Chavoux Luyt:
You wrote: “The very text you quote gives the answer (Num.21:33): "Og
went out against them..." this was simply the aftermath of essentially the
same war as the one started when "Sihon", king of Cheshbon would not allow
Israel to trek through his land on their way to Canaan (Num.21:21-23), but
attacked them instead. There is no indication that it was the original plan
to attack these kings (since as you mentioned, it wasn't part of the
promised land as such), but in response to their aggression, Israel fought
against
them and took their land. No mystery here at all!”
Au contraire, there’s a tremendous mystery here. Moses asked each region
on the east side of the Dead Sea, south of Bashan, for permission to allow
the Israelites to pass through the southern and central Transjordan
peacefully on the route to the Conquest, which would take place west of the
Jordan
River, in Canaan. Edom and Moab granted permission, but King Sihon and
the Amorites of Gilead (south of Bashan) did not grant permission. With
Gilead being on the route that the Israelites were taking in order to embark
on the Conquest of Canaan, Moses had to declare war on Gilead and defeat
King Sihon. Numbers 21: 21-26. To finish up this part of the story first,
in Numbers 32 the tribes of Gad and Reuben later ask permission to settle
permanently in Gilead (south of Bashan). Moses eventually grants them their
wish, provided that first they must fully participate with the other tribes
in the Conquest of Canaan west of the Jordan River.
So there’s no mystery as to what happened in the Transjordan south of
Bashan, being territory that was on the route of the Conquest. Edom and Moab
granted permission to the Israelites to pass through peacefully, but Gilead
didn’t, so Gilead had to be attacked and conquered.
But now we come to the big mystery. Bashan, in the northern Transjordan
east of the Sea of Galilee, was neither on the route of the Conquest (being
too far north and east), nor was it part of the originally Promised Land of
Canaan (since Bashan lies east of the Jordan River, whereas Canaan is west
of the Jordan River). So why then did Moses attack King Og and take his
kingdom of Bashan? King Og’s kingdom was headquartered at Ashtaroth, a
city located east of the Sea of Galilee, which city was fairly close to Jabal
al-Druze, an awe-inspiring, divine-like “desert”/XRB mountain just north
of the eastern Transjordan, which marked the northeast corner of King Og’s
kingdom of Bashan.
Since Bashan was not on the route of the Conquest, and was not part of the
originally Promised Land of Canaan, there would seem to be no reason for
Moses to have confronted King Og. But he did. Here’s why. We can figure
out [based on Exodus 3: 1 and Exodus 3: 12 and an historical analysis of the
country name MDYN] that Moses had met YHWH at the burning bush at the “
desert”/XRB mountain of Jabal al-Druze, located about 100 miles south of MDYN;
Biblical “Midian”/MDYN is historical Mitanni, the Late Bronze Age Hurrian
state in eastern Syria. Exodus 3: 1 tells us that Moses led his
father-in-law’s flock from MDYN/Mitanni to an awe-inspiring, divine-like
“desert”
/XRB mountain. That was Jabal al-Druze! Pursuant to Exodus 3: 12, Moses was
divinely commanded to “serve God” forevermore at that “desert”/XRB
mountain [Jabal al-Druze]. So in order to be able to do that, the Israelites
had to conquer and retain Bashan, which contained the site of the burning
bush [Jabal al-Druze].
Once one recognizes that MDYN, which is a fine linguistic match to
Mitanni, is in fact the Late Bronze Age Hurrian state of Mitanni in eastern
Syria, then the geography becomes clear. The burning bush was at Jabal
al-Druze, located about 100 miles south of MDYN/Mitanni. At Exodus 3: 1, Moses
sensibly took Jethro’s flock over steppeland to Jabal al-Druze, rather than
nonsensically attempting to traverse the horrible terrain of inland southern
Sinai with his father-in-law’s flock. Moses was divinely commanded to “
serve God” forevermore on the “desert”/XRB mountain of Jabal al-Druze .
T-h-a-t is why Moses insists that the Israelites conquer King Og’s Bashan,
even though it was not on the route of the Conquest, and it was not part of
the originally Promised Land of Canaan in the days of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.
All of the geography makes sense if and only if MDYN [Biblical “Midian”]
= historical Mitanni, the Late Bronze Age Hurrian state in eastern Syria.
To confirm that, just look back at Exodus 3: 1. There’s no way that Moses
would drive his father-in-law’s flock 100 miles over terrible terrain to
inland southern Sinai at Mt. Sinai. Not. Rather, Moses proceeded in due
course about 100 miles across steppeland south of MDYN/historical Mitanni to
Jabal al-Druze.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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