Misinterpretations of this passage often portray Israel as aggressors initiating unprovoked conquests, ignoring the context that Og 'came out against us' in battle, making it a defensive response under divine command; others disconnect it from preceding verses detailing God's prohibitions against provoking related nations, leading to views of arbitrary violence, or allegorize it excessively as symbolic spiritual warfare without acknowledging its historical narrative of obedience and divine sovereignty in territorial allotment.
Deuteronomy 2:8
King James Version (1769)
8 And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion–gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
Deuteronomy 2:8 recounts a pivotal moment in Israel's wilderness journey where, following God's instructions to pass peaceably by the territories of Edom, Moab, and Ammon due to their shared ancestry, the Israelites turned toward Bashan, prompting King Og and his forces to attack them at Edrei; this illustrates God's precise guidance in their travels, protecting them from some neighbors while delivering enemies into their hands to fulfill His promise of land possession and demonstrating His faithfulness in providing for and directing His people toward their inheritance.