And imagine the joke being about your future descendants!
That’s precisely what happened at a feast hosted by none other than Abraham himself, as recounted in Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews. We’re talking about a gathering that included thirty-one kings and thirty-one viceroys of Palestine, all humbled by Joshua’s conquest. Quite the guest list, wouldn't you say?
And then there’s Og, king of Bashan. Now, Og was, to put it mildly, enormous. Legend paints him as a giant, a remnant of a bygone era. He’s there at Abraham’s feast, amidst all this defeated royalty.
Can you picture the scene? The air thick with the aroma of roasted meats, the clinking of goblets, and the murmur of conversation. And then… the teasing begins.
The other guests, these kings and viceroys, they start to rib Og. They mock him for having once called Abraham a “sterile mule,” implying he’d never have children. Think about the audacity! To insult Abraham, the patriarch, in his own tent!
But Og, never one to back down, retorts with a sneer. He points to Isaac, a small boy at the time, and scoffs, "Were I to lay my finger upon him, he would be crushed." Can you imagine the sheer arrogance? The complete lack of respect?
And that's when things take a divine turn.
God, hearing Og’s boast and his mockery of the gift He had given to Abraham, intervenes. "Thou makest mock of the gift given to Abraham!" God declares. A powerful rebuke.
And then comes the prophecy, a solemn decree: "As thou livest, thou shalt look upon millions and myriads of his descendants, and in the end thou shalt fall into their hands."
Wow. Think about the weight of those words. Og, this mighty king, is told he will witness the rise of Abraham’s lineage, an unimaginable multitude, and ultimately, he will be defeated by them. The very people he so readily dismissed.
What does this story tell us? Perhaps it's a reminder that arrogance often precedes a fall. That even the mightiest among us are ultimately subject to a higher power. And that underestimating the potential of others, especially those who seem small or insignificant, can be a grave mistake. It also shows us that God protects those who have faith in Him.
It's a potent lesson, woven into the rich tapestry of Jewish legend, that continues to resonate today.