Og the king of Bashan is named twenty-two times in the Bible across six different biblical books. Given how often he and his kingdom are mentioned, we should know more about who he is. The Bible also mentions other details of interest, such as how Og slept on an iron bed that was over thirteen feet long. Apparently, he was a giant of man, even bigger than Goliath.
Just who was Og and why does the Bible mention him so frequently? This article helps to answer that question by explaining what the Bible says about Bashan, Israel, Og, and the giants of old.
Where was the kingdom of Bashan?
To know who Og is, we first need to know more about his kingdom of Bashan. This kingdom, along with the Amorite kingdom, acted as gateways into the Promised Land. To enter into their rest, Israel had to defeat these two kingdoms and their kings: Sihon and Og (Num 21:33, 21).
Both lived east of the Dead Sea, although Og’s kingdom seems to have extended from the Jordan Valley up to Mount Hermon in the north and down to Gilead in the south (Deut 3:10; Josh 12:3-5). Hence, it was a significant kingdom that overlapped with the territory of what would become the nation of Israel.
Og the king of Bashan is named twenty-two times in the Bible across six different biblical books.
After spending forty years wandering in the wilderness (Num 14:34; 32:13), Israel began to reapproach the Promised Land. On their way, they met and defeated Og and Sihon.
Moses recounts the twin victories over Og and Sihon as instrumental for the next stage in Israel’s history (Deut 1:4). These two kingdoms had acted as a phalanx into the land of Promise, an obstacle Israel had to conquer before she could gain her inheritance.
The Giants of Canaan
The Bible tells us some interesting details about Og and the giants of Canaan. Og slept on an iron bed that was 13.5 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Apparently, Moses or others saw it after they slew Og (Deut 3:11). He was a giant of a man. Apparently, this was not unusual. The Promised Land was full of powerful kingdoms, peoples, and even giants.
When Israel sent twelve spies into Canaan, they came back with dread because they had spotted three giants in Hebron: “Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak” (Num 13:22, 28). These giants terrified ten of the twelve scouts.
One of the scouts named Caleb, however, believed that Israel could still enter into the land, and he later proved it when he drove out the sons of Anak from Hebron (Josh 15:14). Yet before Caleb’s victory, ten of his spy companions saw only doom.
They explain:
“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. And 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.” (Num 13:32-33)
The story of Genesis 6:4, of the Nephilim, apparently held deep sway on the hearts of the Israelites. These three descendants of the Nephilim were of “great height” and the scouts felt like grasshoppers in their presence.
Og king of Bashan was also a giant of great height. But just who were these ancient giants? And how can at least some of them be “from the Nephilim”?
Who are the Giants of Canaan?
According to Moses, these giants were generally called Rephaim. Each people in Canaan apparently had their own name for these giants. Moses records that the Moabites called the Rephaim Emim (Deut 2:11). The Ammonites called the Rephaim Zamzummim (Deut 2:20; Gen 14:5).
Moses also identifies Og the king of Bashan as a remnant of the Rephaim (Deut 3:13). The land of Bashan was so associated with the Rephaim that it was called “the land of Rephaim” (Deut 3:13). Lastly, Moses also confirms that the sons of Anak, the Anakim were Rephaim (Deut 2:11).
With this biblical explanation in hand, we can probably understand the fear of the ten scouts in Numbers 13. They saw three of presumably many Rephaim. These three giants made them look like grasshoppers. Remember, Og was something like twelve feet tall. And these Rephaim were apparently warriors and kings.
Numbers 13 also identifies the sons of Anak as “from the Nephilim” (Num 13:33) whom Genesis 6:4 identifies as mighty men [i.e., warriors]). Apparently, these Nephilim were warriors of great height and strength. Partially confirming that interpretation, the Septuagint translates the word Nephilim as giants (οἱ … γίγαντες).
Whatever one’s view of Nephilim, Og (and many others in Canaan at the time of the conquest) was gigantic. Og and the giants of old were not tall like basketball players (Og was around twelve feet tall). Og was more than double the height and girth of a regular person. These giants led kingdoms, fought wars, and apparently lived normal lives—yet were simply huge people.
So who is Og then?
Og was an Amorite by birth and the king of Bashan (Deut 3:8; Amos 2:9). He lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei (Deut 1:4), and he had a kingdom that reigned over sixty cities in the region of Argob (Deut 3:4). Each city had walls and a gate. So his kingdom was powerful (Deut 3:5). Beyond the sixty cities, a number of villages without walls fell under his control (Deut 3:5). Without exception, Israel devoted the entire kingdom of Bashan to destruction, eliminating him and his line forever (Deut 3:6).
Since both Og and Sihon were Amorites by birth, they also have a unique place within the Abrahamic covenant. When God made his covenant with Abraham, he told Abraham his descendants would live in Egypt for four hundred years (Gen 15:13). Afterwards, God explains that Israel would return to Canaan because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen 15:16).
Og and Sihon left a deep imprint on Israel’s history. Moses reminds Israel that God defeated Og and Sihon, and so God can do it again (Deut 31:4). Og and Sihon are mentioned centuries in 1 Kings 4:19 as famous kings of the land of Gilead. Nehemiah brings Og and Sihon up as well as examples of God giving over people to Israel (Neh 9:22).
Og and Sihon are the only two named kings of Canaan that Psalm 135 praises God for defeating (Ps 135:11). In Psalm 136:19-20, the psalmist only names two mighty kings, Og and Sihon, that God defeated. These two kings were gateways into the Promised Land, and God defeated them both. And that’s why Israel can trust in God’s faithfulness.
In short, Og was a fearsome enemy of God’s people whom the Lord defeated. His name also regularly appears next to Sihon, probably because Sihon conquered the Moabites in dramatic fashion (Num 21:26), and the Bible even records a ballad that the singers sang about Sihon’s victory (Num 21:27-30). Hence, Sihon too was a mighty warrior, although the Bible does not identify him as a giant (but see Amos 2:9-10).
While we know little about Og as a person, we know quite a bit about him as an example of God’s faithfulness and strength to conquer even the mightiest of men. Og was a giant, one of the Rephaim. And so the last piece of the puzzle in identifying Og is to explain what a Rephaim is.
What are Rephaim?
Rephaim appear to be giants of men connected in some way to Nephilim (Gen 6:4; Num 13:33; Deut 2:11). The Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) as well as many ancient interpreters agree that these individuals are giants. Apparently, even in Abraham’s time, Rephaim lived in Canaan (Gen 14:5; 15:20).[1] They had been around for a while.
According to 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, a number of Rephaim lived in Philistia such as Sippai (1 Chron 20:4) and an unnamed man with six fingers and six toes (20:6). Interestingly, we learn that Goliath and his brother Lahmi were also descendants of the Rephaim (1 Chron 20:5, 8). Collectively, these figures “were descended from the giants in Gath” (1 Chron 20:7). The word translated “giants” here is Rephaim.
The Gathite Rephaim did not reach the height of Og. Goliath was over nine feet tall (1 Sam 17:4), although the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient versions record him as being only over six feet tall. Whichever number is correct, Goliath is shorter than Og. This might be because the line of giants had effectively been severed when Israel conquered the land. The Gathite Rephaim perhaps were a minor and smaller off-shoot.
Even more weirdly, the Bible speaks of the Rephaim as dead spirits, or spirits who live among the dead (HALOT, 1275; Isa 14:9; Job 26:5; Prov 9:18). As the dead, Scripture sometimes mentions the possibility of their rising (Isa 26:14; Ps 88:11). In any case, somehow the word Rephaim came to refer both to ancient giants and also to the dead.
This association with the dead may suggest how fearsome these Rephaim were, or it may be an accident of history.
Conclusion
While it may be tempting to speculate further about the connection of the Rephaim to the Nephilim, we should practice restraint. What we can know for sure is that the Bible clearly associated the Rephaim with giants.
Og the king of Bashan seems to be an enormous and powerful giant. His iron bed was about thirteen and a half feet long. Moses describes this huge bed to show how huge Og was, and thus how God can even deliver Israel from the mightiest of enemies.
Scripture frequently points back to God defeating Og (as well as Sihon) to show that God can defeat fearsome enemies. If he defeated Og, he can put a stop to any other enemy (Deut 31:4).
And that might be the most important thing we can learn from the story of Og king of Bashan. As Moses told Israel, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deut 31:6).
For locations of biblical cities and areas, I found this resource helpful.
[1] Genesis 14:5 also speaks of the Zuzim (הַזּוּזִים), which refers to the Zamzummin (Deut 2:20), another name for ancient giants.
