—Biblical Data:
Amorite king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and was conquered by
Moses and Israel in the
battle of Edrei (Num.
xxi. 33), sixty
fortified cities, with
high walls, gates, and
bars, comprising the
region of Argob, being
taken and given to the
children of Machir, son
of Manasseh (Deut. iii.
13; Josh. xiii. 31). Og
was one of the giants of
the remnant of the
Rephaim. His iron
bedstead in Rabbath, the
capital of Ammon, is
described as having been
nine cubits in length
and four cubits in
breadth (Deut. iii. 11).E. G. H.
E.
Schr.
—In
Rabbinical Literature:
Og was not destroyed at the time of the Flood (Niddah 61a), for,
according to one legend,
the waters reached only
to his ankles (Midr.
Peṭirat Mosheh, i. 128,
in Jellinek, "B. H."
ii.). Another tradition
states that he fled to
Palestine, where there
was no flood (Rashi to
Niddah, ad loc.);
while, according to a
third legend, he sat on
a rung of the ladder
outside the ark, and,
after he had sworn to be
a slave to Noah and his
children, received his
food each day through a
hole made in the side of
the ark (Pirḳe R. El. ch.
xxiii.). Og was known
also as "Ha-Paliṭ" (see
Gen. xiv. 13).
It was Og who brought the news to Abraham of the captivity of Lot. This
he did, however, with an
evil motive, for he
thought that Abraham
would seek to release
Lot and would be killed
in battle with the great
kings, and that he, Og,
would be able to marry
the beautiful Sarah
(Gen. R. xlii. 12). A
long lease of life was
granted him as a reward
for informing Abraham,
but because of his
sinister motive he was
destined to be killed by
the descendants of
Abraham. Og was present
at the banquet which
Abraham gave on the day
Isaac was weaned (comp.
Gen. xxi. 8). As Og had
always declared that
Abraham would beget no
children, the guests
teasingly asked him what
he had to say now that
Abraham had begotten
Isaac, whereupon Og
answered that Isaac was
no true descendant since
he could kill Isaac with
one finger. It was in
punishment for this
remark, one legend
declares, that he was
condemned to live to see
a hundred thousand
descendants of Abraham
and to be killed in
battle against them.
(Gen. R. liii. 14). When
Jacob went to Pharaoh
and blessed him (Gen.
xlvii. 7), Og was
present, and the king
said to him: "The
grandson of Abraham,
who, according to thy
words, was to have no
descendants, is now here
with seventy of them."
As Og cast an evil eye
upon the children of
Israel, God foretold
that he would fall into
their hands (Deut. R. i.
22).
Death of Og.
During the battle of Edrei (Num. xxi. 33) Og sat on the city wall, his
legs, which were
eighteen ells long,
reaching down to the
ground; Moses did not
know what monster he had
before him until God
told him that it was Og.
Og hurled an entire
mountain against the
Israelites, but Moses
intercepted it (Deut. R.
l.c.). According
to another legend, Og
uprooted a mountain
three miles long,
intending to destroy all
Israel at once by
hurling it upon their
camp, which was also
three miles in length;
but while he was
carrying it upon his
head a swarm of locusts
burrowed through it, so
that it fell round his
neck. When he attempted
to throw off this
unwieldy necklace long
teeth grew from both
sides of his mouth and
kept the mountain in
place. Thereupon Moses,
who was himself ten ells
tall, took an ax of
equal length, jumped
upward ten ells, so that
he could reach Og's
ankles, and thus killed
him (Ber. 54b).
Shabbat (151b) and 'Erubin
(48a) also indicate that
Og was regarded as an
unusually large giant. A
legend says that a
grave-digger pursued a
stag three miles inside
of one of Og's bones
without reaching the
other end (Niddah 24b).W. |
