Og, Informant of Abraham

What was Og's role in Abraham's life?

Let’s open up with a Midrash, from Genesis Rabbah “The refugee came” – Reish Lakish in the name of bar Kappara: This is Og; he is the “refugee.” Why is he called Og? Because he came and found Abram sitting and engaging in the mitzvah of baking [unleavened] loaves [ugot] [for Passover]. His intentions [in informing Abraham] were not to act for the sake of Heaven. Rather, he said: ‘This Abraham is a zealot. If I say to him now: Your nephew has been taken captive, he will go out to war and be killed, and I will take his wife Sarai.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘By your life, you will receive reward for your strides that you walked [to travel to Abraham], in that you will live long in the world. But because you thought to kill that righteous man, by your life, you will see thousands upon thousands and tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of his descendants, and the end of that man will be only to fall into their hand,’ as it is stated [by Moses]: “The Lord said to me: Do not fear him, as [I have delivered him]…into your hand” (Deuteronomy 3:2).¹

Rabbeinu Bahya comments on the above saying “The reason he was called עוג was because when he arrived at Avram’s house to tell him that Lot had been captured, Avram was occupied with the halachot concerning עוגות, cakes. Og did not have any credible motives in telling Avram about this. He hoped that Avram would go to war to rescue Lot and when he would fall in battle, he, Og, would marry Sarai, Avram’s widow.”² Clear from Bahya’s comments we can see that Og really was hoping Avram would die and that he could marry Sarai, but we are also given the curious origin of Og’s name linking him to Avram’s baking of cakes at the time of meeting.

The following line from Genesis calls the people Og informs about Lot’s capture “Abraham’s confederates” which leads into an interesting commentary from Rashi “Abram’s confederates: lit. the masters of Abram’s covenant. Because they made a covenant with him. (Other editions add: Another explanation of [בַּעֲלֵי בְּרִית]: They gave him advice concerning circumcision (Aggadath Bereishith 19:3), as is explained elsewhere) (below 18:1).”³ Reportedly, these confederates were designated as such for their covenant formed with Abraham, according to Aggadath Bereishith and seemingly agreed by Rashi this covenant was that of circumcision. This would raise all sorts of questions about how many men actually comprised Abraham’s “tribe”, or “nation” and might answer questions as to how a group of “Israelites” were later able to conquer the territory so swiftly. It’s very possible remnants of Abraham’s loyalists had actually stuck around from this band of three hundred and eighteen men, possibly some of the Amorite figures featured in the Amarna Letters, and Egyptian texts.

Despite the Rephaim being delivered to Abraham, the reality is that the entire land of the Rephaim is not given to the Israelites “And when you approach opposite the children of Ammon, neither distress them, nor provoke them, for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon as an inheritance, because I have given it to the children of Lot as an inheritance. It too is considered a land of Rephaim; Rephaim dwelt therein formerly, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim.”⁴ We hear in this line that the Rephaim are called by the Ammonites “Zamzummim” which is a term we will dig further into in our section on the Nephilim, but according to Rashi the Rephaim land is eventually partially taken over by the Ammonites “IT (AMMON) ALSO WAS ACCOUNTED A LAND OF REPHAIM. — It also is accounted a land of Rephaim because the Rephaim formerly dwelt in it, but yet it is not that land which I gave to Abraham.”⁵

Clear from this verse is that part of the Rephaim territory, chiefly the part ruled by Og, will actually be given to the descendants of Lot. The curious point could be raised that since Og was responsible for saving Lot through his informing of Abraham, it will be Lot, and not Abraham, contracted to be given this piece of territory.

Leaving that matter aside for a more lengthy discussion of Abraham, ultimately the reason Og even exists still in the time of Moses is reportedly this act of informing regardless of his intent. From the Talmud we hear about Og’s act of aiding Abraham in his rescue “Moses said to himself: Perhaps the merit of our forefather Abraham will stand for Og and save him....Og was the one who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive by the four kings, enabling Abraham to rescue Lot.”⁶

Once again from Rabbeinu Bahya we are given alternative explanations for the biblical events “Some of our sages do not agree that this Og was the same as the one who had told Avraham about Lot being captured. However, even this Og was a descendant of the person described as the פליט in Genesis 14:13. Moses was still afraid that this Og should not still be a beneficiary of merits accumulated by his ancestor.”⁷ Bahya provides early evidence that some sages did not believe the Og from Moses’s era was the same as the Og from Avraham’s time, but everyone seems to agree they were related through ancestry.

Despite this alternative explanation Bahya entertains, he ultimately defers to the Rabbinic standard that they were the same exact figure even if opening the doors to alternatives; “At any rate, we have only one authentic source concerning the genealogy of this Og, our sages, i.e. that we are dealing with the original Og.” We have one more version of Og that might help us break down this length lifespan.

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Very short section this week, and another short one will follow, but these are very interesting Midrash’s that help frame Og’s life. They provide many clues to the regional context, that help us align events. Please don’t forget to like, subscribe, and comment if you have anything at all to add. Thank you once again for reading, and I hope to see you in the next section!

1. Bereshit Rabbah 42:8

2. Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 14:13:1

3. Rashi, Bereshit 14:13:3

4. Deuteronomy 2:19-20

5. Rashi on Deuteronomy 2:20:1

6. Niddah 61a:19

7. Rabbeinu Bahya, Bamidbar 21:34:2