According to Tree of Souls, when Noah was loading up the ark, Og made a deal. He swore to Noah and his sons that if they’d let him come along, he’d be their servant forever.
Now, space on the ark was tight, to say the least! So, what did Noah do? He let Og sit on the roof! He poked a hole in the roof and passed Og his daily food through it. Can you imagine that? The last of the Refaim – giants – hitching a ride, surviving the Flood by literally clinging to the top of the ark! Deuteronomy 3:11 even mentions that King Og was the last of the remaining Refaim.
But Og wasn't exactly a grateful passenger. Later on, he became an enemy of Israel. We're talking full-on supervillain status. The stories say he even tried to uproot a whole mountain and drop it on the Israelites! A mountain big enough to wipe them all out at once!
Yikes!
Thankfully, God intervened. He sent a swarm of rock-eating ants – talk about a tiny army! – who bored through the mountain, causing it to fall from Og's hands and land around his neck. According to Bereshit Rabbah 42:8, Og had originally told Abraham that his nephew Lot had been captured, in the hopes that Abraham would die trying to save him and Og could marry Sarah!
Now, Og's teeth were so big, they jutted out, so he couldn't get the mountain off. Then Moses, who, by the way, was said to be ten feet tall himself, jumped another ten feet into the air and whacked Og on the ankle with a hammer (or, depending on the version, a lance or a nail). Down went the giant! Crushed by the weight of the mountain.
But wait, there’s more! Even in death, Og was a menace. When he fell, the mountain was about to fall on Israel! Moses, ever the hero, prayed to God, and some say he took a small tree and propped up the mountain, preventing it from crushing the people. Others say God suspended the mountain between heaven and earth. What a scene!
The story doesn’t end there. There's a tale about Abba Shaul, a guy who buried the dead, finding Og's skeleton. He was chasing a deer (as one does), and it led him into a hole that turned out to be the thigh bone of a giant skeleton. He ran for three miles inside the bone and still didn't reach the end! Eventually, he figured out it was Og, King of Bashan.
And then, just when you think the story’s over, there's another version! This one says Og survived, wandered into Poland in the winter, and, freezing cold, demanded a tailor make him a coat. The terrified tailor, seeing the size of the giant, gathered all the tailors in the land to finish the coat in time. They hid in the pockets, Og put it on, squished them all, and that’s why tailors are pale to this day. As for Og, some say he's still wandering the earth!
The origin of giants, by the way, is traced back to Genesis 6:4. That verse talks about the Nefilim, understood as giants who were the offspring of the "Sons of God" and the "daughters of men." So, the story of Og and the Ark is one explanation for how giants survived the Flood.
What’s really interesting is how Og is portrayed. Most of the time, he’s the enemy, a symbol of overwhelming power against little Israel. But in this story about the ark, he’s almost… pathetic. He needs help, he makes a deal. It's a more childlike, almost sympathetic portrayal. As we find in Midrash Tehillim, other accounts depict Og holding a mountain over Israel, threatening to crush them.
Ultimately, the tale of Og is like a Jewish David and Goliath story. Og threatens Israel, but is defeated by the smallest of opponents, the ants. Moses then completes the conquest with a blow to Og's ankle. The moral? Even a tiny nation can overcome a mighty foe with God's help and unity, as emphasized by the collaborative work of the ants.
So, the next time you think about the Flood, remember Og, the giant on the roof. A reminder that even the biggest challenges can be overcome, and that sometimes, the smallest creatures can make the biggest difference.