Sunday, January 22, 2012

King Og poem by Lon Woodrum

.
Here is the little poem by itself that I posted above (Sunday, January 22, 2012). It was written by Lon Woodrum of the 1940+/- era about King Og. Surely you remember him: (see Note 1)

BED OF OG


While browsing through the Bible once
I ran across the queerest thing:
A Bashanite of giant height
Upon his nation’s throne was king.
His name was Og.

There is no record whether he
Was dull or smart or sour or gay.
He had a bedstead made of iron—
That’s all the Bible has to say
About this Og.

He must have used a lot of room!
They laid a tapeline on his bed;
From side to side it was six feet wide
And fifteen feet from foot to head.
Some man, this Og!

I wonder, was he cruel or kind?
A gentleman or snooty cad?
And did he have a smile or frown?
A bedstead made of iron he had!
That’s all we know.

I hope when I have lived my life
And gone the common way of man,
The folks will find I’ve left behind
Something for memory better than
Old Og’s iron bed!

I’d rather be remembered by
One gentle, friendly word I’ve said,
One smile I’ve worn or song I’ve sung
Than by a fifteen-foot iron bed
Like poor old Og!

- - - - - - -

Note 1: I found this poem here: Maxwell, John C. ; Ogilvie, Lloyd J.: The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 5 : Deuteronomy. Nashville, Tennessee : Thomas Nelson Inc, 1987 (The Preacher's Commentary Series 5), S. 12.

Note 2, the Bible verses about King Og:
10 We [sic, the early Israelites] took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salekah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in Bashan. 11 (Og king of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites. His bed was decorated with iron and was more than nine cubits long and four cubits wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
Deuteronomy 3:10-11 (NIV)

Verse 11 tells all that we really know about Og, the King of Bashan. We can assume that he was a large man to fit that bed. Very likely a giant.

Labels:


Comments:

Post a Comment





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?