Deuteronomy 3:1-16: a reflection

1Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan. Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2The LORD said to me, “Don’t fear him; for I have delivered him, with all his people and his land, into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 3So the LORD our God also delivered into our hand Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him remaining. 4We took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls. 6We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. 7But all the livestock, and the plunder of the cities, we took for plunder for ourselves. 8We took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon. 9(The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.) 10We took all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the children of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length, and four cubits its width, after the cubit of a man.) 12This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites; 13and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh—all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. (The same is called the land of Rephaim. 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.) 15I gave Gilead to Machir. 16To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and its border, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;

As Israel faces Og, the king of Bashan, a formidable foe, God gives Moses a word of reassurance: Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. Notice the tense: I have delivered him. Before the battle is even fought, God speaks of the victory as already given. Israel is to go into battle not hoping for a victory, but acting on a victory God has already granted. The outcome was assured before the fighting began.

Notice how God speaks of the victory: as already given, before the battle. I have delivered him into your hand, God says, though the battle is not yet fought. God speaks of the victory in the past tense, as already accomplished, so that Israel goes into battle not in doubt about the outcome, but in the confidence that God has already given it. The victory was assured, granted by God before the fighting began; Israel was to act on a victory already given, not merely hoped for.

That is a striking encouragement, for it means we can sometimes act in the confidence that God has already secured the outcome. When God has promised the victory, we go into the struggle not hoping for a doubtful outcome, but acting on a victory God has already given. Israel faced the formidable Og not in doubt, but in the confidence that God had already delivered him into their hand. When God has assured you of the outcome, has promised the victory, do not go into the struggle in doubt and fear, as though the outcome hung in the balance; act in the confidence that God has already secured it. Where God has given his promise, the victory is assured before the struggle; go forward in that confidence, as Israel faced Og not fearing, but trusting that God had already delivered him into their hand. Do not fear the formidable foe or struggle before you when God has promised the outcome; act on the victory he has already given, going forward in the confidence that the outcome is secured, as God assured Israel of Og's defeat before the battle was fought.

Lord, as Israel faced Og, a formidable foe, you gave Moses reassurance: do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You spoke of the victory as already given, before the battle was fought; Israel was to go into battle acting on a victory you had already granted. Show me how you spoke of the victory: as already given, before the battle. You spoke in the past tense, as already accomplished, so that Israel went into battle not in doubt, but in the confidence that you had already given it. The victory was assured before the fighting began. That is a striking encouragement, for it means I can sometimes act in the confidence that you have already secured the outcome. When you have promised the victory, I go into the struggle not hoping for a doubtful outcome, but acting on a victory you have already given. Israel faced the formidable Og in the confidence that you had already delivered him. When you have assured me of the outcome, keep me from going into the struggle in doubt and fear, as though the outcome hung in the balance; help me act in the confidence that you have already secured it. Where you have given your promise, the victory is assured before the struggle; help me go forward in that confidence, Lord, as Israel faced Og not fearing, but trusting that you had already delivered him. Help me act on the victory you have already given.