Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-14
OF THE GIANTS BED.
SERMON PREACHED BY Or. TAGMAeE
ON SUNDAY MARCH 10.

A Lesson Drawn from She Isible story OF
og, King OF Bashan. Whose Bedstead
Was Nine cubits Long and -Four Cubits
Broad.
BRooKLYlG, March l3.-Dr. Tai
mage gave another illustration this
morning in his sermon at the Taber-
naole 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 edification. The
text was Deuteronomy iii, II: "Only
Og, king of Bashan, remained of the
remnant of giants; behold his bed
stead was bedstead of iron; is it
not in Rabbath of the children of
Ammonl 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 sepulchar was
examined his almor 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 inn
preston that he was q 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 a half feet.
So | am not incredulous when /
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
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 a monster in 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 Us now people go to museums
to behold the armor of the ancients.
You say what 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 Of the battle, but think the
Israelites trembled when they saw
this monster of Il man moving down
to crush them. Alas for the Israelites
Will their troubles never Cease2 What
can men five and a half feet high do
against this warrior of eleven feet,
and what caN short swords do against
a sword whose CLEAN must have been
like flash of lightning2 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
Israel 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 A MAN BY HIS SURROUNDINGS.
Why did not the Bible give us the
size of the giant instead of the size of
the bedstoadl 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
long1 No doubt, among other things,
it was to teach us that you can judge
of man by his surroundings Show
me a mans associates, show mo
mans books, show me mans home,
and / will tell you what he is without
your telling me one word about him.