Deuteronomy 1:4

4 This was after the Lord had defeated Sihon and Og. Sihon was king of the Amorite people and lived in Heshbon. Og was king of Bashan and lived in Ashteroth and Edrei.

Deuteronomy 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:4

After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt
in Heshbon
Either Moses, speaking of himself in the third person, or rather the Lord, to whom Moses ascribes the victory; of this king, and his palace, and the slaughter of him, see ( Numbers 21:24-26 ) ,

and Og the king of Bashan,
which dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei; or near Edrei; for Edrei was not the name of a country, in which Ashtaroth was, but of a city at some distance from it, about six miles, as Jerom says {g}; hither Og came from Ashtaroth his palace to fight with Israel, and where he was slain, see ( Numbers 21:33 ) . Ashtaroth was an ancient city formerly called Ashtaroth Karnaim, and was the seat of the Rephaim, or giants, from whom Og sprung, (See Gill on Genesis 14:5), see also ( Deuteronomy 3:11 ) . Jerom says ^F8 in his time there were two castles in Batanea (or Bashan) called by this name, nine miles distant from one another, between Adara (the same with Edrei) and Abila; and in another place he says ^F9 Carnaim Ashtaroth is now a large village in a corner of Batanea, and is called Carnea, beyond the plains of Jordan; and it is a tradition that there was the house of Job.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 De loc. Heb. fol. 87. I.
F8 lbid. E.
F9 De loc. Heb. fol. 89. M.

Deuteronomy 1:4 In-Context

2 (The trip from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the Mount Seir road takes eleven days.)

3 Forty years after the Israelites had left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses told the people of Israel everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them.

4 This was after the Lord had defeated Sihon and Og. Sihon was king of the Amorite people and lived in Heshbon. Og was king of Bashan and lived in Ashteroth and Edrei.

5 Now the Israelites were east of the Jordan River in the land of Moab, and there Moses began to explain what God had commanded. He said:

6 The Lord our God spoke to us at Mount Sinai and said, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.