GIANT WARRIOR KING

The Giant Warrior King…the Hornet’s Nest…and the Sixty Cities

(Dt. 3:1-11, Num. 21:33-35, Josh. 24:11-12)

We begin our story (as it were), as most stories will begin: “Once upon a time…” But this is no fairytale…this is no fictional account of imagination dreamt up to amaze the masses. There are no wizards or goblins…there are no magic spells or enchanting incantations. No…this is a true biblical story…a story of the giant Warrior King, who slept in the biggest bed, who stirred up a hornet’s nest, and gave away sixty cities.

And so it goes…once upon a time in the ancient ages past there was a land of giants…a land of monstrous men whose stature was terrifying (1:29). A realm that held the fiercest and mightiest of all warriors…and a land filled with cities walled up to the heavens (Dt. 1:28). These giant men were known as the Rephaim…and they stood head and shoulders above all other races in the earth. Their land of plenty was called Bashan (baw-shawn: meaning fruitful), and they walked just east of the plenteous Jordan River valley. These were a people to be feared…a race to be respected…a nation not to be trifled with; for all the people of the earth were as grasshoppers in comparison to these mammoth men.

One of the central cities of this vast kingdom of colossal giants was the well fortified city of Edrei…a city built for the Goliaths of the ancient times. Edrei was truly invulnerable to attack and assault for it was built in a hollowed out portion of a mountain. In front of this high-walled city lay the Hieromax gorge (a deep, impassible ravine). This ravine isolated the city from the east…and the surrounding mountains were filled with treacherous rock passages and jagged cliffs which no one knew, save for the giants themselves.

In the valley below the city of Edrei…beyond the lofty barricading walls…beyond the precarious mountain pathways was a place that flowed with milk and honey...a place where the ground produced great clusters of grapes, so huge, that two normal men had to carry them between shouldered staves (Num. 13:23). Giant men…giant vegetation…giant cities…this was where the Rephaim resided…the gargantuan warriors of the earth.

One of the leaders of this daunting nation of monsters was a giant warrior king named Og. Some say he stretched to a colossal height of 12 feet and possessed great strength. Josephus reported that “Og had very few equals, either in largeness of body or handsomeness of appearance. He was a man of great skill and activity in the use of his hands, so that his quickness was extraordinarily impressive in relation to the vastness of his body.” (Josephus) Giants…swift giants…immense in size and strength! The epic battle draws nigh!

The Hornet’s Nest

“A people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims…dwell there.” (Dt. 2:21-22). The Israelite army (led by Moses at this time) passes over the River Arnon into Amorite country. The Hebrews (who are terrified of these giant Rephaim scattered through the land) quietly question: “How shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to the heavens; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.’” (Dt. 1:28) The Israelites were frightened so much that they “would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord.” (Dt. 1:26).

A generation passes, and the Israelites are finally ready to take on the beasts of Bashan, but the territory that the Israelites enter into first is ruled by another giant warrior king named Sihon (Num. 21:21)…brother to Og of Bashan. Round 1: Moses sends a messenger of peace to King Sihon to plead for safe passage through the Jordan Valley. Moses states that they will not stray from the highway…they will pay for food and water “neither will we turn right or left,” (Dt. 2:28) but the king refuses their request. Sihon’s heart is hardened against the small men of the Israelite army, and he disperses all the mighty men of his city to fight against the Israelites at Jahaz (Dt. 2:32).

The army of Sihon contains every man in the entire nation fit to bear arms (Num. 21:23), but they are unable to fight to their fullest capacity seeing that are away from the shelter of their cities (especially frustrated by the slings and arrows of the Hebrews-Num. 21:30) and at last (suffering severely from thirst) they rushed to the river, and to the recesses of the ravine of the river Arnon. Into these recesses they were pursued by Israel and slaughtered in vast numbers.” (Josephus - Ant. 4:5) The great warrior king, Sihon…falls by the edge of the sword of Israel.

News travels to Og of Bashan, and he hears of his brother’s defeat…but he also hears of the cumbersome army of Israel bearing down upon the great city of Edrei. Og prepares his defenses for the Israelites impending attack. With high walls, impassable defenses, and mountainous terrain to cross…the giant warrior king is humanly undefeatable by the advancing enemy. As long as he stays within the bulwarks and bars of his city…as long as he stays within his defenses…Bashan will remain his kingdom.

Beyond the Hieromax ravine…surrounded by the terrain of the hollowed out mountain…stands the giant warrior king; Og of Bashan. No doubt saddened by the death of his brother…vexed by the thought of an ensuing, yet, uncertain battle…Og sits and waits for the arrival of the Israelites. But something begins to stir and hum in the caverns and ravines below…a cloud of darkness moves over the city and creeps up from the mountainside flowing like liquid across the rocks and crevices. The noise rises louder and louder, as the giant warrior king realizes what it is: an immense swarm of hornets! They envelop the landscape of the city…they climb up the walls like the sun’s rays…they sting and injure the Goliaths…they force the giant Rephaim from their high walls and impassible defenses outside of the city out into the plains of Edrei. There…the Israelite army has now gathered…waiting like a predator for passing prey. “I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites…” (Jos. 24:12).

And they “took all the cities at that time; there was not a city that they took not from them, 60 cities in all…from the kingdom of Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls and gates and bars…” (Dt. 3:5) As the mass of hornets drove them from their fortified, high-walled cities, the Israelites utterly destroyed every giant of the kingdom of Og…every man, woman, and child until “none was left to him remaining.” (Dt. 3:3) There was “only Og, the king of Bashan, remaining of the remnant of the giants; behold his bed was a bed of iron…13.5 FEET was the length thereof, and 6 FEET was the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” (Dt. 3:11)

The giant warrior king had been driven out of his city by the divinely guided hornets…his people slaughtered hip and thigh…and sixty of his cities were now taken and given to the Hebrews. This is the Biblical story of the giant warrior king who slept in the biggest bed….who stirred up a hornet’s nest…and gave away sixty cities.

Application

When standing up for the truth there will be giants that you have to face…there will be situations with your family and your friends where they will not like to hear the truth, but it is your responsibility to tell them that truth. We all have family members that are not Christians (or they are Christians and they don’t act like it). We all have friends that aren’t walking the straight and narrow, and it appears to be such an enormous task to sit them down and tell them, “Hey, you don’t need to be doing this…you need to straighten out your life and get right with God.” It seems like such a monumental hurdle to talk to those that we love about their souls. It’s almost easier to talk to a complete stranger…than it is to talk to those that are closest to you about the truth.

There will be giants that we face…there will be struggles that we have to endure in the name of the truth, but remember that the Lord is on your side. The Israelites were afraid to go up against the giants of the Amorite nation. Wouldn’t you be? Imagine an army of Goliaths…a nation of Goliaths that you have been commanded to defeat. Wouldn’t you have the same reaction as they did at first? Wouldn’t you say, “The people are greater and taller than we are…their cities are walled to the heavens…these people are giants! How in the world are we going to defeat them?” A lot of the time we say the same thing when it comes our time to tell people the truth about their lives…when it comes to telling them about their salvation through Christ. It seems like an army of giants made up of doubt and fear is coming at us, and we don’t know what to do! Just remember that the Lord is on your side. “Hold fast to that which is good!”

People…there has yet to be a soul on the face of this earth who has never been afraid. Even in the most righteous of all souls that you have met on this earth there has been doubt in their hearts. Just because I’m a preacher doesn’t mean that I don’t have fear or doubts anymore. Just like you…I have been hesitant to give the truth to others, whether it be my family or my friends, but when you realize that the Lord is on your side…there is never a giant that you cannot face. There’s never a doubt that the Lord can’t take away. There’s never a task too great for God.

I. CONTINUING THE CONQUERING

They had conquered all of the giant people east of the Jordan River. So…

1). Moses preaches. In light of these great victories that the Lord had given to Isreal…Moses saw this as a good time to reflect upon the commandments of God and the oaths that the people had taken (Dt. Chapters 4-32) because the people had sworn to uphold quite a few laws. The Israelites were told (yet again) what they needed to do and not to do to please the God of heaven and earth. They were told the truth.

After they had been thoroughly reminded of the laws they were to uphold….Moses (at 120 years old-31:2) chooses Joshua as his predecessor. Moses promises that under Joshua’s leadership the Lord will “go before them and destroy the nations….as he did to Sihon and Og the kings of the Amorites.” (Dt. 31:4)

But before Moses passes away, the Lord tells Him to write the laws and teach the Israelites a song, but this wasn’t a love song, or a happy song…this wasn’t a “I’m Bound for the Land of Canaan” song…NOOOOO…this was a depressing song about how Israel was going to be very bad and worship idols while mixing with the strangers of that land. The people were to take the words of that song (written on parchment) and place them into the Ark of the Covenant…so that they will be a witness against them. Israel was going to BE VERY BAD.

APPLICATION: You know…the Israelites heard those laws no telling how many times. There’s no telling how much Moses preached to these people the truth of God’s commandments, and what they needed to do , and what they promised to defend, but they still didn’t get it. I bet when Moses heard the words of that Divine song and how Israel was going to stray away from the Lord’s law…I bet you HE SAID, “I’ve preached and preached and preached and preached! I thought for sure these people would have enough common sense to put these truths into their lives and follow them!

I bet if we tallied up all the sermons that each of you have heard, all the devotional talks, all the songs you have sung, and the prayers you have prayed we would have a pretty huge number. You might even be one of these people that haven’t missed church in a decade…you take notes, you don’t disturb the assembly, or get up to go to the bathroom all the time when you really don’t have to, you just really want to make the time go by faster. Even if you have heard a million sermons…it does you no good unless you take the time to apply those things…to stand up and use those things which you have learned from Scripture. It doesn’t matter if you can quote half the Bible…misapplied knowledge is useless. Meanwhile…back in Dt 32…

The old man MOSES makes his way up to the top of Mt. Nebo (in the land of the Rephaim (the giants they had just fought east of the Jordan) and looked over the land of Canaan (which Israel was to receive as their possession). He was to see the land, but not to enter because of the sin he committed at Meribah (where he was told to speak to the rock instead of strike it) And God buried him in the land of Moab.

NOW…FOLLOWING the death of Moses, Joshua begins to lead the people. He sets his eyes on PROMISED Canaan and begins his epic voyage of war. The first order of business was to find out what the enemy’s packing. Joshua sends 2 spies to spy out the walled up city of Jericho.

The two spies sent by Joshua cross the fertile fields of wheat and balsam and come within the gates and walls of the city of Jericho before nightfall (which is a good because they closed the massive city gates at nightfall). But the spies aren’t out of the woods yet because the king of Jericho is informed of their presence in the city (which was now closed up tight).

The king begins to search out the city for them…AND NOT ONLY THAT, BUT apparently, someone else saw these men go into the house of Rahab the harlot. Rahab is questioned about this…but she says that the men went out at the time of the shutting of the gate (which was a LIE because she hid them on the roof of her house under a bunch of sticks. (Josh 2:8) WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD SHE HIDE THEM? Because she had heard how the Red Sea had been dried up by the God of Israel…she also knew how they had UTTERLY DESTROYED Og and Sihon (the giant warriors on the other side of the Jordan Jos. 2:10). The spies and Rahab come to an agreement: “Our lives for yours.” She then let them down by a scarlet sheet…and the spies hide in the mountains to the west for three days before reporting back to Joshua back at basecamp..

Supposedly, Jericho of the OT was about 10 miles NW of the Dead Sea. This place was also nicknamed “the city of palms” (Judges 1:16) because of the natural spring that flowed throughout the region making it an oasis. History tells us that its plains were covered in never-ending fields of wheat along with groves of Balsam (which was used for medicine). NOW, the city itself was well-defended with a wall that surrounded the city and a gate that was closed every day at dusk (Josh. 2:5). But this was the first city that was to fall in the conquering of the land of Canaan.

APPLICATION:

It is always a good thing to be prepared for anything. Joshua sent spies over into Jericho to see what was up with them…what their defenses were, what their weaknesses were (if they had any). Joshua was preparing the Israelites army for the attack. It never hurts to be prepared. If I just came in here without preparing…this would be a snore of a class (it might be anyway), but preparation is always needed when it comes to the truth.

Jesus said in Luke 14:31, “What king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?” What person goes to a gun fight with a knife…the same thing goes for you and me: when we go to all the world to teach and defend the truth of God’s word, are we prepared? Do we know the truth to begin with? Are we living it? Do we have the reputation of holding the banner of Christ high in our lives? Someone that does not prepare for the next life…will fail to reach heaven. MEANWHILE...back at the basecamp

The people hadn’t even crossed the Jordan yet…they had to get across the river before anything could be done. But this was going to be difficult seeing that this is during the season of overflowing -3:15). BUT ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE LORD! Joshua commanded that the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant into the waters of the Jordan, but no person (besides the priests) were to come within 3500 feet or so of the ark. There they stood in the middle of this riverbed….but I want you to notice the awesome description of this feat in Joshua 3:14-17 (READ)

****THIS SAYS that the Jordan (in overflowing season) was backed up all the way to the city of Adam (at the River Jabbok) some 16 miles north of Jericho, but it was also dammed up all the way the to Dead Sea some 4 miles to the south. There was some 20 miles of dry ground for the Israelites to cross. No wonder they crossed CLEAN OVER into the land without any Israelite being washed away, and no wonder the other nations were afraid of the Israelites.

AND (as if the people could ever forget this awesome event) Joshua set up a monument where the ark passed over on the dry river bed of the Jordan that “Remains until this day.” (Jos. 4:9) Then the waters went back to the way they were. And what do you think the people thought about Joshua? AWESOME! Joshua is like Moses!

7). Fall of Jericho. The people set up basecamp at Gilgal, and after this the manna stopped (what had supplied their food for so many years) and they now eat of the grain that was in the land. It must have tasted GREAT after eating that other stuff for so long. It must have been good to taste something other than bread or grain or pancakes or whatever it was. To bite into a cluster of grapes half the size of your body…must have been awesome.

BUT there was also work to be done… they had some cities to conquer. The Israelites come to Jericho…and Jericho has heard that they are coming because they have sealed that place shut (6:1), and you know the story, they march around it and blow their horns 1 time the first six days and on the seventh they march seven times and what happens when the trumpet blows round the ark of the covenant? BOOM! The walls fall…the city is burned to the ground…everybody except for Rahab is killed. The interesting thing is this: Joshua places a DIVINE curse on the city so that it can never again to be rebuilt (6:17)

APPLICATION:

If you come to a brick wall in your spiritual life, if you’ve been praying for this person or that person to come to Christ and be a Christian, if your mom or dad aren’t Christians and you want them to obey SOOOO BADLY…even the most enormous wall can come down. It might take you seven days of prayin…it might take you seven years of prayin, but eventually that wall is going to come down (by the power of God).

If you are struggling with things in your life…if you can’t stop going out a drinkin, and going out to parties, if you’re being influenced by your friends to do things and you don’t need to do but you don’t want to feel left out, if you’re having problems with keep your sex drive in check until you’re married…I’ve got news for you! EVEN THE BIGGEST WALLS in your life don’t stand a chance against the truth and power of God. If you wholly and totally submit yourselves in obedience to the Lord…He will break down the sinful walls of your heart and he will create a new spirit within you. But you have to see the truth, know the truth, and obey it before any of that can happen. JERICHO FELL….

Achan and Ai: BUT….BUT… somebody has gone and done something really wrong. Somebody has transgressed the truths of God and gone against His will. Who? Achan. Achan stole something from the cursed sight of Jericho. Everything was to be destroyed or left (except for that which went into the tabernacle (Lord’s) treasury). But Achan just could not help himself…it was too pretty…it was too valuable (whatever the excuse was) he stole a garment, some silver and gold and hid them in the ground in his tent at Gilgal. BUT Joshua (the commander and chief of the armies of Isreal) didn’t know this…so they march on to conquer the next city which is what? (two letters long) AI

Can you imagine the confidence of the Israelites? Can you imagine how they’re struttin along going, “Hey…what’s happnin…yeah I’m with the Israelites, you want a piece?But things didn’t go quite as smoothly as you would think they would when they come to AI. The first attack they bring upon the small city of Ai (3000 soldiers) fails miserably. They are driven back in shameful retreat… and Joshua doesn’t know what’s going on, and he cries out to God and falls down on his face and says: “Have you brought us over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites?” (7:7) But God says, “GET UP! Somebody in the camp has sinned and stolen from the accursed city of Jericho!”

So Joshua goes through EACH FAMILY of the Israelites, and then he comes to Achan. HE confesses that he coveted the riches and he buried them in his tent. So Joshua sends messengers to the tent of Achan…they find the stuff (and Achan is forgiven and all is well-NOT). They stone Achan, and burn his body along with the stolen goods.

APPLICATION: The mighty…mighty Israelites were defeated by the ITTLE BITTY people of Ai, all because someone disobeyed the truth of God. People…no matter how good of a Christian you think you are…no matter how much you know, if you don’t live right then God is not on your side. You want others to be saved and come to the cross…you gotta make sure you’re there first. You want others to be covered by Christ’s forgiving blood? You better make sure you’re under that crimson flow first. Without God…our battles are lost. Without God…our prayers go unaided. Without God…we are nothing: no matter if you have the nicest car or the best girl…no matter if you’re the most popular or the best at sports. Without God we cannot overcome. Meanwhile…back at basecamp…

The Israelites have purified themselves of the sinful actions and deeds of Achan….and Joshua (not one to leave things to chance) sends ten times as many men (30,000 men) and he charges towards Ai in attack. But (little known to the people of AI) he places another 5,000 men to the west of the small city of AI (Jos. 7:3) With the rest of his forces, Joshua marches across the valley in front of Ai. The King of AI sees this…and he advances to fight them in haste (8:14) not knowing that he is leaving his city without ANY defense whatsoever! BAD MOVE! REALLY BAD!

The Israelites pretend to be beaten, and Ai’s forces follow them into the wilderness. All the while…the 5,000 Israelites to the west pillage and burn the city to the ground, so that none of them remained or escaped (8:22) Joshua must have felt a little angry…because he drew not his hand back until he had not only destroyed, but UTTERLY destroyed ALL the inhabitants of AI. He made it a heap of desolation until this day. He took the king of Ai and hung him on a tree till evening, and then took him down….cast his body at the foot of the entrance of the gate to the city…and heaped stones upon him (8:29) Sending a message I guess!

This brings us to the deceitfulness of Joshua 9. Let’s just say that you were one of the people living in the land of Canaan, and you have heard the horror stories of these Israelites coming through and utterly destroying every breathing human being in their path. What would you want to do? I would want to try to make peace or make an alliance or something…and this is just what the Gibeonites do, in a very SNEAKY way.

GIBEONITES: The Gibeonites’ king was part of an alliance of kings of all the nations west of the Jordan, but when they had heard what happened to Jericho and AI, they thought it would be better to make peace than war. So, the princes of Gibeon devise an ingeniously bold plan (I have to say) in Joshua chapter 9. The princes dress up like they’ve been riding from a far country. They put on old shoes with patches on them…they put on old garments. They put old sacks on their donkeys that were patched up and had been used no telling how many times. They even put old, dry, moldy bread in their bread baskets, so that it would look like they had been journeying forever trying to find the Israelites.

So, in these disguises, the men of Gibeon come to the camp of the Israelites which is at Gilgal (about ten miles away from their city), and they say to Joshua and all them men of Israel in Joshua 9:6, “We come from a far country…please don’t hurt us. We have come to make peace with you. We are your servants.” AND Joshua asks the all important question, “Where’d you say you were from again? Didn’t really catch that the first time.” -----WE’RE from a far off country and we have heard the of the fame of the Lord God of Israel and the parting of the Red Sea and the defeat of Pharaoh and the defeat of the giants on the other side of Jordan, and the elders of our city said for us to take food and come and meet you…and to make peace. LOOK AT OUR BREAD…it was hot and good when we left our houses, but now it is crusty and moldy. AND look at our bottles of wine…how their busted and our garments and shoes how they’re so worn from our long journey! BOO-HOO-HOOO.

And then…the men of Israel took of their food, and sampled the moldy bread and looked at their hideous rags they had on, and they made an agreement with them. Joshua and the princes of Israel swore (before God) that they would let them live. BUT, they never…not once…asked God what they should have done.

APPLICATION:

It’s easy to forget to consult God sometimes. It seems easy to forget that God is there at all when you’re out with friends or at home by yourself. It’s easy to forget God when you make decisions that may affect your life or your worship or your study of God’s word. All Joshua had to do was go to God and say, “Are these guys for real, or are they trying to hoodwink us.”

That’s all we have to do. When there’s a decision to be made…leave it in the hands of the Lord who works all things for your good. If there’s a problem to be dealt with…go to God who has wisdom to get you through it. Never forget that God is there!

BACK TO THE STORY: about three days later, the Israelites found out that the wool had been pulled over their eyes by the princes of Gibeon…and they marched over to their far off friends about ten miles away, and they kept their word. They didn’t kill any of the people of Gibeon…BUT Joshua wanted to know why they lied about where they were from? And their cut and dry answer was, “It’s better to live as a servant than to die as an enemy.” SO, Joshua and the princes of Israel made them all hewers of wood and fetchers of water for the house of God. They were to get the wood for all of their burnt offerings and fetch water for all their sacrifices and services to God. They were to be slaves for the rest of their generations!

TRAITORS!: Just about 3 miles south (as the crow flies) from Gibeon lies Jerusalem (yes the same place as the Jerusalem of the NT). The king of Jerusalem (Adoni-zedek) heard that Gibeon made peace with the Israelites. Now…GIBEON was a great and royal city! The men of Gibeon were great and might warriors! It was like the New York of its time...only with big warriors…and big people…but they had made peace with the enemy! They had broken their alliance with the other kings! So, the rest of the kings of the alliance (there were 5 in all) took it upon themselves to KILL all the Gibeonites for their treachery.

So, the 5 kings of the Amorite nation came against Gibeon…and what do you think Gibeon did? Sent for Joshua (help us…you made a pact with us…help us!) Alright…we’ll be there is a second! So, Joshua and all his mighty men of valor, march ALL NIGHT all the way from his camp ten miles away to defend Gibeon from the five Amorite kings. But it wasn’t to be the sword of the Israelites that defeated the 5 kings, but the Lord cast down great hailstones from heaven as they Amorites ran for some twenty miles away to Azekah (Josh. 10:11)

BUT Joshua spoke to the Lord and asked him a peculiar thing…Joshua said, “Sun, stand still upon Gibeon…” And the sun stood still (time stood still….God made the day longer…the sun didn’t go down for a whole day it just stood there in the middle of the sky).

When the kings of the Amorites saw all these things…the great hailstones from the heavens, the sun standing still in the middle of the sky…they went and hid in a cave about 20 miles away from the battle at Makkedah. When Joshua was told this…he commanded that a great stone be rolled to the mouth of the cave, so that they could not escape. He then commanded that all the rest of the Amorites be killed.

After he had finished killing the Amorites…Joshua and his troops returned to the site of the cave where the kings had hidden (that he had now made his camp). He rolled the stone away, brought out the 5 kings, and commanded that his men put their feet on their necks…and put their faces into the ground. He slew them with the struck them dead, and hung their bodies on 5 trees until the night fell. AT nightfall…they took the bodies down and threw them into the cave where they buried them until this day.

APPLICATION: 1). God fights for his people…and no matter how one sided the battle, the Lord will always win. God promises victory whether in this life or the next…and if He has promised victory, it will be given. There is nothing impossible with the Lord. Joshua knew the Lord was on his side…and he didn’t fear to ask even the greatest thing because the Lord was a sure help in times of trouble, and we shouldn’t be fearful to ask either. We can come with boldness into the very throne room of God, but make sure you know how to get there by studying the truths of His book. When you have learned the truths of God…when you have learned what it means to hold the banner of Christ high…never look back into the world and always look forward to the Lord.

If you haven’t been added to the Lord’s conquering army…I hope that you’ll make that decision tonight because if you’re not for God…you’re against Him. Have faith in Christ and His words (for without faith it is impossible to please Him), and move with active awe and fear of the Lord, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (Jas. 2:26) Don’t just stop with faith and awe toward God….totally submit to His will. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned.” (Mk. 16:16) If sins need to be forgiven come to the front…