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The Beginning of the End
was a country filled with wild caverns and rocky hide-outs. The
inhabitants, descendants from a giant race, were of impressive size
and strength, and known for such violence and cruelty as to be the
terror of all surrounding nations. Og, the king, was remarkable for
size even in a nation of giants.
But the cloudy pillar moved forward, and the Hebrew soldiers
advanced to Edrei, where the giant king waited for them. Og had
skillfully chosen the place of battle. The city of Edrei stood on the
border of a high, broad flatland rising abruptly from the plain and
covered with jagged rocks. It could be approached only by narrow
pathways, steep and difficult to navigate. In case of defeat, his
forces could find refuge in that wilderness of rocks where it would
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be impossible for strangers to follow.
Moses Trusted God
Confident of success, the king came out with an immense army
on the open plain. When the Hebrews looked at that giant of giants
towering above the soldiers of his army, when they saw the seem-
ingly invincible fortress with unseen thousands entrenched behind it,
the hearts of many quaked with fear. But Moses was calm and firm;
the Lord had said concerning the king of Bashan, “Do not fear him:
for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your
hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites.”
No mighty giants, walled cities, armed hosts, nor rocky fortresses
could stand before the Captain of the Lord’s host. The Lord led the
army, and the Lord conquered in behalf of Israel. The giant king
and his army were destroyed, and the Israelites soon took possession
of the whole country. Thus that strange people who had given
themselves up to terrible idolatry were blotted from the earth.
Israel’s Fatal Mistake
Many remembered the events that nearly forty years before had
doomed Israel to long desert wandering. The report of the spies
concerning the Promised Land was correct in many respects. The
cities were walled and very great and inhabited by giants. But
now they could see the fatal mistake of the previous generation in