Og King of Bashan Was Impossibly Gigantic

I'm not just talking metaphorically big, but physically, impossibly huge. Let's

Og wasn't just tall; he was…unwieldy, let's say. Imagine someone so massive that a regular wooden chair or bed would just crumble beneath him. Ginzberg, in his Legends of the Jews, paints a vivid picture, noting that Og's breadth was half his height – a far cry from the usual one-to-three proportion. This wasn't just a big guy; this was a being built on a different scale entirely.

Get this: In his younger days, this colossal figure was actually a slave to Abraham! Can you imagine? According to some traditions, Og is none other than Eliezer, Abraham's steward. This connection is fascinating! We find in Sefer ha-Yashar that Nimrod gifted Og to Abraham! One story, recounted in Legends of the Jews based on various Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) sources, says that Abraham once rebuked Eliezer so fiercely that a tooth fell out. Abraham, resourceful as ever, then fashioned the tooth into a bed!

Og’s appetite matched his size. We read that he devoured a thousand oxen, or an equivalent amount of other animals, daily! And he needed a thousand measures of liquid to wash it all down. That's some serious catering!

So, what happened to this giant servant? Abraham freed him as a reward for his work in finding Rebekah as a bride for Isaac. We find this in Ginzberg's retelling, drawing from various Midrashim. Quite the task, wouldn't you say? And then, in a twist that speaks to the complexities of divine justice, God made him a king. Why? The Midrash explains that God wanted to give Og his reward in this world, so he couldn't claim one in the world to come.

As king, Og founded sixty cities, each surrounded by walls that were, get this, sixty miles high at their lowest point! It boggles the mind, doesn’t it? A evidence of Og's impossible scale, and perhaps a reminder that even those who seem larger than life are ultimately part of a story much bigger than themselves.

What does Og’s story leave us to ponder? Perhaps it's about the unexpected roles people play in our lives, or the strange ways that justice can be served. Maybe it's just a reminder that the universe of Jewish lore is filled with characters and stories that push the boundaries of imagination. Whatever it is, the tale of Og, the giant king, is one that sticks with you.

This giant never in all his days made use of a wooden chair or bed, as these would have broken down beneath his weight, but sat upon iron chairs and lay upon iron beds. He was not only of gigantic build and strength, but of a breadth also that was completely out of proportion even with his height, for his breadth was one half his height, whereas the normal proportion of breadth to height is as one to three. In his youth Og had been a slave to Abraham, who had received him as a gift from Nimrod, for Og is none other than Eliezer, Abraham's steward. One day, when Abraham rebuked him and shouted at him, Eliezer was so frightened that one of his teeth fell out, and Abraham fashioned out of it a bed in which he always slept. Og daily devoured a thousand oxen or an equal number of other animals, and drank correspondingly, requiring daily not less than a thousand measures of liquids. He remained in Abraham's service until Isaac's marriage, when Abraham gave him his freedom as a reward for having undertaken the labor of wooing Rebekah for his son, and of fetching her to his house. God also rewarded him in this world, that this wicked wight might not lay claim to a reward in the world to come. He therefore made a king of him. During his reign he founded sixty cities, that he surrounded with high walls, the lowest of which was not less than sixty miles in height.