Deuteronomy 1:4

4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.

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 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir.

3 But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say.

4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.

5 While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the LORD ’s instructions as follows.

6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.