Commentary - Numbers 21:33-35

Bird's-eye view

Following the significant victory over Sihon, king of the Amorites, Israel's journey toward the promised land brings them face to face with another formidable enemy: Og, the king of Bashan. This brief account is not merely a historical footnote about another military engagement. It is a potent demonstration of God's covenant faithfulness and a lesson for Israel on the nature of holy war. The Lord had promised Abraham's seed the land, and these preliminary battles on the east side of the Jordan are the down payment, the initial fulfillment of that great promise. The encounter with Og, a remnant of the giants, is particularly significant. It serves as a direct answer to the faithless fears of the previous generation, who trembled at the report of giants in the land (Num. 13:33). Here, God is not just giving Israel territory; He is systematically dismantling the very things they were afraid of, proving that their fears were entirely misplaced then, and are entirely unnecessary now.

The structure is straightforward: a challenge arises, God gives a promise, and Israel acts in faith, resulting in a total victory. This pattern is a microcosm of the Christian life. We are constantly confronted by giants, whether sin, temptation, or worldly opposition. The command from God is always the same: "Do not fear." The basis for this command is not our strength, but His promise: "I have given him into your hand." Our part is to believe the promise and act on it, and the result is the dispossession of our enemies and the possession of our inheritance in Christ.

Outline

The Gospel According to Og

It is a mistake to read these Old Testament conquest narratives as though they are simply about real estate transactions enforced with swords. They are about the gospel. The enemies Israel faced were not just inconveniently located tribes; they were typological representations of the kingdom of darkness. Og, in particular, is described in Deuteronomy as a remnant of the Rephaim, the giants (Deut. 3:11). His bedstead was a monstrous thing, a testimony to his imposing stature. These giants are echoes of the Nephilim from Genesis 6, the unnatural fruit of a rebellion against God's created order. They represent a deep-seated, monstrous evil that has entrenched itself in God's world.

So when Israel confronts Og, they are confronting more than just a large man with a large army. They are confronting a stronghold of Satan. And God's command to them is a gospel command. "Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand." This is the same logic as the cross. Christ, our Joshua, confronted the ultimate giant, that ancient serpent, the devil. On the cross, it looked like the giant had won. But God raised Jesus from the dead, having disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them. The victory was total. And just as Israel was commanded to do to Og what they did to Sihon, we are called to apply the victory of the cross to every lesser giant we face. The precedent has been set. The head of the serpent has been crushed, and we are now simply mopping up, taking possession of the land in His name.

Verse by Verse

33 Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out to meet them, he and all his people for battle at Edrei.

Israel is on the move. They are not meandering; they are marching under divine orders. Their path takes them "by the way of Bashan," a fertile and desirable land. But the land has a king, and he is not prepared to give it up. Notice the totality of the opposition: "Og... he and all his people." The world does not surrender its territory willingly. When the church advances, when the gospel makes inroads, the prince of this world musters his forces. The battle is not sought by Israel, but it is not shirked either. Og "went out to meet them... for battle." This is a direct challenge to the people of God and, therefore, to God Himself. Edrei becomes the location of a decisive contest between the God of Israel and the gods of Bashan.

34 But Yahweh said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people and his land; and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”

Here is the turning point of the entire account. Before a sword is swung, the word of God settles the outcome. The first word from Yahweh is a command against fear. "Do not fear him." Why? Is it because Og is small? No, Deuteronomy tells us he was a giant. Is it because Israel's army is mighty? No, they are a band of wilderness wanderers. The reason they are not to fear is found in the next clause: "for I have given him into your hand." The verb is in the perfect tense in Hebrew, indicating a completed action. From God's perspective, the battle is already over. Og has been delivered up. This is the logic of faith. We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. The promise is as total as the opposition was in the previous verse: "him, and all his people and his land." God then provides a historical anchor for their faith. He points them backward in order to propel them forward: "you shall do to him as you did to Sihon." God is teaching His people to build a case history of His faithfulness. The victory over Sihon was not a one-off event; it was a precedent. It established a pattern. What I did yesterday, I will do again today.

35 So they struck down him and his sons and all his people, until there was no survivor remaining for him; and they possessed his land.

Faith receives the promise of God and acts. The result is exactly what God said it would be. The victory is devastatingly complete. "They struck down him and his sons and all his people." This is the language of herem, or utter devotion to destruction. This was not simple warfare; it was holy judgment. The Canaanite cultures, including the Amorites of Bashan, were sinks of iniquity, and their cup of wrath was full (Gen. 15:16). God was using Israel as His scalpel to cut out a cancerous growth from the land. The thoroughness is emphasized: "until there was no survivor remaining for him." No root of this evil was to be left in the ground. And the direct consequence of this obedience is possession: "and they possessed his land." The enemies of God are dispossessed so that the people of God may be possessed of their inheritance. This is what Christ does. He utterly defeats sin and death, leaving no survivor, so that we might possess the land of eternal life.

Application

The story of the conquest of Og is a story for us. We live on the borders of our own promised land, and the landscape is filled with giants. Our culture is ruled by ideologies as imposing and monstrous as Og of Bashan. The temptation is always to fear, to look at the size of the opposition and to listen to the faithless report of the ten spies in our heads.

But God's word to us is the same word He gave to Moses: "Do not fear." The basis for our courage is not in our own abilities, our political strategies, or our cultural savvy. The basis for our courage is the settled, finished work of Jesus Christ. God has given our enemies into our hand. The resurrection was the decisive battle. Satan, sin, and death were defeated there. Our task now is to walk in that victory. We are to apply the precedent of the cross to every Sihon and every Og we encounter.

This means we must be people of the promise. We must believe what God has said more than we believe the intimidating size of our cultural giants. And it means we must be people of obedient action. We must, by faith, strike down the idols in our own lives, in our families, and in our communities, until there is no survivor remaining. As we do, we will find ourselves taking possession of the land, seeing the kingdom of our God advance, and the kingdom of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.