Israel's wandering in the wilderness came to an end with the conquest and occupation of Canaan. This involved many battles against the inhabitants, most of which the Israelites won. Among their encounters was a meeting with the forces of two kings named Sihon and Og.
The story is told in Numbers 21:21-35 and retold in Deuteronomy 2:26 – 3:7. It's the second telling that's the most interesting.
Moses tells of how he sent messengers to King Sihon of Heshbon offering to pass through his territory on the main road: "We will pay for the food we eat and the water we drink. All we want to do is pass through your country, until we cross the River Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us," (2:28-28-29, GNB), he said.
Sihon – perhaps understandably, given the vast size of the army that confronts him – isn't keen. He puts up a fight, but "the Lord our God put him in our power, and we killed him, and his sons, and all his men..." (verse 33). King Og meets the same fate in chapter 3.
What's interesting is how Moses tells the story. He says of Sihon (and by implication, of Og): "The Lord your God had made him stubborn and rebellious, so that we could defeat him and take his territory."
So if it was God who "hardened his heart", as some translations put it, is it fair to blame Sihon? Did he really have a choice in what happened?
One commentator, Duane Christensen (Word Biblical Commentary) argues that this story shows how the ancient Hebrews had an intuitive understanding of the human heart. Jonah thought he was free to escape from God, but ended up in Nineveh anyway; God had his hand on Jonah's life.
"There are profound limits to the freedom of human beings to do what they choose to do," says Christensen. There are internal forces shaping our actions. Paul talks about this in Romans 7:21-23: "When I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have."
Sihon and Og were not "free" to do the logical and reasonable thing, because they were driven by darker urges contrary to God's will.
We might say that their hearts were "made hard" by God because God had made them. They had not submitted their wills to his.
As Christensen says, "All too often we are our own worst enemies, because we are not in fact free to act on our conscious desires."
Paul concludes his reflection in Romans 7 by saying: "What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
The Good News of the gospel is that Christ breaks the chains that bind our wills, and makes it possible for us to live full, rich and Godly lives.
