Og the Giant: What Does the Bible and

Ancient Scriptures Tell Us?

By Bob Moore
Revised 6/23/2022

Og’s Homeland, Golan Heights (Biblical Bashan)

Also known as Batanea, Gaulanitis, Geshur, Karnaim
There are some great photos and geographical information on Og the giant’s homeland
at the following web site. I heartily recommend visiting the web site for a visual
perspective to this article.

http://www.bibleplaces.com/golanheights.htm

Bible References to Og, King of Bashan

Og is prominently and frequently mentioned in the Bible:

From The Bible (ESV)

Num 21:33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og
the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle
at Edrei.

Num 32:33 And Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the
people of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the
kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of
Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land
throughout the country.

Deu 1:4 after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in
Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.

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 3:3 So the LORD our God gave into our hand Og also, the king of
Bashan, and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no
survivor left.
Deu 3:4 And we took all his cities at that time--there was not a city that
we did not take from them--sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the
kingdom of Og in Bashan.

Deu 3:10 all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan, as
far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

Deu 3:11 (For only Og the king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the
Rephaim. Behold, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the
Ammonites? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its breadth,
according to the common cubit.)

Deu 3:13 The rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, that is,
all the region of Argob, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh. (All that
portion of Bashan is called the land of Rephaim.

Deu 4:47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the
king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east
beyond the Jordan;

Deu 29:7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon
and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated
them.

Deu 31:4 And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the
kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.

Jos 2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red
Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two
kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og,
whom you devoted to destruction.

Jos 9:10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were
beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of
Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

Jos 12:4 and Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who
lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei
Jos 13:12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and
in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); these Moses
had struck and driven out.

Jos 13:30 Their region extended from Mahanaim, through all Bashan, the
whole kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in
Bashan, sixty cities,

Jos 13:31 and half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the
kingdom of Og in Bashan. These were allotted to the people of Machir the
son of Manasseh for the half of the people of Machir according to their
clans.

1Ki 4:19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon
king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was one
governor who was over the land.

Neh 9:22 "And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them
every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon
and the land of Og king of Bashan.

Psa 135:11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all
the kingdoms of Canaan,

Psa 136:20 and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures
forever;

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Og suggests that Og may be the

king mentioneed in Amos 2:9.

Amos 2:9 “Yet X it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,Y
whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as
the oaks;Z I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.
X:
Deuteronomy 2:31
31 And the LORD said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his
land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’
Joshua 24:8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived
on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them
into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed
them before you.

Numbers 21:21-25 21Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the

Amorites, saying, 22“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside
into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by
the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
23But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He

gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the
wilderness and came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24And Israel
defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land
from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border
of the Ammonites was strong. 25And Israel took all these cities, and Israel
settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.
Y:
Numbers 13:32,33 32So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report
of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we
have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants,
and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33And there we saw
the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we
seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Isaiah 10:33 33Behold, the Lord GOD of hosts will lop the boughs with
terrifying power; the great in height will be hewn down, and the lofty will
be brought low.
Z:
Job 18:16 16His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above.
I would like to suggest that all the references listed above, starting with
Amos 2:9, regard Sihon himself rather than his big friend Og.

Extra-Biblical References:

John Gill’s Commentary on Og

Deuteronomy 3:11
For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants,....
The meaning seems to be, either that he was the only one that was left of
the race of the giants the Ammonites found when they took possession of
this country, Deu_2:20 or that was left when the Amorites took it from
the Ammonites; and who having by some means or other ingratiated
himself into their affections, because of his stature, strength, and courage,
and other qualifications they might discern in him, made him their king:

behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron: his body being so large
and bulky, he might think it most proper and safest for him to have a
bedstead made of iron to lie upon, or to prevent noxious insects
harbouring in it; nor was it unusual to have bedsteads made of
other materials than wood, as of gold, silver, and ivory; See Gill on
Amo_6:4. Some learned men have been of opinion, that the beds of
Typho in Syria, made mention of by Homer, refer to this bedstead of Og:

is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? which was the royal

city of the Ammonites, in the times of David, 2Sa_12:26, now called
Philadelphia, as Jerom says (t). This bedstead might be either sent thither
by Og, before the battle at Edrei, for safety, or rather might be sold by the
Israelites to the inhabitants of Rabbath, who kept it, as a great curiosity:

nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of
it, after the cubit of a man; a common cubit, so that it was four yards
and a half long, and two yards broad. Onkelos renders it, after the king's
cubit; and the king's cubit at Babylon, according to Herodotus (u), was
larger by three fingers than the common one; such as the cubit in
Eze_40:5, which was a cubit and an hand's breadth; and this makes the
dimensions of the bedstead yet larger. And by this judgment may be made
of the tallness of Og's stature, though this is not always a sure rule to go
by; for Alexander, when in India, ordered his soldiers to make beds of five
cubits long, to be left behind them, that they might be thought to be larger
men than they were, as Diodorus Siculus (w) and Curtius (x) relate; but
there is little reason to believe that Og's bedstead was made with such a
view. Maimonides observes (y), that a bed in common is a third part larger
than a man; so that Og, according to this way of reckoning, was six cubits
high, and his stature doubly larger than a common man's; but less than a
third part may well be allowed to a bed, which will make him taller still; the
height of Og is reckoned by Wolfius (z) to be about thirteen feet eleven
inches of Paris measure.

(r) Vid. Dickinson. Delph. Phaenieizant. c. 2. p. 12. (s) Iliad. z. (t) De loc.
Heb. fol. 94. C. (u) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 175. (w) Bibliothec. l. 17. p. 563. (x)
Hist. l. 9. c. 3. (y) Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 47. p. 325. (z) Apud
Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 401.

Please note that Deuteronomy 3:3 and Deuteronomy 29:7 make it

abundantly clear that the Israelites under Moses destroyed Og, though no
details are offered. From Biblical references alone, we might conclude that
Og was of the puny Goliath class of giants. The following extra-Biblical
references indicate that the complete story may be far more amazing.

From Josephus’, “Antiquities of the Jews”, Book 4, Chapter 5

3. When matters were come to this state, Og, the king of Gilead and
Gaulanitis, fell upon the Israelites. He brought an army with him, and in
haste to the assistance of his friend Sihon: but though he found him
already slain, yet did he resolve still to come and fight the Hebrews,
supposing he should be too hard for them, and being desirous to try their
valor; but failing of his hope, he was both himself slain in the battle, and all
his army was destroyed. So Moses passed over the river Jabbok, and
overran the kingdom of Og. He overthrew their cities, and slew all their
inhabitants, who yet exceeded in riches all the men in that part of the
continent, on account of the goodness of the soil, and the great quantity of
their wealth. Now Og had very few equals, either in the largeness of his
body, or handsomeness of his appearance. He was also a man of great
activity in the use of his hands, so that his actions were not unequal to the
vast largeness and handsome appearance of his body. And men could
easily guess at his strength and magnitude when they took his bed at
Rabbath, the royal city of the Ammonites; its structure was of iron, its
breadth four cubits, and its length a cubit more than double thereto.
However, his fall did not only improve the circumstances of the Hebrews for
the present, but by his death he was the occasion of further good success
to them; for they presently took those sixty cities, which were
encompassed with excellent walls, and had been subject to him, and all got
both in general and in particular a great prey.
Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan
Gen. 3:12-17 (Targum version)
And Og came, who had been spared from the giants that died in the
deluge, and had ridden protected upon the top of the ark, and sustained
with food by Noah; not being spared through high righteousness, but that
the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord, and say,
Were there not giants who in the first times rebelled against the Lord of
the world, and perished from the earth? But when these kings made war,
behold, Og, who was with them, said in his heart, I will go and show
Abram concerning Lot, who is led captive, that he may come and deliver
him from the hands of the kings into whose hands he has been delivered.
And he arose and came, upon the eve of the day of the Pascha, and found
him making the unleavened cakes. Then showed he to Abram the Hebrew,
who dwelt in the valleys of Mamre Amoraah, brother of Eshkol and brother
of Aner, who were men of covenant with Abram. And when Abram heard
that his brother was made captive, he armed his young men who were
trained for war, grown up in his house; but they willed not to go with him.
And he chose from them Eliezer the son of Nimrod, who was equal in
strength to all the three hundred and eighteen; and he pursued unto Dan.
[JERUSALEM. Domestics (marbitsi, downliers) of his house, eighteen and
three hundred, and pursued after them unto Dan of Kisarion.] And he
divided them at night in the way; a part were to engage with the kings,
and a part were hidden to smite the firstborn of Egypt. And he arose, he
and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them which remained of
them unto (the place) of the memorial of sin which was to be in Dan, from
the north of Darmesek. [JERUSALEM. And he pursued them unto Havetha,
which is from the north of Darmesek.] And he brought back all the
substance, and also Lot his brother and his substance he brought back,
and also the women and the people. And the king of Sedom came forth,
after that he returned from destroying Kedarlaomer and the kings who
were with him, to meet him at the plain of Mephana, which was the king's
race-course. [JERUSALEM. And the kings who were with him, at the plain
of vision which was the house of the king's plain.]

Num. 39:19-22 (Targum version)

And Israel, after they had destroyed Sihon, dwelt in the land of the
Amorites. And Mosheh sent Kaleb and Phineas to examine Makbar, and
they subdued the villages, and destroyed the Amorites who were there.
Then they turned, and went up by the way of Mathnan; and Og, the king
of Mathnan, came out to meet us, he and all his people, to give battle at
Edrei. And it was, when Mosheh saw Og, he trembled before him, stricken
with fear: but he (soon) answered and said, This is Og the Wicked, who
taunted Abraham our father and Sarah, saying: You are like trees planted
by the water channels, but bring forth no fruit: therefore hath the Holy
One, blessed be He, spared him to live through generations, that he might
see the great multitude of their children, and be delivered into our hands.
Then spake the Lord unto Mosheh: Fear him not, for I have delivered him
into thy hand, and all his people and country; and thou shalt do to him as
thou hast done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.

Now it was, after Og the Wicked had seen the camp of Israel spreading
over six miles he said with himself, I will make war against this people, that
they may not do to me as they have done to Sihon: so went he and tare
up a mountain six miles in size, and brought it upon his head to hurl it
upon them. But the Word of the Lord forthwith prepared a reptile which
ate into the mountain and perforated it, and his head was swallowed up
within it; and he sought to withdraw it, but could not, because his back
teeth and his front ones were drawn hither and thither. And Mosheh went
and took an axe of ten cubits, and sprang ten cubits, and struck him on the
ankle of his foot, and he fell, and died beyond the camp of Israel. Thus it is
written. And they smote him and his sons and daughters, and all his
people, till none of them remained to escape; and they took possession of
his land. [JERUSALEM. And Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. And
Mosheh sent to explore Makvar, and they took the villages, and destroyed
the Amorites who were there. And when Mosheh saw Og, he said, Is not
this Og the Wicked, who taunted Abraham and Sarah, and said, They are
like fair trees by fountain of water, but give no fruit? Therefore the Holy
One, blessed be He, hath kept him alive for many years, till the time that
he should see their children and children's children, and fall by their hands.
Therefore the Lord said to Mosheh, Fear him not, for I have delivered him
into thy hand, and all his people, and all his land; and thou shalt do to him
as thou hast done to Sichon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.]

Book of Jasher Chapter 85

21 And the children of Israel turned and went up by the way of Bashan to
the land of Og, king of Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan went out to
meet the Israelites in battle, and he had with him many valiant men, and a
very strong force from the people of the Amorites.
22 And Og king of Bashan was a very powerful man, but Naaron his son
was exceedingly powerful, even stronger than he was.
23 And Og said in his heart, Behold now the whole camp of Israel takes up
a space of three parsa, now will I smite them at once without sword or
spear.
24 And Og went up Mount Jahaz, and took therefrom one large stone, the
length of which was three parsa, and he placed it on his head, and
resolved to throw it upon the camp of the children of Israel, to smite all the
Israelites with that stone.
25 And the angel of the Lord came and pierced the stone upon the head of
Og, and the stone fell upon the neck of Og that Og fell to the earth on
account of the weight of the stone upon his neck.
26 At that time the Lord said to the children of Israel, Be not afraid of him,
for I have given him and all his people and all his land into your hand, and
you shall do to him as you did to Sihon.
27 And Moses went down to him with a small number of the children of
Israel, and Moses smote Og with a stick at the ankles of his feet and slew
him.
28 The children of Israel afterward pursued the children of Og and all his
people, and they beat and destroyed them till there was no remnant left of
them.

The Babylonian Talmud

01-Sabbath-25

MISHNA VI. Closing the eyes of a corpse on Sabbath. Concerning the

closing of the eyes of a dying person on a week-day. On account of a living
child, only one day old, the Sabbath may be violated; but not even for
David, King of Israel, if he be dead, may this be done. A living child one
day old need not be guarded from the attacks of rats, but even the dead
body of Og, King of Bashan, must be guarded from such attacks. Practise
charity when the opportunity presents itself and when it is within thy
reach.
02-Erubin-10

The questions seem to be centred in four ells. Whence do we derive these

four ells? As we have learned in a Boraitha: From the passage [Exodus xvi.
29]: "Remain ye, every man in his place," etc. By "his place" is meant the
size of his body. What is the size? Three ells, and one ell additional in case
he wishes to stretch his limbs. So said R. Meir. R. Jehudah, however, said:
"Three ells are allowed for the size of the body and an additional ell in case
he wishes to take a thing at his feet and place it underneath his head."
What is the point of variance between the two? According to one, the four
ells must be exactly measured, and according to the other, an approximate
distance only is necessary. R. Mesharshia said to his son: "When thou
goest to see R. Papa, ask him whether the four ells are measured
proportionately to the size of the man concerned or whether they are the
holy ells (i.e., ells measuring six spans). If he should tell thee, that the holy
ells are meant, what should a man do who is as tall as Og, King of Bashan,
and if he should tell thee, that the proportionate ells are meant, why were
the four ells not included in the Boraitha, which teaches, that all things
should be reckoned according to the proportionate ells."

Talmud - Mas. Berachoth 54b

‘The stone which Og, king of Bashan wanted to throw at Israel’. This has
been handed down by tradition. He said: How large is the camp of Israel?
Three parasangs. I will go and uproot a mountain of the size of three
parasangs and cast it upon them and kill them. He went and uprooted a
mountain of the size of three parasangs and carried it on his head. But the
Holy One, blessed be He, sent ants which bored a hole in it, so that it sank
around his neck. He tried to pull it off, but his teeth projected on each side,
and he could not pull it off. This is referred to in the text, Thou hast broken
the teeth of the wicked,9 as explained by R Simeon b. Lakish. For R.
Simeon b. Lakish said: What is the meaning of the text, Thou hast broken
the teeth of the wicked? Do not read, shibbarta [Thou hast broken], but
shirbabta [Thou hast lengthened]. The height of Moses was ten cubits.10
He took an axe ten cubits long, leapt ten cubits into the air, and struck him
on his ankle and killed him.

From the Jewish Encyclopedia:

Og, King of Bashan.
Of all the giants only Og escaped destruction in the Flood. Noah made a
place for him near the lattice door of the ark, through which (Pirḳe R. El.
xxiii.), because Og had sworn to serve Noah and his descendants for all
time, he handed him his food every day. The Talmud (Niddah 61a) sees a
reference to this in the word "ha-paliṭ." (Gen. xiv. 13), "the escaped"
fugitive being identified with Og (comp. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. xiv. 13;
Deut. iii. 11; see Eliezer). Arabic writers (Ṭabari, i. 193; and Ibn al-Athir, i.
51) quote this escape of Og as a "Jewish" story ("according as the people
of the Torah fancy"). According to Mohammedan tradition, Og was a son of
Noah's sister, and survived his uncle 1,500 years, being killed by Moses
(see Bemidbar Rabbah to Num. xxi. 34; Tan., Ḥuḳḳat, ed. Buber, 55;
Pseudo-Jonathan to Num. xxi. 34). The story of his death runs as follows:
When Og saw the camp of the Israelites, six parasangs in area, fearing lest
his fate be a repetition of Sihon's he proposed to kill them all at once. He
broke off a mountain and lifted itabove his head to throw it upon the
Israelites. But God sent a worm which bored a hole into the mountain so
that it fell upon Og's neck, his teeth becoming imbedded in it. Moses,
taking a mace ten ells long, beat the ankles of Og until he died (comp.
"Sefer ha-Yashar," and Ber. 54b, where ants perforate the mountain). The
Arabic historians relate similar stories (Ṭabari, i. 50 [Zotenberg transl. i.
391]; Ibn al-Athir, i. 137). Og's height is given by Ḳazwini (i. 449) as
23,330 ells; he lived 3,600 years. The waters of the Flood reached only to
about the middle of his body. In Parḥon's “Maḥberet," s.v. , as in Ḳazwini
(l.c.), it is a bird, , that splits the mountain.

Other topics of interest:

A Youtube video on giants and Og’s lineage. (Be forewarned this starts
slowly.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOvhsuns1RI

Who Were the Mysterious Aramean Magicians

https://www.scribd.com/document/123776712/Who-Were-the-Mysterious-
Aramean-Magicians

End of Days https://www.scribd.com/document/575856285/End-of-Days-

Proved-With-Mathematics-and-Chronology