Bulls of Bashan – Who are they in Psalm 22:12?
As we reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus, we may wonder who or what the “strong bulls of Bashan” referred to in Psalm 22:12 might be. This psalm, written by David, eerily describes the crucifixion of Jesus and even includes words that he spoke on the Cross:
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Psalm 22:1-13 (NRSV)
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, and not human;
scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock at me;
they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”
9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
10 On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls encircle me,
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
In Psalm 22, the “bulls of Bashan” oppress the anointed one of God. Similarly, in Amos 4:1, the “cows of Bashan” are highly oppressive toward human life. Are the writers referring to actual bovine animals, or is there a deeper spiritual meaning behind these descriptions?
Keep in mind that if something seems strange, it may be significant. So, who or what are the “strong bulls/cows of Bashan”? To understand, we must consider what Bashan meant to the ancient Israelites.
Bashan, located east of the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, was a beautifully fertile area filled with lush pastures and vast woodlands that housed high-quality trees suitable for construction. It was also quite mountainous in certain places, including the Golan Heights (as mentioned in 1 Chronicles 6:71), where Mount Hermon could be found.
 Bashan: North-east of Galilee |  Mount Hermon as seen from Galilee |
Cosmic Geography
Throughout the Old and New Testaments, there is a hidden spiritual battle between two mountains: Hermon and Zion. [1] The land of Bashan is believed to be where deceased and deified kings resided [2], and it was called the land of the Rephaim. In Psalm 68:15-16, Mount Hermon is mentioned in the Old Testament as opposed to Yahweh’s holy mountain, Zion.
In Bashan lived a giant named King Og (Numbers 21:33 and Deuteronomy 3:1-17). He belonged to a group of giants called the Rephaim, which included Goliath and were believed to result from human/fallen angel hybridization recorded in Genesis 6:1-4 and 1 Enoch 1-36 (known as the Book of the Watchers). This event is also linked with the dispersal of nations and the fallen “sons of God” from the Divine Council being assigned over them (as seen in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 and Psalms 82;89). King Og was not just a physically large king (his iron bed measured 13ft long and 6ft wide) but also one of the Rephaim. To learn more about the Rephaim and other spirit beings mentioned in Scripture, check out our article about the Rephaim.
To The Gates of Hades
In the first century CE, Caesarea Philippi was located at the base of the Mount Hermon range. It was previously known as a cave grotto dedicated to various fertility gods, who were believed to go underground during the winter and resurface during the summer. This cave was called ‘the gates of Hades’, the realm of the dead or the underworld. [3] In Matthew 16, Jesus takes his disciples to this location and declares, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” The word ‘prevail’ is not an accurate translation, as gates are defensive structures and not offensive weapons. When Jesus and his disciples crossed over Galilee to the eastern shore, as recorded in the story of the Gadarean Demoniac, they entered an area ruled by other “sons of God” assigned by Yahweh to them as per Deuteronomy 32:8, 9. These were the strong bulls of Bashan, the sons of God, who were now the gods of the nations in that region.
Cows of Bashan…
The “cows of Bashan” was a term used to refer to Samarian women who were associated with a fertility god in the shape of a bull and were known as “Baal’s wives”. [4] Those interested in delving deeper into this topic can read Amos 4 and John 4 in parallel to uncover their connections. This will reveal what Jesus discussed with the Woman of Samaria, who worshipped on Mount Gerazim, and the possibility that Amos prophesied this conversation.
Provoking the Forces of Hades
After Jesus performed an exorcism on a demon-possessed man in Mark 5:1-20, he was initially rejected from the region. However, he was welcomed upon his return and could travel further into the territory, even to Caesarea Philippi. Here, Jesus made a famous statement to Peter about building his church on “this rock” (Matthew 16:18). Interestingly, they were standing on a rock that was believed to be a gateway to the underworld.
At this moment, Jesus revealed a portion of his strategy, and the opposition became aware of it. The “sons of God” (also known as fallen angels or gods) would not surrender easily in that area. Therefore, Jesus slowly revealed to his disciples that he would need to go to Jerusalem, endure suffering and death due to his mission (Matthew 16:21), and advised them to keep his identity a secret for a time.
The Honeytrap
The curiously worded “strong bulls of Bashan” who surrounded Jesus at the time were the unseen forces of darkness that gathered to ensure his incarnation would end. However, this plan backfired, for as Paul says:
7 But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (NRSV)
Some interpret the ‘rulers (‘archón‘ in Greek) to refer to the political authorities during that time, but in the context of the Messianic Age, it can also mean ‘first in rank or power’, such as a chief ruler, magistrate, or prince. [5] This aligns with the idea that the bulls of Bashan represent spiritual princes, who were judged as sons of God and given authority over other nations during that age. These princes were lured into uniting against Jesus, the unique, uncreated Son of God, at the site of his crucifixion.
This could explain why Jesus mentioned darkness being associated with those who arrested him (Luke 22:53). [6] It is often observed that when evil is present in a location, it appears physically darker, and after the area is cleansed or exorcised, people note how much brighter it becomes.
The Sting
According to Paul, if they had known that the Resurrection was a part of God’s hidden mystery since the beginning of time, they would not have taken the actions they did. It was a detrimental mistake, as the Cross was used as a honeytrap to draw them into their downfall. Paul conveys this message to the Colossians.
He disarmed the rulers [archas] and authorities [exousias [7]] and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it [the crucifixion].
Colossians 2:15 (NRSV)
The initial phase of Jesus’ mission at the Cross is discussed here. However, for the second phase, which involves bringing the kingdom of heaven to those in the underworld, please refer to our “The Harrowing of Hades” article, which covers the complete work of Christ from the Cross to Resurrection.
Summary
According to ancient Hebraic beliefs, the mighty bulls of Bashan were the ‘sons of God’ who had authority over the world’s nations. These entities were enemies of the unique Son of God, Jesus Christ, and were part of the engineering of his crucifixion. However, this fatal mistake led to their stripping of power over humanity, for the dawn of the Resurrection a few days later solidified Christ’s victory over death and Hades for all eternity.
To read more about the heavenly realms in the Bible, please see The Invisible Dimension. Read more about it, including its endorsements and author.
Bibliography
Heiser, M. S. (2015), The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural View Of the Bible, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Heiser, M. S. (2017), Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers & the Forgotten Mission of Jesus Christ, Missouri: Defender Publishing.
Van der Toorn, K., Van der Horst, P. W., et al (1998), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.
Footnotes
[1] Heiser, 2015; Heiser, 2017 [^]
[2] DDD,162 [^]
[3] Biblelands.com [^]
[4] DDD, 162 [^]
[5] Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, G758 [^]
[6] Those who have been in the presence of great evil have sometimes noted that it physically appears darker than normal. Perhaps this darkness was not some judgement of God, but the presence of a large number of evil forces bearing witness to the crucifixion. Just a thought. Note: the darkness itself isn’t evil – I’m a night owl and enjoy the landscape in darkness – and it was part of God’s very good creation. [^]
[7] Englishman’s Concordance [^]
Thanks for writing this, I found it very interesting and lined up with what the spirit was talking to me about
I fully agree with your explanation of the Bulls of Bashan being the judged sons of God and the triumph of Christ Jesus over them. Thank you for sharing this .
This is well done…
This is really an eye opener, gives a lot of deep insight to the bulls of bashan, and Enoch did prophesied about them
Thank you for putting this article out there. This is the first time seeing your site. I love how you link the scripture in for quick reference. I look forward to reading more of your articles
interesting, could not have written it better myself though I question one point.. the Giants as children of the fallen. Scripture is specific all living died which were not on the Ark of noah. thus none of the raphahim survived the flood. while Enoch is not cannonical, he claims the fallen watched all their children die off before they were imprisoned. and I do not believe there was a 2nd group of fallen after the flood.. none would be foolish enough to do it after seeing what happened to the first group. I have heard it taught (though I cannot find the source) that writings of forbidden knowledge were used to perverte ones body to become a raphahim, such as nimrod is reputed to have done (the fore runner of modern genetic engineering, such as the dinosaurs that did not survive the flood). while there were giants in the land at the exodus, I would not call them the children of the fallen.
The Rephaim are generally accepted to be the spirits of royalty in the majority of the texts that mention them, not some non-human spirits: https://ghostsghoulsandgod.co.uk/2021/03/the-rephaim/. I think you mean Nephilim, in which case, there are two possible solutions to your perceived problem:
1) Assuming a worldwide flood, we’re talking about two separate incidents of falls. This ties in with the mainstream Jewish understanding that there were three falls: a) Edenic b) Genesis 6:1-4 (expanded in 1 Enoch 6-19), and c) Genesis 11’s Tower of Babel.
The argument that they wouldn’t do it again (i.e. Fall (c)) because of the judgement that fell upon the tranche of fallen heavenly beings in Fall (b) doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny as one could argue that Fall (b) wouldn’t happen if there’d been a judgement against Satan in Fall (a) as they wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to them. When humans and spirits decide they want to rebel, they do it, regardless of the past judgements (as we can see in the world today).
I’d recommend reading through the articles on the Watchers in the Biblical Demonology series, as this will give much more detail that’s missing in much of Western Christianity that’s only just becoming more aware of the Second Temple literature such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees.
2) If it wasn’t a worldwide flood, and merely a super-huge local flood in the Mesopotamian region, it would be fairly straightforward to say that they were descendants of those who weren’t in that region at the time of the Flood.
My stance is that it was a second tranche of rebellious heavenly beings that had been assigned over the various 70 nations after the destruction of the first flood.
I would agree.
The Nephilim were born from the daughters of man and therefore had living flesh. They died in the flood.
But this surely would not be something that would keep the sons of God from laying with the daughters of man again.
Beautiful article. Great content, very well-written. Such articles never hold my attention, but for the first time, I read to the end, including comments!
Two thumbs up! I’ve bookmarked this site, cos I’ll definitely be back to read more.
Thank you for your kind comments. Glad you enjoyed it and I pray you enjoy all the other articles on here too.
Every blessing,
Matt
As a systematic biblical paranormologist, I would like to focus on one paragraph, if I may:
There’s no indication that Og was a “giant” (assuming you imply subjectively unusual height) since we’ve no physical description of him at all.
There’s also no indication he had, “six fingers and toes.”
When you say “He was one of the giants, Rephaim” you seem to discern that the English word “giants” in some Bibles does not, contextually, refer to height at all but is, in this case, merely rendering (not even translating) “Rephaim.”
I’m unsure to whom you are appealing by “were believed to be” but there’s no indication at all that Rephaim were “descended from the hybridisation of humans / fallen angels” since the result of that hybridization did not make it past the flood in any way, shape, or form (lest one wants to imply that God failed).
1 Enoch contradicts the Bible, a lot, and contains obvious folklore about Nephilim, such as asserting they were miles tall.
Thus, “He was not just a physical giant king” since there’s no indication that he was (what you imply by) giant (this time) at all.
I’ll point you to the text in Deuteronomy 3:11, which reads “Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four cubits wide.” – Now, granted there is no actual physical description of King Og in the Bible, the fact that he is immediately labelled as being one of the Rephaim in the text itself gives away his association, and his bed size is linked with this as a literary device to show his stature.
The assumption that he had six fingers and toes comes from the polydactylism found in these “giant” clans, revealed in 2 Samuel 21:18-22.
You also make the assumption that the fall rendered in Genesis 6:1-4 through hybridization of human-Watchers did not continue past the Flood, yet we are told the Nephilim (Fallen Ones) existed beyond the Flood in Genesis 6:4 which says that there were hybrids born after the Flood as well. These were the Anakim, hill-dwellers that were the bane of Israelite existence and why you get the war polemic against them to completely erase them from the earth. It’s not that God failed, merely that you have three falls mentioned in Scripture: Eden, Genesis 6:1-4 and Genesis 11 (where the ziggurat Tower of Babel, which had the heavenlies in its top (a perfectly fine grammatical translation of the Hebrew) as a human made ‘cosmic mountain’ where such practices were continued and evil hybrids created.
“1 Enoch contradicts the Bible, a lot”… that’s a common fallacy which I’ve heard many times, yet when each of the 50+ “contradictions” are examined, they really don’t stack up at all. Yes, there’s “Nephilim” which are ‘miles tall’, but you seem to take that as a literalist would, instead of as a literary device to explain the immense stature of the beings.
I think you’ve misread the article about the nature of ‘giants’ here, and perhaps should go back over it to see how ‘giant’ can simply mean ‘unusually tall person compared to the surrounding natives’.
Thanks for taking the time to ironing out these issues.
I’m unsure to what you’re referring by, “immediately labelled as being one of the Rephaim in the text itself gives away his association”: association of what to what?
You assert, “his bed size is linked with this as a literary device to show his stature” but that depends on the “what to what” about which I asked. And yet, not really since such a “bed” has been found in the Etemenanki ziggurat and it’s not something to be slept upon, it is a ritual object upon which alleged gods and supposed goddesses mated.
If you are merely assuming he had extra digits you need to elucidate that to your readers—and you mean Rephaim clan (which was more like a tribe, actually).
Nowhere does Genesis 6:4 “says that there were hybrids born after the Flood as well.” In fact, the flood is not even mentioned for the very first time until a full 13 verses after that.
Moreover, Genesis 6:4 is about Nephilim but you say Nephilim “were the Anakim” which is just a basic category error. Yet, I know that you are making that assertion based exclusively on Numbers 13:33 which means that you are actually believing an evil report spoken by utterly unreliable guys whom God rebuked. Plus, you could not even make that assertion from the LXX for that verse since it has no reference to Anakim in it. Besides, there’s zero reliable indication that anyone at all could even possibly be related to Nephilim post-flood.
Indeed, it’s not that God failed but post-flood Nephilim believers who imply that He failed.
Now, you referenced Genesis 6:4 and then asserted, “Tower of Babel…where such practices were continued and evil hybrids created” but there’s zero indication of any such thing.
That 1 Enoch contradicts the Bible, a lot is no fallacy: I published an entire chapter’s worth of examples in a book. Besides, who cares? It’s just folklore from millennia after the Torah was written anyhow.
I’m unsure how “Yes, there’s ‘Nephilim’ which are ‘miles tall’” is true but not literal since that would mean there never was any such a thing as Nephilim which are miles tall.
Yet, you still refer to “the immense stature of the beings” when, after all, we’ve zero reliable physical description of them.
I utterly agree that perhaps the best definition of “giant” is just subjectively “unusually tall person compared to the surrounding natives” or, rather, surrounding peoples.
This is rather odd, I could have sworn I replied to your reply but I don’t see it herein.
Anyhow, it seems to me that the one and only reason to have to invent things such as, “it was a second tranche of rebellious heavenly beings” is exclusively due to one single verse, Num 13:33, which is part of an evil report by utterly unreliable guys whom God rebuked.
Without that one verse, no one would ever think there were post-flood Nephilim and no one should since that’s just a “Don’t go in the woods” type of fear-mongering scare-tactic tall-tale.
Hi Ken,
Sorry I haven’t responded earlier. I’ve been busy with research and writing for a book, as you can see by the lack of articles I’ve written for the website since last October!
I don’t believe that Numbers 13:33 is the only reference to there being Nephilim after the flood… Genesis 6:4 “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterwards — when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.”
As such, a second tranche of heavenly beings falling after the Noahic flood is a highly acceptable reading of what was happening, especially in the light of Psalm 82’s Divine Council, and the judgement of the nations at Babel (Genesis 11, spoken of in Genesis 10:25, and in Deuteronomy 32:8,9). Given that the heavenly beings which fell in Genesis 6:1-2 (cf. 1 Enoch 9:8) were believed to be already imprisoned until the final judgement (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6; 1 Enoch 10:4-6. It seems likely that 1 Peter 3:18-19 is speaking of these incarcerated beings, especially the context of Peter talking about the Noahic flood).
Gotta go, as working on unpacking research on the seraphim (not literally – that would definitely be far too hot to handle!).
Every blessing
Matt
I’m glad you put that last part in about the giants after the flood are Not biological decendents from the giants before the flood… Because that would say that “God saved only Noah and his family, But a few of Satan’s creations were able to avoid God’s punishment” which we know is impossible.
So I agree the principalities defiled humans before the flood but those abominations were destroyed in the flood. However after the repopulation of the earth the principalities did it again so they are made from the same principalities biology but not the same human genealogy.
I do under the other person thinking that was what you said because it is worded to sound like that, but after you cleared it up I see what you are saying.
Thank you for sharing your study.
The ‘and also after’ the Flood part is revealed in a knowledge of what Babel was – the third fall in Scripture, where human-Watcher hybridisation was taking place in the temple on the tops of the ziggurats which were human-made ‘cosmic mountains’.
Well, but in order to not get “the giants after the flood” to not be “biological decendents from the giants before the flood” (and please ignore the English word “giants” and just say to whom you are referring), he literally just invented an un-biblical assertion about more being created latter—for which there’s zero indication.
You likewise assert, “after the repopulation of the earth the principalities did it again” but there’s zero indication of that.
Sorry for the double negative, I meant “…in order to not get ‘the giants after the flood’ to be ‘biological decendents from the giants before the flood’…”
Unsure what happened, I got an email notification stating:
“Hi Ken,
Sorry I haven’t responded earlier. I’ve been busy with research and writing for a book, as you can see by the lack of articles I’ve written for the…
To read more, click here.”
But nothing came up when I clicked. In any case: a man after my own heart, I just finished a new book (just need to finish the cover) about Og of Bashan.
I then started editing one I had set aside.
And I am finishing one that I left half-written.
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