Deuteronomy chapter 3

Argh! 1 hour to load up Mozilla. An hour! I want my computer back!

vs 1

Ok, so this is a little more understandable. I mean, Israel has just marched through Sihon's lands, killed everyone, taken their cattle, and now are headed towards Og's house. You don't wait to shake hands and see if they want to come over for dinner.

I aspire to one day be like Og. Not to be king, or to act as he acted. I just want to be able to pull off a two letter name like Og.

vs 2

God has lined up Og for the same smashing that Sihon just suffered. If only he knew.

It's like that parable Jesus tells of a man who realises an army is headed for his army. Sure, you might be able to defeat them, you might not - but why not send out an emissary and work out peace before they get there?

vs 3

Another nation turned to dust by Israel. And it won't be the last.

vs 4

Sixty cities. How many people to do you want to say live in a city, 100,000? 600,000 people killed - minus those who fled elsewhere, I suppose.

vs 5

Yes, we forget the villages. Of course, most people in a village would flee to the walled city if an army were coming.

vs 6

Often by fire. That's fine when you're talking about a grain offering. Hell, I can handle it when it's thousands of cattle. But hundreds of thousands of people... that is just a taste of what the end of the world is going to be like. Not just the death in swathes. I mean at the end, when there's judgment. Even if every single person alive today converted to Christianity and Jesus came back tomorrow, there would still be billions of billions of people who have lived who will get to that judgment seat and suffer a fate worse than having Israel invade your land.

vs 7

I guess this was the way God chose to resupply his people on their way to the promised land. I bet they liked it too - not the killing, per se, but the drying up of manna and quail.

vs 8

This represents the bit of Israel on the east side of the Jordan.

vs 9

Yes, of course. But we already knew that.

I wonder who exactly that is written for. I mean, not for me - I couldn't care less. For those Israelites who would read it in the times to come I suppose.

vs 10

Again, I just nod. I can go get the Bible atlas and see how much land it was in terms of square kilometres if I want, but it's not really speaking loud to me. I'm sure it means a lot to those tribe and half tribe of people who lived there afterwards though.