Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Bashan
Subjects in this Topic:
BASHAN.—The name of the territory east of the Sea of Tiberias. It was the kingdom of Og, the Rephaite opponent of Israel, and with his name the country is almost invariably associated (Num_21:33, Deu_29:7, Neh_9:22 etc.). The territory was given to the half-tribe of Manasseh, with a reservation of two cities, Golan and Be-eshterah (Ashtaroth in 1Ch_6:71), for the Gershonite Levites (Jos_21:27). In the time of Jehu the country was smitten by Hazael (2Ki_10:33). It was noted for mountains (Psa_68:15), lions (Deu_33:22), oak trees (Isa_2:13, Eze_27:6, Zec_11:2), and especially cattle, both rams (Deu_32:14) and bullocks (Eze_39:18); the bulls and kine of Bashan are typical of cruelty and oppression (Psa_22:12, Amo_4:1). The extent of the territory denoted by this name cannot be exactly defined till some important identifications can be established, such as the exact meaning of ‘the region of Argob’ (included in the kingdom of Og, Deu_3:4 etc.), where were threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars, administered for Solomon by Ben-geber of Ramoth-gilead (1Ki_4:13). It included Salecah (Salkhat, on the borders of the desert), Edrei (ed-Der‘a?), Ashtaroth (perhaps Tell Ashareh), and Golan, one of the cities of refuge, the name of which may be preserved in the Jaulan, the region immediately east of the Sea of Tiberias.
R. A. S. Macalister.