KING OG'S IRON BED (DEUT 3:11) - ONCE AGAIN

TIMO VEIJOLA t

THE PROBLEM AND PROPOSALS FOR ITS SOLUTION

In the prologue to the book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 1-3), a number of so-called antiquarian notices concern the former inhabi• tants and districts with which the came into contact on their journey from Egypt to the (Deut 2:10-12, 20-23; 3:9, 11, 13b ). One of them (3: 11) mentions the remains of Og, the defeated king of Bashan, and reads as follows (NRSV): Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide. King Og 's bed, an "iron bed" (?i1J tu1.U), which is allegedly still to be seen in Amman, poses a permanent problem for the commentators and other scholars dealing with Deut 3: 11. Since the beginnings of historical-critical scholarship the most widespread proposal for its solution has been the explanation that in fact Og's iron bed was a sar• cophagus of basalt. 1 Another, somewhat less popular, view, which was first published by P. Karge in 1917, claims that Og's bed was a prehistoric dolmen, one of the megalithic tombs which are typical of the Transjordanian area. 2 An increasing number of modern commen-

1 According to S. R. Driver, the theory stems from Johann David Michaelis (see S. R. Driver, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy [ICC; 3rd ed., Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902] 53). Besides Driver (ibid., 53-54), other advocates of this theory are, among others, A. Dillmann, Numeri, Deuteronomium und Josua (EHAT 13; 2nd ed., Leipzig: Hirzel, 1886) 249; C. Steuernagel, Das Buch Deuteronomium (HKAT I/3,1; 2nd ed., Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ru• precht, 1923) 61-62; P. C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976) 120; and A. D. H. Mayes, Deuteronomy (NCBC; 2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1981) 144. 2 P. Karge, Rephaim: Die vorgeschichtliche Kultur Paliistinas und PhOniziens (Collectanea Hierosolymitana 1; Paderborn: Schoningh, 1917) 638-40. Similarly M. Noth, Geschichte lsraels (7th ed., Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969) 148 n. I; R. de Vaux, The Early History of Israel (2 vols., London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1978) 2.567; G. Braulik, Deuteronomium 1-16,17 (NEchtB 15; Wiirzburg: Echter, 1986) 36; and HAL, 751. KING OG'S IRON BED (DEUT 3: 11) - ONCE AGAIN 61 tators, however, have become uncertain and are not able to decide what is meant by the iron bed,3 or they are searching for new expla• nations. To those who reject the traditional solutions belong, for in• stance, the authors of three recent commentaries on the book of Deu• teronomy which appeared in the USA in the 1990s: M. Weinfeld, J. Tigay and C. Wright. They all are of the opinion that Og's bed was nothing else but a real bedstead which was decorated with iron.4 This is a new theory, which derives from A. R. Millard. He pre• sented it in two articles in the 1980s.5 Referring to linguistic and ar• chaeological evidence, Millard made an attempt to understand Og's iron bed, "in the plain sense of the words,"6 as a normal piece of fur• niture, comparable to "beds of ivory" (:4),7 "a throne of ivory" (1 Kgs 10:18; 2 Chron 9:17), "a house of ivory" and "palaces of ivory" (1 Kgs 22:39; Ps 45:9[8]). According to Millard, "an 'iron bed' in an ancient Near Eastern context, therefore, is surely to be under• stood as a bed adorned with iron."8 The special emphasis on iron is explained by the historical background of the notice: In the Late iron was still a rather rare metal from the Israelite per• spective, and therefore, for example, the "iron chariots" of the Ca• naanite kings seemed to be an invincible weapon (Josh 17:16, 18; Judg 1:19; 4:3, 13). Millard further gives some extrabiblical evidence for the high value of iron in the Late Bronze Age. He is, however, not able to present any text where an "iron bed" would be mentioned. The

3 See G. von Rad, Das fonfte Buch Mose (ATD 8; 2nd ed., Gottingen: Vanden• hoeck & Ruprecht, 1968) 25, 32; M. Rose, 5. Mose (2 vols., ZBK 5; Ziirich: The• ologischer Verlag, 1994) 2.402; and E. Nielsen, Deuteronomium (HAT 1/6; Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1995) 45. 4 M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 5; New York: Doubleday, 1991) 184; J. Tigay, The JPS Commentary: Deuteronomy (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996) 35; C. J. H. Wright, Deuteronomy (NIBCOT 4; 2nd ed., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1998) 43-44. 5 A. R. Millard, "King Og's Bed and Other Ancient Ironmongery," in Ascribe to the Lord: Biblical and Other Studies in Memory of Peter C. Craigie, ed. L. Eslinger and G. Taylor (JSOTSup 67; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1988) 481-92; idem, "King Og's Iron Bed: Fact or Fancy?" BRev 6/2 (1990) 16-21,44. 6 Millard, "King Og's Bed and Other Ancient Ironmongery," 485. 7 Sennacherib's list of tribute paid by Hezekiah also mentions "beds of ivory" (ersi sinni) (Chicago Prism III 43), Millard, ibid., 485. 8 Ibid.