“Og king of Bashan was the last survivor of the Refa’im. His bed was made of iron; it is still in Rabbah with the people of ‘Amon. It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, using the normal cubit [thirteen-and-a-half by six feet.“-Deuteronomy 3:11
In verse 11 of Deuteronomy Chapter 3, we’re given a quite fascinating tidbit of information.
We’re told that King Og was the last of the remaining Rephaim.
Do you recall our discussion about the Rephaim not too long ago and how they were the post-flood version of the Nephilim, a race of unusually large men with an evil bent?
Verse 11 even goes into the details of King Og’s iron bed.
We’re told it was about 13-14 feet in length and six feet wide!!!
Holy dog sheep curtains!!!
That was one big dude.
Here’s another interesting tidbit of info you should be aware of.
Lest you think this is a fairy tale, you should know that King Og’s bed can be found in a museum in present day Amman, Jordan.
Second, we have completely independent Egyptian writings that also make reference to Og’s gigantic bed.
Third, we have also found several skeletal remains of men who resided in the region of Bashan.
Do you wanna know how tall these skeletons were?
They were about 9 feet tall.
An interesting takeaway occurred to me while I was typing up this post.
When we speak of the Rephaim, we are basically talking about a race of giants who were defeated by what was in comparison a race of midgets.
You know what this tells me.
This tells me that Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” is a bunch of hogwash.
It ain’t always the biggest, the tallest, the strongest or the fastest one who survives.
It is only the those who do the will of God who will remain…for all eternity.
Heck, even the first generation of God’s chosen people died out before reaching the Promised Land due to their rebellion.
I will say it again.
Only those who do HASHEM’s Will shall remain.
The idolators and immoral shall pass away with the sands of time…as all things do.
There’s a quote from Mark Twain I’ve shared before but think it most apt to share again for this post.
Here it is:
“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk.
His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished.
The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”
–Mark Twain, September 1897
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