites, and to squeeze them all to pieces at once. But God had so provided, that the Ants had made the Mountain hollow just in that Place where he had put his Head; so that the Mountain fell in upon the Neck of the Giant; presently his Teeth grew in such an extraordinary Manner, and penetrated into the Mountain, that he could by no Means disengage himself. So that Moses striking him upon the Heel, kill’d him without any Difficulty. This is what the Rabbins say. See the Targum of the Son of Uziel upon Gen. xiv. 13. and Numb. xxxv. 21. and the Exercitations of P. Morin, p. 325. l. 2. Exercit. 8. cap. 2. They say the Stature of this Giant was so prodigious, that Moses, who according to them was six Elns high, took a Hatchet of the same Length, and yet was forced to make a Leap of six Elns high, only that he might reach to strike the Ancle of Og’s Foot. In the Decree of Gelasius, which condemns several Apochryphal Books, there is one condemn’d which bore the Name of the Giant Ogias, who had lived before the Deluge, and whom the Hereticks say to have fought against the Dragon.

But let us leave these Dreams, and come to what the History tells us of this famous Giant. Moses says¹, that after having conquer’d Sihon King of the Amorites, he advanced towards the Country of Bashan, wherein King Og reigned: That this Prince marched against him, and advanced as far as Edrei with all his Subjects; that giving them Battle, Og was conquer’d and put to Death, with his Children and all his People. Moses put them all to the Edge of the Sword, without sparing one of them, and took Possession of his Country. Og and Sihon were the only Persons that withstood Moses. Their Country was given to the Tribes of Gad, Reuben, and to half the Tribe of Manasseh.

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