D3-2: The Connection Between The Areas Israel Conquered And The Coming Of The Messiah

“Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and ‘Og the king of Bashan came out against us with all his people to fight at Edre‘i.  Adonai said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid of him; for I have handed him, all his people and his territory over to you; you will do to him as you did to Sichon king of the Emori, who lived at Heshbon.”-Deuteronomy 3:1-2

Moses is recounting what happened when Israel marched north and conquered Og the king of Bashan.

From a geographical perspective, there are some interesting details here we would be remiss to overlook.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the area called Bashan.

-The territory of Bashan was located east of the Jordan River (in the area known as the Trans-Jordan)

-In the Trans-Jordan, Bashan was situated to the north and northeast of where the Messiah was born, an area called Galilee (I’m sure you’ve heard of that name before).

-This area was ideal for human habitation.  It was highly fertile, had excellent pastureland, and plenty of trees.

-All in all, there were about 60 towns in Bashan that were either walled cities or well fortified with food and other supplies to sustain human life. (Understand that a walled city indicated a fairly large population of people living in the area and a high level of urbanization.)

-The area also contained a small number of unprotected villages which Israel took over.

When we think of towns in those days, I think we have the tendency to imagine scattered, primitive or Bedouin-like tribes dotting the landscape.

However, this was NOT the case with the towns of BASHAN.

The cities of BASHAN had a proper infrastructure in place with metal gate bars and hinges and roads.

Bashan also had a standing military and a well-defined legal code of civil conduct that was enforced by a fairly sophisticated government.

This was in no way a primitive society.

Let’s next take a look at verse 8.

“At that time we captured the territory of the two kings of the Emori east of the Yarden between the Arnon Valley and Mount Hermon”.

This verse nicely summarizes all of the territory Israel seized on the east side of the Jordan River starting as far north as Mount Hermon.

What’s interesting about Mount Hermon is that even to this very day, the area goes by the same name.

So we can know precisely where its located.

However, notice verse 9.

“Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.”

Hmmm…this is interesting evidence that numerous times in Scripture we’ll see different names being used to refer to the exact same area.

This can be due to actual name changes or the use of different languages.

Finally, let’s take a look at verse 10.

“all the cities of the plain, all Gil‘ad and all Bashan, as far as Salkhah and Edre‘i, cities of the kingdom of ‘Og in Bashan.”

We’re told that Israel took “all the cities of the plain”.

Other translations may say “all the towns on the plateau”.

This is referring to the Moabite plateau which eventually became the tribal territory of Reuben.

Why is this area significant?

Because this area serves as the background where the Book of Ruth was born.

History would later reveal that Ruth was one of the grandmothers in the Messiah’s family tree.

As you can see, there are connections between all of these areas Israel conquered and the coming of the Messiah.