(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 3:1–11, “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. 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. 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. 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. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 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; (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 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.”
Israel came in from the wilderness towards the south of the Jordan river valley. They were on the eastern bank and moved towards the north as other nations attacked them. Bashan includes the area now known as the Golan heights. Many years before that, Jacob made a treaty with his father in law, Laban. They agreed that Laban the Syrian would not cross over the cairn of stones they set up and that Jacob would not cross over that cairn either. (see Genesis 31:48–52, “And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.”) Not long after that incident, the Lord changed Jacob’s name to Israel and, after that, Israel was a distinct nation to Israel. This cairn of stones was in the Golan Heights area, we know from this that the Lord intended that the Bashan (Golan) area belong to Israel as part of the Promised Land. The region to the south of that pile of stones was designated as Israel’s land and the region to the north of that pile of stones was designated Syrian land. The other interesting thing to note about this land was that it was, formerly, controlled by a king who was a giant. The Lord allowed Israel to come into contact with giants before they every entered the Promised Land so that they could face giants without fear.
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