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REPHAIM.—A name given in several Biblical passages to some pre-Israelitish people. In Gen_14:5 they are said to have dwelt in Ashteroth-karnaim. Gen_15:20 classes them with Hittites and Perizzites (similarly Jos_17:15). Deu_2:11; Deu_2:20 calls certain peoples ‘Rephaim’ whom the Moabites and Ammonites called respectively ‘Emim’ and ‘Zamzummin.’ Deu_3:11 says that Og, king of Bashan, alone remained of the Rephaim (so also Jos_12:4; Jos_13:12), while Deu_3:13 says that Argob was a land of Rephaim. A valley near Jerusalem was also called the ‘Vale of Rephaim’ (see 2Sa_5:18; 2Sa_5:22; 2Sa_23:13, 1Ch_11:15; 1Ch_14:9, Isa_17:5). Because Deu_2:11 counts them with the Anakim, who were giants, and 2Sa_21:18-22 says that the sons of a certain Rapha (see RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ) were giants, it has been supposed by some that Rephaim means ‘giants,’ and was given to a race as their name by their neighbours because of their stature. Cf. art. Giant.
The word rãph â’îm in Hebrew means also ‘shades’ or disembodied spirits. At least it is used to describe the dead, as in Psa_88:10. Schwally is probably right, therefore (Leben nach dem Tode, 64 ff. and ZATW [Note: ATW Zeitschrift far die Alttest. Wissenschaft.] , xviii. 127 ff.), in holding that the word means ‘shades,’ and that it was applied by the Israelites to people who were dead and gone, and of whom they knew little.
George A. Barton.