Midras Ulangan 3:1: Midrash Tanchuma Buber

The End of Parashah Devarim

(Deut. 2:31): SEE I HAVE BEGUN TO GIVE SIHON AND HIS LAND OVER TO YOU. BEGIN <TO TAKE> POSSESSION <OF HIS LAND>. This text is related (to Amos 2:9): YET I DESTROYED THE AMORITE²⁶Although THE AMORITE implies the Amorite people in the biblical context, in the context of the midrash the singular AMORITE refers to Sihon. BEFORE YOU,²⁷The Masoretic Text reads BEFORE THEM. WHOSE STATURE WAS LIKE THE CEDARS IN HEIGHT AND WHO WAS AS STRONG AS THE OAKS. R. Johanan said:²⁸Cf. Deut. R. 1:24. Sihon's thighbone was eighteen cubits according to the cubits of the children of his generation.²⁹Gk.: kole. (Deut. 3:1:) AND OG, KING OF BASHAN. Abba Saul says: I used to bury the dead.³⁰Nid. 24:b. One time I ran after a deer and entered within the thighbone of a corpse. Moreover, I ran after it for three parasangs,³¹Persian miles of about four thousand yards each. Persian: farsang; Gk.: parasaggai. without reaching the deer and without the thighbone ending. I asked: Who is he? And they said to me: This is the thighbone of Og, King of Bashan.

The End of the Supplement to Parashah Devarim