Og of Bashan and the Iron Bedstead
Deuteronomy 3:11
The one place the Bible gives a measurement — and it measures furniture, not a man.
Primary text
'For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron... nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.'
Documented detail
Nine cubits is roughly 4 metres / 13 feet; four cubits roughly 1.8 metres / 6 feet. The measurement describes an object, which is then displayed publicly in Rabbah of the Ammonites — the text reads like a note on a surviving exhibit.
Competing readings
(a) The bed reflects an enormous man. (b) It is a royal display piece, deliberately oversized as propaganda. (c) 'Iron bedstead' has been argued to describe a basalt sarcophagus. All three are readings of one verse.
Open question
Why does the text preserve the dimensions of the bed rather than the king?