The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1892-03-31
Og, King OF Bashan.

Onlv OR, King or BaShan, remained OF
the remnant of giants; behold, bis bed.
stead was bedstead of iron; is it not In
Rabbath of the children of Ammon?
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 altitude,
but when in aftertime his tomb was
opened his bones indicated that he had
been physically of ordinary size. Roland
the Hero was said to have been of as.
founding stature, but when his sepulcher
was examined his armor 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 con-
Quered, SO as to give the impression that
he was a giant, although he was rather
under than over the usual height OF q
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 q giant nine feet high
and two other giants nine and a halt
feet. So am not incredulOus when
come to my text and find King Og, a
giant, and the size of his bedstead, turn
ing the cubits of the text into feet, the
tedstead of Og, the King, must have
been about thirteen and half feet long.
Judging from that the giant who occu-
pied it was probably about eleven feet
In stature, or nearly twice the average
human size. There was no need of Rab-
blnical writer's 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 passengers inside the ark daily
providing him with food. There was
nothing supernatural about him. He
was simply. monster In size.
Cyrus 80 Solomon slept on beds Of
gold, and Sardanapolus had $50 bed
'steads of gold burned up with him, but
this bedstead of my texcwas of iron
everything sacrificed for strength to
hold this excessive avoirdupois. this Alp
of bone and flesh. No wonder this couch
was kept as curiosity at Rabbath, and
people went from far and near to see it,
just as now people go to museums to be-
hold the armor Of the ancients You
say what fighter this giant. King Og,
must have been. No doubt of 1t.
suppose the size af his sword and breast
plate correspondent to the size of his bed
stead, and his stride across the battle
field and the full stroke of his arm must
have been appalling. With an armed
host he comes down to drive back the
Israelites, who are marching on from
Egypt to Canaan.
We have no particulars of the battle,
but think the Israelites trembled when
they saw this monster Of o man moving
down to crush them. Alas for the
Israelites! Will their troubles never
cease? What can men five and half
fact high do against this warrior of
eleven feet, and what can short swords
do against a sword whose CLEAN must
have been like flash of lightning? The
battle Of Edrei opened. Moses and his
army met the giant and his army. The
Lord of Hosts descended into the fight,
and the gigantic strides that Og had
made when advancing into the battle
were more than eQualed by the gigantic
strides with which he retreated. Huzza
AOI 1STdci. SIAtv lOTtlucu
cities surrendered to them. A land of
indescribable opulence comes into their
possession, and all that is left Of the
giant king is the iron bedstead. '.Nine
cubits was the length thereof and four
cubits the breadth Of it,"
Why did not the Bible give us the size
OF the giant instead OF the size of the
beadstead! Why did it not indicate that
t1n oil v,$ ~ Goo f~l
telling us that his couch was thirteen
and half feet long? No doubt among
other things it was to teach us that you
can judge Of man by his surroundings.
Show me mans associates, show me a
mans home, and l will tell you what he
Is without your telling me one word
about him. You cannot only tell q man
according to the old adagc, "By the
company he keeps" but by the books he
reads, by the pictures he admires, BY the
church he attends, by the places he
visits. Moral giants and moral pygmies,
intellectual giants and intellectual pyg-
mics, like physical giants or physical pyg-
mics can be Judged by their surroundings.
That man has been thirty years
faithful in attendance upon churches
and prayer meetings and Sunday schools,
0uO putNiHk AaMSCA 0NuOuk iutouSc TO.
llgious associations. He may have his
imperfections, but he is . very good man.
Great Is his religious stature. The other
man has been for thirty years among in
duences intensely worldly. and he has
shut himself out from all other in
fluences, and his religious stature is that
of dwarf. No man ever has been or
can be independent Of his surroundings
social, intellectual, moral. religious
The Bible indicates the length of tie
giant BY the length of his beadstead
Let no man say, II will be good" and
yet keep evil surroundings. Let no man
say, Il will be faithful as Christian"
and yet consort chiefly with workings
You are proposing an everlasting i'm
possibility.
When man departs this lite you can
tell what has been his influence in q COM
munity Tor good by those who mourn for |
him and by how sincere and long con-
tinued are the regrets OF his taking of |
There may be no pomp or obseQuies and |
no pretense at epitaphcology, but you |
can tell how high he was in conservation,
and how high in usefulness by how long |