Rashi explains Moshe’s Rabbeinu’s logic in attempting to traverse Sichon’s land peacefully. He conjectured, “Although Hashem did not command me to make overtures of peace toward Sichon, I learned to do so from that which Hashem taught us in Midbar Sinai. When Hashem was about to give the Torah to Klal YIsrael, He first offered it to the descendants of Eisav and Yishmael. He made a gesture of peace towards them. I, too, went to Sichon with words of peace.” It was very nice of Moshe to attempt to circumvent war with overtures of peace, but what about Og? Apparently, Moshe was not about to attempt to assuage him with words of peace. The Baalei Tosfos (cited by Horav Chaim Zaitchik) explain that, since most of Sichon’s land had originally belonged to Ammon and Moav, Moshe felt it prudent to attempt to make peace with them. Og’s land was Eretz Refaim, which had belonged to the seven nations that had inhabited Canaan. Concerning the seven nations, he had no obligation to attempt to make peace. The command concerning them and their land was quite clear: no negotiations.
Rav Chaim Zaitchk, zl, (Maayanei Chaim) adds an alternative approach concerning why Moshe was disinterested in pursuing a peaceful encounter with Og. Og was different than Sichon, because he had a taste of Yiddishkeit. He had seen, experienced and recognized the Hand of Hashem. His actions were no longer a reflection of ignorance, but of willful and perhaps malicious disregard of what he had observed. One who knows better and still sins bears a heavier burden. Awareness creates responsibility. This is the concept which Chazal refer to as shanah u’pireish, one who learned, one who has been exposed to the truth, yet has the temerity to turn away.
Let us see how this played out in the life of Og, King of Bashan. Og survived the Mabul, the great Flood that destroyed civilization, because the sinful behavior of the people rendered them unworthy of life on this world. No future could emanate from such a society. Og saw the punishment meted out to those who sin, and he also saw the reward of life and rebuilding, for those like Noach and his family, for the manner in which they had lived prior to the Mabul, as well as for the extraordinary chesed they exhibited during their stay on the Ark.
Og attended Avraham Avinu’s seudah celebrating Yitzchak Avinu’s birth. He served as the palit, messenger, who informed Avraham of Lot having been taken captive. He encountered Avraham during a moment of spiritual intensity, as he observed him baking ugos – matzos. Og was not a man who lived in darkness. His evil was not the result of ignorance and base behavior due to lack of exposure to spiritual refinement. Og lived in light. He had seen the light, yet; he decided to close his eyes. This is not failure; this is pure malevolent rejection.
One who sins after seeing — after knowing and experiencing — the truth/light is acting counterintuitively to the light. His failure is not just failure – it is a spurning rebuff of everything that he knows is truly good. His accountability is greater; his path to return, more difficult. He is not searching for the truth; he found it – and turned away. Og was a shanah u’pireish. It is not as if he cannot
