Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-03-14
DF THE GIANTS BED.
EEaMON PREACHED BY DR.. TALM&GE
ON SUNDAY MARCH 13.

n Lessen Drawn from, ;:,c :;ibie story of
Dg. King OF E::.a.s;:::. hose Bedstead
gYas Nine CuI,its Lo.l-y and Four Cubits
Broad.
BRooKLY.. IIarch l3.-Dr. Tai
mage gave another illustration this
morning in bis sermon &C the Taber-
srzle.le of his; wonderful power OF
drawing useful, practical lessons from
sln obscure text, which. to the ordi-
z,z,ry mind, seemed incapable of yield
Eng any spiritual OBLIGATION. The
text was Deuteronomy III, II: Only
s1g. king OF Bashan, remained Of the
Ek4lnnant of giants; behold, his bed
s4sead was Il bedStead Of lro1; Is 1t
aeot IN Rabbath Of the children OF
Anaznon? Nine cubits5 was the length
6hereof and four cubits the breadth
az 1t
The story Of giants IS mixed with
mvth. William the Conqueror was
said to have been of oyer5owering al
Efnde. but when in aftertirne his
comb was opened his bones indicated
That he had been physically Of only
sar{linary size. Roland tie Hero was
said to have been Of a3:olnding stat
Hre. but when his seoulcher was
examined his ar1nor was found only
large enough to lit an ordinary man.
Alexander the Great had helmets
stnd shields of enormous size made
and left among the people whom he
had conquered, SO as TO give the i'm
precision that he was a giant, although
he was rather under than over the
usual height OF a man. But that III
other days and lands there were real
giants is authentic One of the guards
of the Duke of Brunswick was eight
and a half feet high. In a museum
M London is the skeleton Of Charles
Birne. eight feet four inches i'll
stature. The Emperor IaXimin was
over eight feet. Pliny tells of giant
nine feet high, and two other giants
zz1ine and half feet.
So [ am not incredulOus when |
come to my text and ind King Og a
giant. and the size Of his bedStead,
Sn1ning the cubits OF the text into
Eseat-the bedstead Of Og, the king,
knust have been about thirteen end a
half feet long. Judging from that,
SIae giant who occupied it was prob
ably about eleven feet in STATURE OF
nearly twice the average human
size There was no need Of Rabbln-
Ecsal writers trying To account for the
presence Of this giant, King Og, as
Szhey did. by saying that he came
down from the other side of the
ffoDd, 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 q monster in size.
EVERYTHING SACRIFICED TO STRENGTH
Cyrus and Solomon slept on beds
OF gold and Sardanapalus had $50
kedsteads of gold burned up with
him. but this bedstead Of my text
WAS Of iron -everyt thing sacrificed
for strength to hold this excessive
ayoirduDois, this Alp of bone and
aesh. No wonder this couch was
kept as a curiosity at Rabbath, and
people went from far and near to see
If, 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 brcastplate corresponded to the
size Of his bedstead, and his stride
across the battlefield and the full
stroke of his arm must have been ap-
Dalling. With an armed host he
comes down to drive back the Israel
ties, WHO are marching on from
Egypt tc, Canaan. We have no par
fIcularS of the battle, but think the
Hsraelites trembled when they saw
this monster of man moving down
tocrush them Alas for the Israelites
VIII their troubles never cease? What
s.an men five and a half feet high dc
against this warrior Of eleven feet
and what can short swords do against
Il sword whose CLEAN must have beer
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 tina
Og had made when advancing int
the battle were more than equale(
by the gigantic strides with which he
retreated Huzza for Triumphant
Israel, Sixty fortified cities sur
rendered to them A land of indie
-seribable opulence comes into thei-
possession, and all that is left of thu
-g7ant king is the iron bedstead
mine cubits was the length thereo
and four cubits the breadth of it. :"
JUDGE OF MAN BY HIS SURROUNDINGS
Why did not the Bible give us tn
.taze of the giant instead of the size o