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Document Details :

Title: Laying Og to Rest
Subtitle: Deuteronomy 3 and the Making of a Myth
Author(s): QUICK, Laura
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 98    Issue: 2   Date: 2017   
Pages: 161-172
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.98.2.3217840

Abstract :
This paper explores the interpretative decisions which have allowed commentators to connect King Og and his iron bed in Deuteronomy 3 to the underworld, and hence to interpret Og as an underworld deity and his iron bed as a sarcophagus or tomb. Ultimately, it is shown that this interpretation rests on an insufficient understanding of the extra-biblical sources, while the Bible itself never connects Og to a chthonic context. The interpretation of Og as an underworld deity is thus a scholarly construct which must be laid to rest, and with it Og, into his iron bed.

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