Chapter 5.
HOW MOSES CONQUERED SIHON AND OG KINGS OF THE AMORITES, AND
DESTROYED THEIR WHOLE ARMY AND THEN DIVIDED THEIR LAND BY LOT TO TWO TRIBES
AND A HALF OF THE HEBREWS.FJAJ 4.25
1. THE people mourned for Aaron thirty days, and when this mourning
was over, Moses removed the army from that place, and came to the river
Arnon, which, issuing out of the mountains of Arabia, and running through
all that wilderness, falls into the lake Asphaltitis, and becomes the limit
between the land of the Moabites and the land of the Amorites
This land
is fruitful, and sufficient to maintain a great number of men, with the
good things it produces
Moses therefore sent messengers to Sihon, the
king of this country, desiring that he would grant his army a passage,
upon what security he should please to require; he promised that he should
be no way injured, neither as to that country which Sihon governed, nor
as to its inhabitants; and that he would buy his provisions at such a price
as should be to their advantage, even though he should desire to sell them
their very water
But Sihon refused his offer, and put his army into battle
array, and was preparing every thing in order to hinder their passing over
Arnon.FJAJ 4.26
2. When Moses saw that the Amorite king was disposed to enter upon hostilities
with them, he thought he ought not to bear that insult; and, determining
to wean the Hebrews from their indolent temper, and prevent the disorders
which arose thence, which had been the occasion of their former sedition,
(nor indeed were they now thoroughly easy in their minds,) he inquired
of God, whether he would give him leave to fight? which when he had done,
and God also promised him the victory, he was himself very courageous,
and ready to proceed to fighting
Accordingly he encouraged the soldiers;
and he desired of them that they would take the pleasure of fighting, now
God gave them leave so to do
They then, upon the receipt of this permission,
which they so much longed for, put on their whole armor, and set about
the work without delay
But the Amorite king was not now like to himself
when the Hebrews were ready to attack him; but both he himself was affrighted
at the Hebrews, and his army, which before had showed themselves to be
of good courage, were then found to be timorous: so they could not sustain
the first onset, nor bear up against the Hebrews, but fled away, as thinking
this would afford them a more likely way for their escape than fighting,
for they depended upon their cities, which were strong, from which yet
they reaped no advantage when they were forced to fly to them; for as soon
as the Hebrews saw them giving ground, they immediately pursued them close;
and when they had broken their ranks, they greatly terrified them, and
some of them broke off from the rest, and ran away to the cities
Now the
Hebrews pursued them briskly, and obstinately persevered in the labors
they had already undergone; and being very skillful in slinging, and very
dexterous in throwing of darts, or any thing else of that kind, and also
having nothing but light armor, which made them quick in the pursuit, they
overtook their enemies; and for those that were most remote, and could
not be overtaken, they reached them by their slings and their bows, so
that many were slain; and those that escaped the slaughter were sorely
wounded, and these were more distressed with thirst than with any of those
that fought against them, for it was the summer season; .and when the greatest
number of them were brought down to the river out of a desire to drink,
as also when others fled away by troops, the Hebrews came round them, and
shot at them; so that, what with darts and what with arrows, they made
a slaughter of them all
Sihon their king was also slain
So the Hebrews
spoiled the dead bodies, and took their prey
The land also which they
took was full of abundance of fruits, and the army went all over it without
fear, and fed their cattle upon it; and they took the enemies prisoners,
for they could no way put a stop to them, since all the fighting men were
destroyed
Such was the destruction which overtook the Amorites, who
were neither sagacious in counsel, nor courageous in action
Hereupon the
Hebrews took possession of their land, which is a country situate between
three rivers, and naturally resembled an island: the river Arnon being
its southern ; the river Jabbok determining its northern side, which running
into Jordan loses its own name, and takes the other; while Jordan itself
runs along by it, on its western coast.FJAJ 4.27
3. When matters were come to this state, Og, the king of Gilead and
Gaulanitis, fell upon the Israelites
He brought an army with him, and
in haste to the assistance of his friend Sihon: but though he found him
already slain, yet did he resolve still to come and fight the Hebrews,
supposing he should be too hard for them, and being desirous to try their
valor; but failing of his hope, he was both himself slain in the battle,
and all his army was destroyed
So Moses passed over the river Jabbok,
and overran the kingdom of Og
He overthrew their cities, and slew all
their inhabitants, who yet exceeded in riches all the men in that part
of the continent, on account of the goodness of the soil, and the great
quantity of their wealth
Now Og had very few equals, either in the largeness
of his body, or handsomeness of his appearance
He was also a man of great
activity in the use of his hands, so that his actions were not unequal
to the vast largeness and handsome appearance of his body
And men could
easily guess at his strength and magnitude when they took his bed at Rabbath,
the royal city of the Ammonites; its structure was of iron, its breadth
four cubits, and its length a cubit more than double thereto
However,
his fall did not only improve the circumstances of the Hebrews for the
present, but by his death he was the occasion of further good success to
them; for they presently took those sixty cities, which were encompassed
with excellent walls, and had been subject to him, and all got both in
general and in particular a great prey.FJAJ 4.28