1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan:and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
2 And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not:for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.
3 So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people:and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.
4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
The children of Israel took 60 cities and all the spoils from these cities. In Numbers 31, God allowed us to see the spoil from a city captured by Israel. The numbers of livestock taken in battle was amazing.
- sheep: 675,000
- beef: 70,000
- asses: 61,000
- virgin women: 32,000
Plus: gold jewels and other valuables
(Numbers 31:32-35)
Abraham, in his day, was described as "very rich".
Genesis 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold
The people who were sent by God into the wilderness, over 600,000 men plus women and children, were also very rich as they took the spoils from the victories ...
It is unimaginable how much goods would come from 60 cities of just one kingdom where Og of Bashan was king.
==========
Deuteronomy 3
5 All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.
6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.
7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.
8 And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; 9 (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;)
10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
12 And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13 And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. 14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto this day. 15 And I gave Gilead unto Machir. 16 And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; 17 The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdothpisgah eastward.
(The other tribes of Israel would receive their inheritance on the other side of Jordan where Joshua would lead them by the hand of God.)
18 And I (Moses) commanded you at that time, saying, (to those tribes who inherited on this side of Jordan) The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it:ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war. 19 But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; 20 Until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan:and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.
(The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh would build fences for the livestock and leave their wives and children and go ahead to fight with the other tribes on other side of Jordan. Then when those battles were won and the land possessed for the other tribes of Israel on the other side of Jordan, the tribes of Ruben, Gad, and Manasseh would be free to return to their lands which they inherited.)
21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings:so shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. 22 Ye shall not fear them:for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.
23 And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, 24 O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand:for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.
26 But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me:and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes:for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him:for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.
29 So we abode in the valley over against Bethpeor.
==========
Moses was the meekest of all men, following God and obeying God ... But Moses disobeyed God and let anger control him and this act cost him. God's penalty to Moses for his disobedience was Moses would not be permitted to go into the promised land with the children of Israel. Moses would die on this side of the Jordan. Joshua would take the people into the promised land.
Numbers 20 ... 1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month:and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2 And there was no water for the congregation:and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces:and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them.
7 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock:so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he (Moses) said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice:and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
13 This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.
==========
Scriptures such as this should help us to have a proper "fear of the Lord".
We have to do and say things faithfully. We can't allow our emotions or our thinking to cause us to alter the Word God has given us. To alter the word, even for an idea we think to be "good", is wrong and can bring upon ourselves fearful consequences.
The apostle Paul explains:
I Cor. 10 ... 11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The examples in Numbers 20 show us the great loss that can come to us if we alter the word of God or change the direction God gives us ... Do you have a fear of God? Hopefully these scriptures will help you to have a fear of God so you will not presume to change what God tells you.
I was born again in l975. I owned a business in Dallas at that time. A woman took me to court over a matter and I heard the following word which I believed to be instruction from God concerning this court case: "Don't testify"
I contacted my lawyer and told him he might not want to represent me for I believed God had told me, "Don't testify", therefore I could not testify at the trial.
My lawyer said, if I would testify, there was no way we could lose this case, but he would represent me even if I didn't testify.
A women who worked for me had witnessed the incident which caused the court case. She testified. But my lawyer said her testimony was not given as strongly in court as he had hoped and if only I would testify he knew we would win the case. (I prayed again and heard, "Don't testify". After that I came back into the court room and just shook my head "no" to lawyer.)
When the judge heard I was not going to testify, he was shocked and said to me: "You're not testifying?" (I shook my head, "no")
Then the woman who worked for me got mad at me. She said since I wasn't testifying all the pressure of the case was upon her. I explained to her: "What can I do. God has told me "Don't testify", and I can't testify."
Then the man I was dating was angry with me and said, "Joan, you're not doing this girl any good by not testifying." I replied: "I'm not trying to do this girl any good. I'm just trying to do what I believe God has told me and that is 'Don't testify'."
I did not testify. We won the case.
I had a real fear of God ... If you believe God is telling you something and you go against what you believe you have heard from God, you risk bringing terrible things upon yourself.
This is a fear of God.
These Old Testament scriptures should teach us to have that fear of God which we very much need to go forward doing the will of God in the issues pertaining to this life.