The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 62

h<'RP 11p). ,inst ns the n<'igl1boming district workmanship of a rncc cn,lowed with powers tn tbc cast nnd north-cast recei\·cd the nnme for exceeding those of ordi111ny men ; nnd '['mrhonilis (from 'Tpaxci,v, rongh, n1gged); give credibility to the supposition thnt wo m the Tnrgum, indee,1, T,·aclwnn (irn:nD) is have in them the dwellings of the ginut the nnme given here for Argob. This district race that occupied thnt district bcforo it is now known ns tho prodnM of El-Lejak was inrnded by the lsmclitcs. "Wo cuulcl (The RPl,r<'nl). It is dC'srribed ns m•nl in not help,'' says Mr. Graham, "being im- form, nbout twenty-two miles Joni; by fourteen pressetl with the belief tlmt had wo novor wide; n plateau ckrnterl nbont thirty fcC't lmown nuything of the early portion of Scl'ip- nho'l'e the surrounding rlain. Its features are ture history beforo visiting this conutry, most rcnrnrknhlc. It is composed of a thick we should have been forced to the conclusion strntnm or black ba,alt. which seems to ha'l'e that its original inhabitants, the people who b('('n C'mitted in n liquid st!Lte from pores in hnd •constructed thoso cities, were not only the earth. and to have flowed out on all a powerful nud mighty nation, but indi ~ides till the whole surface was covel'('d. It viduals of greater strength thau ourselves.'· is rent an<l shntlere<l as if by internal con- Ver. 6.--(Seo eh. ii. 3!.) n1lsion. The cup-like cnvities from which Ver. 8.-Hermon (lit:r;,r:)), probably from the Iiq uid mass was projected are still seen, c:,~, to be high," tho lofty penk," conspicnouij nncl also the waYy surfocc such as a. thick Jiquicl generally assumes which cools ns it is on nll sides. Dy somo the nnme is supposed fhwing;. There are deep fissures and yawn- to bo connected with c:;ir, a devoted thing, ing gulfs with rugged, broken edges; and because this mountain marked the limit of 1here arc jagged mounds that seem not to the country devoted or placed under II bnn ; )morn been sufficiently heated to flow but and it is cerlninly remarlcable that, at the which were forced up by some mlghty extreme north-enst and the extreme south- o.gency, and then rent and shattered to their west of the lnnd conquered by the Isrnelites, ccutres. The rock is filled with air-bubbles names derived from Herem, viz. Hei·mon and is almost as hard as iron. (Dr. Porter: and Horrnah (eh. i. 44), should be found; iu Kitto, 'Biblical Cyclopredin,' iii. 1032; as if to indicate that all between was see also the same author's 'Fi 'l'e Y cars in devoted. Hermon is the southernmost splll' Damascus,' ii. 240, etc.; and • The Giant of the Antilibanus range. It is "the second Cities of Bashan'; Bnrckhardt, • Travels mouutain in Syrfo., ranking next to the in Syria,' p. 110, etc.; W ctstcin, • Ileise- highest peak of Lebanon behind the cedars. bericht iib. Hauran,' p. 82, etc.; a. paper The elevation of Hermon mny be estimated by Mr. Cyrill Graham in the Cambridge at about 10,000 feet. The whole body of Essays for 1858; and Smith's 'Dictionary,' the mountuin is limestone, similar to that art. • Trachonitis.') The entire trans-Jor- which composes the main ridge of Lebanon, danic region was thus captnrccl by the the central peak rises up an obtuse trun- Israeli tea. cated cone, from 2000 to 3000 feet above the ridges that radiate from it, thus giving Ver. 5.-All these cities were fenced with it a more commanding nspect than any high walls, gates, and be.rs; literally, double other mountain in Syria. This cone is gates and a bar. These cities, with their entirely naked, destitute alike of trees and ruarvcllons erections, ore belieornd to be still vegetation. The snow never disappears existing in the Hanran. Over that district from its summit" (Porter, 'Handbook, Syria are strewn a multitudt: of towns of various and Palestine,' p. 431). At the present day sizes, all constructed after the same remark- it is known as Jebel esh-Sheikh (The Chief able fashion. " The streets are perfect, the Mountain), also Jebel eth.Thelj (The Snow walls perfect, and, what seems more e.etonish- Mountain). Anciently also it had various ing, the stone doors are still hanging on names. lly the Hebrews it was known also their hinges, so litUe impression has been as Sion (JN'f?', the high, eh, iv. 48); by the made during these many centuries on the hard and durable stone of which they are Sidonians it was called Sirion (Ji•7~=Ji''JI?, a Luilt" (Graham, Cambridge Essays, p. 160). cuirass or coat of mail), probably from its These doors are "formecl of slabij of stone shining appearance, especially when covered opening on pivots which are projecting with snow ; and by the Amorites it was pnrts of the stone itself, and workino- in called Senir, a word probably of the same socket:; in the liDtel and threshold." Some meaning. These names continued in use of tLese gates.are large enough to admit of to a late period ( cf. Ps. xcix. 6; Ezek, xxvii. u camel paEsmg through them, and the 4; Cant. iv. 8; I Chron. v. 23). doors art, of proportionate dimensions, some Ver. 10.-Tbe different portions of the o~ tl.te stones of whicli they are formed being conquered ter1·itory are hero mentioned, e1ghteen incLes in thickness. The roofs 1. The plain (1\zi•t;i;:i, the level country) ; the al;;o are forme.d of huge stone slabs resting table-land south of Monnt Gilead, as fo.r as on the mas:;1 ve walls. All betoken the the Arnon. 2. 'fhe whole of Gilead; the  THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. r JI, Ill, 1-20.) 45 - - - --------------------------------- },illy country north of tho Jabhok, botween the man, for o. sarcophagus aff0rds no Ilrshbon and Bashan, betwoen tho northern measure whatever of the size of the person ,wrl southern toblo-la.ncl. 3. All Baehan, CIB whoso remains are placed in it, being an r11 r cnstwrml ns Sa.lchnh, tho modern Sza.1- honorary monument, the size of which is kha.t or Rzal'klmd, a.bout soven hours to the ea.et of Busro, and north words to Edrei, hod. proportioned to the real or supposed dignity Jo'dro Ezm or Edhro', un extensivo ruin to of the person for whose honour it is made. tlw ~est of Busrn, still portially inhobitccl. A becl, on the contrary, which a. man Ver. 11.- llnshrm wns of olcl possossecl by had usecl, or at least ha<l caused to be a, giont mcc, tho Rcphti.im (Gen. xiv. 5); but macle for himself, would afford some evi- ofthcso Og, King of Bnshan, was, at the time dence of his size; and there is an obvious of tho Israelitish invasion, tho sole remnant. reason for Mose• referring to this here, His vast sizo is inclicatccl by the size of his inasmuch as thereby he recalled to the bcclslead, which was pre3ervecl in Rabbath- Israelites the remembrance, on the one hand, Amruon, perhaps as a trophy of some victory of what occasioned the fear with ,v hich they obtained by tho Ammonites over their anticipated the approach of this terrible ooioo£lntic foe. This me11surecl nine cubits in foe, ancl, on the other, of the grace of God to Ic~gth, o.nd four in bl'eaclth, "after the cubit them in that he hacl deli verecl Og ancl all of a man," i.e. according to the cubit in his people into their hand. It is iclle to common use. Taking the cubit ea equal to inquire how Moses could know of the ci"hteen inches, the measure of the becl- existence of this bed at Rabbath ; for we st:ad would be thil'teen feet o.ncl a half by may be well assµred that from all the peoples six feet. That Og even approximated to through whose territories he had passed this height is incredible; if he reacliecl nine reports of the strength ancl prowess an<l or ten feet his height would exceed that of doings of this giant warrior would be poured any one on 1·ecol'cl. It is probable, however, into his ear. that he may have had his bed made vastly Vera. 12-17.-Distribution of the con- farger than himself, partly from ostentation, quered land. The countries thus conquered partly that he might leave a memorial that by the Israelites were assigned by Moses should impress upon posterity a sense of his to the tribes of Reuben and Gael and the gigantic size and resistless might; just o.s half tribe of Manasseh. The southern Alexander the Great is said (Diod. Sic., portion, from Aroer, in the valley of the xvii. 95) to have, on his march to India, Amon, to the Jabbok, with its towns (see caused couches to be made for his soldiers Josh. xii. 15-20, 2'1-28), was assigned to iu their tents, each five cubits long, in order the Reubenites o.nd the Gadites ; and the to imp1·ess the natives with an overwhelm- northern portion, from the Jabbok, compre- ing sense of the greatness of his host. It hending, with Gilead, the whole of Bashan, has been suggested that it is not a bed that or Argob, to the half tribe of Manasseh. is here referred to, but a saroophagus of Ver. 13.-The last part of this verse is basalt or ironstone in which, it is supposed, differently construed ancl rendered by the corpse of Og was placed, and which was different translators. By some the clause all the region of Argob is connected aftcl'wards carried to Rabbath, ancl there with what. precedes, while others regard deposited (J. D. l\liohaelis, Winer, Knobel, this clause as in apposition with what etc.). This implies that tho pasmge is o. follows. Targum : "All the region of Trn- later insertion, and not pnrt of the original chona, and all that province was ca.11.ed the narrative as given by l\Ioses. But with land of giants;" LXX. : "And all the ,region of Argob, all that Bashan : the lancl what view could such au insertion be intro- of the Rephaim it was reckoned;" Vulgate: <iucccl? Not to estltb\ish tho credibility of "The whole region of Argob, and all tho story of the victol'y of tho Israelites B,ishan is called the land of giants." Modern over Og, for lho existence of a sarcophagus interpreters for the most part adopt the order in which a corpso hacl been placed would of tho Targum. The clause may be rendered thus: The whole region of Argob only attest the fact that such a one once as respects all Bashan [i.e. in so far as it 1i vc,\ ancl cliecl, but wo11lcl prove nothing formed part of the kingdom of Bashan under ns to how or whon or whore ho cnmo by Og] was repute~ the lantl of the Rephaim. his death. Not to show the vast size of Ver. 14.-Jair, a descendant of Manasseh  f6 THE BOOK OP DEU'l'ETIONOMY. [en. m. 1-'.!0.