Sihon and Og: The Last hurdle

What is the gematrical significance of the battles against “Sihon, King of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan?

In the Book of Deuteronomy and in the whole Bible there is a persistent mentioning of the term Sihon, King of the Amorites, and Og, King of Bashan. In the first chapters of Deuteronomy ‘Og’ is mentioned 7 times, Sihon 9 times, and a total of 22 and 29 times in the whole Bible, respectively. Moreover, the importance of Og, King of Bashan, and Sihon, King of the Amorites is re-emphasized in Psalms 135 and 136 where the slaying of Sihon and Og is paralleled to overthrowing of Pharaoh in the Sea of Reeds. Even more so there is a Midrash which indicates that the event was of greater significance than the overthrowing of Pharaoh.

He who struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast: Who sent signs and wonders into the midst of you, O Egypt, against Pharaoh, and against all his servants: Who struck great nations, and slew mighty kings: Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan: And gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel his people: (Psalms 135:8-12)

And

And overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea; for his loving kindness endures forever: To him who led his people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness endures forever: To him who struck great kings; for his loving kindness endures forever: And slew great kings; for his loving kindness endures forever: Sihon king of the Amorites; for his loving kindness endures for ever: And Og the king of Bashan; for his loving kindness endures for ever: And gave their land for a heritage; for his loving kindness endures forever: (Psalms: 136:15-21).

From the text in the Bible, we see that the battle against Sihon and Og, who were ‘giants’ and Og with his bed of iron, was a walkover and the battle itself is barely mentioned. There was no holding up of Moses's arms as in the defeat of the Amalek (Exodus 17:12); no stopping of the setting of the sun as in Joshua’s battle against the Amorites (Joshua 10:13): Simply Sihon and Og’s armies were slain.

After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtaroth in Edrei: (Deuteronomy: 1:4).

This is in vivid contrast to the incident of the spies which had taken place 40 years earlier and when the Children of Israel refused to do battle against ‘giants’ due to lack of faith.

And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied to the people of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature: (Numbers 13:32)

What is the particular significance of the battle against “Sihon, King of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan?

This was the last hurdle to the entry into the Promised Land; the last of the battles the Israelites fought before they crossed over the River Jordan and took Jericho. The two kings and their defeat feature so many times in the Bible and in particular in reference to being ‘this’ side of the Jordan River, that one wonders why!

If we look at the gematria for the two phrases:

Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan,

In Hebrew:

Sihon melech ha Amori  סיחן מלך האמורי =samech-yod-chet-nun, mem-lamed-chaf, heh-aleph-mem-resh-yod = 60-10-8-50; 40-30-20; 5-1-40-200-10 =474

And:

Og melech ha Bashan עוג מלך הבשן ayin-vav-gimmel, mem-lamed-caph, heh-beth-shin-nun =70-6-3, 40-30-20, 5-2-300-50 =526

The total of the two phrases is 474+526= exactly1000

What does this mean? The Hebrew word for 1000 is eleph which in fact has the same Hebrew spelling as aleph with a value of 1. So eleph and aleph (1000 and 1) imply the completion of a circle, going back to the beginning. It is the completion of God’s cycle, starting from the World of Unity (and harmony) in the Garden of Eden prior to the eviction of Adam and Eve, continuing through all the events of Noah, Abraham, Egypt, and the Exodus and then bringing the descendants of Adam back into the Land; back into the Garden of Eden.

The idea of return is further articulated in Deuteronomy 1:39 with reference to the incident of the spies:

Moreover, your little ones, which you said should be a prey, and your children, who in that day had no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there (The Land), and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it:

The phrase ‘no knowledge of good or evil’ reminds us of the Tree of Knowledge of Good of Evil which stood in the Garden Of Eden and from which Adam ate resulting in God throwing Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden because they had lost their innocence. Hence the new generation of the Children of Israel who have arisen out of the desert had ‘regained’ their innocence lost at the time of Adam and Eve. The entry into the Promised Land was effectively ‘return’ to the Garden of Eden and also ‘repentance’ for the act of Adam and Eve. In Hebrew, the word for ‘return’ shuva and ‘repentance’ tshuva stem from the same root. The Promised Land is the Garden of Eden.