Deuteronomy 3:3

The history of Og's defeat is in Numbers 21:33-35. Moses recounts this. Og and his people came out against Israel to battle, just as the ungodly would oppose the truth of the God of glory. The Lord encouraged Moses to have no fear, for He had decreed the defeat of this particular enemy (v.2). As God had promised, so He gave Og and all his people into the hands of Israel with the result that no survivors remained (v.3).

Deuteronomy 1 lets us see where disobedience ends. Deuteronomy 2 and 3 show us just as clearly what obedience leads to. Nothing could be plainer than the moral groundwork Moses is laying for the whole rest of the book.

It had been a war of extermination. Israel cut off every man, woman, and child, and we do not read of one Israelite being wounded (Deut. 2:33-34; 3:6)... Og was one of the Rephaim, an ancient and very powerful race. Yet he found that his walled cities, with their high walls, gates, and bars, could give him no protection against the invading army. Israel spread over his land like a flood that carries everything before it.

God's instructions about Og king of Bashan were exactly like the ones He gave in the previous chapter about Sihon the Amorite. To understand either of them, we must look at them only in the light of the government of God — a subject few people understand, though it is deeply interesting and practical. We must carefully distinguish between grace and government. When we look at God in government, we see Him showing His power in the way of righteousness. He punishes evildoers. He pours out vengeance on His enemies. He overthrows empires. He topples thrones, destroys cities, and sweeps away nations, tribes and peoples.

Moses gave these addresses only after two special enemies had been killed — Sihon and Og. The victory over these two enemies was a prediction of further victory in the land (v.4). Israel had been afraid to enter the land before because of such enemies (Og was a giant — Deut. 3:11). Now God had given them an object lesson in experience that should encourage them.

The victories over Sihon and Og should have been Israel's pledge that every human power Satan used to stop them reaching and possessing their inheritance would be swept away. (Compare Deut. 2:24-25; Joshua 2:9-10; see also Psalms 135 and 136.) ... Fighting enemies outside us is not renouncing self. A sense of deliverance from outward foes does not always come with a sense of deliverance from self. In fact, the rest and ease that follow a victory over the enemy may lead to self-indulgence. Satan is quick to use such a position, and to bring the attractions of the world to bear on that state.