Israel’s Conquest of Og

Israel’s Conquest of Og is the campaign in which Israel defeated Og, king of Bashan, at Edrei and took his territory. Told first as a victory on Israel’s approach to the plains of Moab and later recalled by Moses, the account joins divine assurance to military conquest and the allocation of land east of the Jordan.

Background and Battle

After Israel had taken the Amorite towns and settled in their land, the people turned north toward Bashan. Og came out with his people to fight Israel at Edrei. The LORD told Moses not to fear him, declaring that Og, his people, and his land had been delivered into Israel’s hand, as had Sihon and his territory.

Israel struck Og, his sons, and his people until none remained, then took possession of his land. The brief battle account places the victory within the advancing campaign east of the Jordan and immediately precedes Israel’s encampment on the plains of Moab, opposite Jericho.

The Conquered Territory

Moses’s later recollection gives the conquest a wider geographic and material scale. Og and his people met Israel at Edrei; Israel took all his cities, numbering sixty in the region of Argob. These were fortified settlements with high walls, gates, and bars, alongside many unwalled towns. The account says the cities were destroyed and their cattle and other spoil taken.

The territory taken from the two Amorite kings extended from the Arnon valley to Mount Hermon and included the cities of the plain, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salcah and Edrei. The narrative also notes the different names for Hermon: the Sidonians called it Sirion, while the Amorites called it Senir. Og is singled out as the last remaining king of the Rephaim; his iron bedstead, kept at Rabbah among the Ammonites, was described as nine cubits long and four cubits wide.

Allocation and Significance

The conquered land became an inheritance for Israelite groups east of the Jordan. The Reubenites and Gadites received territory from Aroer by the Arnon valley and part of Gilead; the half-tribe of Manasseh received the rest of Gilead and Bashan, including Argob. Moses also records assigning Gilead to Machir and recounts that Jair named the settlements of Argob Havvoth-jair.

The campaign’s narrative significance lies in the way victory becomes possession and a continuing obligation. Moses tells Joshua that he has seen what the LORD did to Sihon and Og, and uses those defeats to assure him that Israel need not fear the kingdoms ahead: the LORD will fight for them. The Transjordan tribes, meanwhile, are instructed to cross armed before their fellow Israelites and help them secure their inheritance west of the Jordan before returning to their own holdings.