The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-03-18
OF 1IlE GIANTS BED.
SERMON PREACHED BY Or. TALMAGE
ON SUNDAY MARCH 13.

Broad.
BROOKLYN, March 13.-Dr. Tai
mage gave another illustration this
morning in his sermon at the Taber-
nacle of his wonderful power of
drawing useful, practical lessons from
an obscure text, which, to the ordi-
nary mind, seemed Incapable of yield
ing any spiritual edifcation. The
text was Deuteronomy iii, II: only
Og, king Of Bashan, remained of the
remnant Of giants; behold, his bed
stead was a bedstead of iron; is it
not in Rabbath of the children of
Ammon2 Nine cubits was the length
thereof and four cubits the breadth
Of it
The story of giants is mixed with
myth. William the Conqueror was
said to have been OF overtowering al
titude. but when in aftertime his
tomb was opened his bones indicated
that he had been physically of only
ordinary size. Roland the Hero was
said to have been of astounding STAT
ure, but when his sepulcher was
examined his arnor was found only
large enough to fit an ordinary man.
Alexander the Great had helmets
and shields of enormous size made
and left among the people whom he
had conquered, so as to give the i'm
preston that he was a giant, although
he was rather under than over the
usual height of man. But that in
other days and lands there were real
giants is authentic. One of the guards
of the Duke of Brunswick was eight
and half feet high. In a museum
in London is the skeleton of Charles
Brine, eight feet four inches in
stature. The Emperor Maximin was
over eight feet. Pliny tells of a giant
nine feet high, and two other giants
nine and half feet
So | am not incredulous when l
come to my text and find King Og
giant, and the size of his bedstead,
turning the cubits of the text into
feet-the bedstead of Og, the king,
must have been about thirteen and a
half feet long. Judging from that,
the giant who occupied it was prob
ably about eleven feet in stature, or
nearly twice the average human
size. There was no need of Rabbin-
ical writers trying to account for the
presence of this giant, King Og, as
they did by saying that he came
down from the other side of the
flood, being tall enough to wade the
waters beside Noah's ark, or that he
rode, on the top of the ark, the pas
sengers inside the ark daily provid-
ing him with food. There was moth
ing supernatural about him. He was
simply monster i'll size.
EVERYTHING SACRIFICED TO STRENGTH
Cyrus and Solomon slept on beds
of gold, and Sardanapalus had $50 |
bedsteads of gold burned up with
him, but this bedstead of my text
was of iron-everything sacrificed
for strength to hold this excessive
avoirdupois, this Alp of bone and
flesh. No wonder this couch was
kept as a curiosity at Rabbath, and
people went from far and near to see
it, just as now people go to museums
to behold the armor of the ancients.
You say what a fighter this giant,
King Og, must have been. No doubt
of it. | suppose the size Of his sword
and breastplate correspondent to the
size of his bedstead, and his stride
across the battlefield and the full
stroke of his arm must have been ap-
palling With an armed host he
comes down to drive back the Israel
ties, who are marching on from
Egypt to Canaan. We have no par
ticulars oS the battle, but | think the
ISraeliteS trembled when they saw
this monster of a man moving down
to crush them. Alas for the Israelites
Will their troubles never cease? What
can men five and half feet high do
against this warrior of eleven feet,
and what can short swords do against
sword whose CLEAN must have been
like flash of hghtning2 The battle
of Edrei opened. Moses and his army
met the giant and his army. The
Lord of Hosts descended into the
fight, and the gigantic strides that
Og had made when advancing into
the battle were more than equaled
by the gigantic strides with which he
retreated. Huzza for triumphant
Israeli Sixty fortified cities sur
rendered to them. A land of indie
scribable opulence comes into their
possession, and all that is left of the
giant king is the iron bedstead.
Mine cubits was the length thereof
and four cubits the breadth of it."
JUDGE OF MAN BY HIS SURROUNDINGS.
Why did not the Bible give us the
size of the giant instead of the size of
the bedstead2 Why did it not indi-
cate that the man was eleven feet
high instead of telling us that his
couch was thirteen and a half feet
longl No doubt, among other things,
It was to teach us that you can judge
Of man by his surroundings. Show