AFTER HE HAD SMITTEN SIHON, THE KING OF THE AMORITES, WHO 'DWELT' IN HESHBON — for Heshbon was not his, but he conquered it from the king of Moab and he built it to be his royal capital. Similarly, and Og the king of Bashan, who 'dwelt' in Ashtaroth, at Edrei¹ means that it was previously the land of Rephaim² [and then it was occupied by the king of the Amorites] as I will explain³ with the help of G-d. And because Scripture states, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei,⁠⁴ it indicates that Ashtaroth is the name of a place in which Edrei is located [as will be explained further]. The text of the Sifre is as follows:⁠⁵ "'B'ashtaroth' — it was as hard as ashtaroth. 'B'edrei' — this was the seat of the government [i.e., the royal city].⁠" Rashi wrote: "Ashtaroth — is an expression denoting rocks and hardness. Ashtaroth is Ashteroth-karnaim⁶ where the Rephaim were, as it is said, and they smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim.⁠⁷ 'B'edrei' — this was the name of the kingdom [indicating that the kingdom of Edrei was located in Ashteroth-karnaim]. And⁸ so it is written, 'ashteroth' of thy sheep,⁠⁹ meaning, as Targum [Onkelos] rendered it ['the flocks of thy sheep']. And our Rabbis have said:⁠¹⁰ Why is the name ashtaroth given to them [i.e., flocks of sheep]? It is because they 'enrich' [from the Hebrew word ashir — rich] their owners and strengthen them like these ashtaroth which are strong rocks.⁠" [This is Rashi's language].
Now the Rabbi [Rashi] incorporated into the word [ashtaroth] two meanings [strength and riches], but we do not know from what source the Rabbi inferred that ashtaroth is a name for rocks and stones. But it is possible for us to say that ashtaroth is a term for flocks of sheep, from the word ashir (rich) as in the words of the Sages [quoted above: "Why is their name ashtaroth? It is because they enrich their owners"]. Ashteroth-karnaim¹¹ was a place of high mountains upon which there were strongholds of stone, these being likened by Scripture to "the horns of cattle,⁠" just as Scripture likens them to "teeth,⁠" as it says upon 'the crag' [literally: "the tooth"] of the rock, and the stronghold.⁠¹² Similarly, upon 'the horns' of the altar.⁠¹³ So also, 'b'keren' ben shamen¹⁴ [literally: "in a fruitful 'horn'"] which the Targum [Yonathan ben Uziel] renders: "On a high hill, in a fruitful land.⁠" There, [upon these high hills,] the flocks of sheep ascend, the he-goats, the she-goats, and the wild-goats¹⁵ and their like; and therefore the place is called Ashteroth-karnaim¹⁶ [because the flocks which "enrich" their owners (ashtaroth) ascend to the "horns" of the mountain (karnaim)]. So also, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth¹⁷ — 'Ashtaroth' because the idol was made in the form of a sheep in order to protect them [the flocks of sheep], in accordance with their foolish belief. [This is in line with our explanation of the word ashtaroth as a synonym for sheep.] Now at the foot of the mountain they built a city whose name was Edrei, this being intimated in the verse which states, and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Edrei,⁠¹⁸ denoting that he gathered his entire army to the city where the palace of the king and the throne of the kingdom were. And this is the purport of the [following] Midrashic text [which seems to agree with Rashi's interpretation], wherein the Rabbis, of blessed memory, have stated: "Who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. Even if Og himself had not been difficult to defeat but had resided in Ashtaroth, he would have been difficult to defeat, because the city was a difficult one to capture etc.⁠"¹⁹ Therefore they interpreted, Ashtaroth to mean that it was "as hard as Ashtaroth,⁠"²⁰ [the phrase from which Rashi, quoted above, deduced that the word ashtaroth is defined as "hard"], as if to say that his residence was like the fortified city of Ashteroth-karnaim²¹ from which he and his family originated; for at that time he was not residing in Ashtaroth, but was residing in the land of the Amorites. And "the place of the government" [mentioned in the Sifre above] means that the city where he lived was Edrei²² but Bashan was the name of the land of his kingdom.