No 30

(Sihon and Og)

These are the names of two kings who we first come across in chapter 21 of the book of Numbers. They were, so to say, in the way of Israel’s conquest of the land of Canaan as promised by the Lord to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses sent messengers and requested passage through the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites and he refused. So God gave Sihon over to the Israel in a battle and “Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites” (vs25, 26). Next, we come to Og, king of Bashan further north again in the way of Israel’s destiny. The Lord also delivered Og’s army to Israel “…until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.” (v35). Up to now, there is nothing very special about these events considering the God that we have and the promises He made to His beloved people.

What has always intrigued me about these two kings as they are used as examples in many passages to denote the power and mercy of God. The name Sihon appears no less that 34 times in Scripture and the name of Og no less than 22 times. In the majority of these passages, God’s power is brought to the forefront and both these pieces of land became part of Israel’s Promised Land. I believe two important considerations deserve special mention: 1) This land was east of the Jordan River. 2) Moses was the one who lead Israel into battle in both cases. It was as if God wanted to demonstrate His power to Israel before actually crossing the Jordan under Joshua and to reassure Israel that their battles were won before they even began. After the conquest of Canaan, these two pieces of land were given as a heritage to the tribes of Ruben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh and they crossed back over to the eastern shores of the Jordan and took possession of the land. (Jos 22:10)

As we know, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised land because of his disobedience to God’s command at the waters of Meribah where he hit the rock twice instead of just speaking to it (Num 20:8, 12); we read in the Bible that Moses, at this point was frustrated with the disbelief of the Israelites.

The names of these two kings are even mentioned in the book of Psalms “18 And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 19 Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: 20 And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:” (Psalm 136:18 to 20). Our God is a merciful and loving God but He is also a consuming fire who will go to all lengths to accomplish His plan for humanity and even though the above events took place many centuries ago, God has not changed; we may count on Him just as Moses did.