Rephaim
REPHAIM
The Hebrew word is used in two distinct significations.1. REPHAIM is used to comprehend all the gigantic races of the Canaanites, of whom there were several families. There were Rephaim beyond Jordan, at Ashtaroth Karnaim, in the time of Abraham, Gen 14:5 ; also some in the time of Moses. Og king of Bashan was of the Rephaim. In the time of Joshua, some of their descendants dwelt in the land of Canaan, Jos 12:4 17:15, and we hear of them in David’s time, in the city of Gath, 1Ch 20:4-6 . The giant Goliath and others were the remains of the Rephaim, or of the kindred family of Anakim. Their magnitude and strength are often spoken of in Scripture. They appear to have excelled in violence and crime, and hence are monuments of divine justice.2. REPHAIM, the shades or spirits of the departed, dwelling in Sheol or Hades, generally rendered in our version, “the dead” (“dead things,” Job 26:5 ); Psa 88:10 ; Pro 2:18 ; 21:16, etc.THE VALLEY OF THE REPHAIM, OR GIANTS, was famous in Joshua’s time, Jos 15:8 17:15 18:16, and in the time of David, who here defeated the Philistines, 2Sa 5:18,22 1Ch 11:6 14:9. It was a broad and fertile valley, Isa 17:5, beginning near the valley of Hinnom, and extending several miles south-west from Jerusalem, when it contracted to a narrow passage leading off towards the Mediterranean. It was in Judah, but near the border of Benjamin.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Rephaim
[many Reph’aim] (Heb. usually with the art. ha-Rephaim’, [see below]), a name which frequently occurs, and in some remarkable passages, as that of a race of unusual stature, who originally dwelt in the country east of the Jordan. The earliest mention of them is the record of their defeat by Chedorlsaomer and some allied kings at Ashteroth Karnaim; Gen 14:5). They are again mentioned (15:20); their dispersion recorded (Deu 2:10; Deu 2:20), and Og the giant king of Bashan said to be the only remnant of them (3:11; Jos 12:4; Jos 13:12; Jos 17:15). Extirpated, however, from the east of Palestine, they long found a home in the West; and in connection with the Philistines, under whose protection the small remnant of them may have lived, they still employed their arms against the Hebrews (2Sa 21:18 sq.; 1Ch 20:4). In the latter passage there seems, however, to be some confusion between the Rephaim and the sons of a particular giant of Gath, named Rapha. Such a name may have been conjectured as that of a founder of the race, like the names Ion, Dorus, Teut, etc. (Bottcher, De Inferis, p. 96, note); Rapha occurs also as a proper name (1Ch 7:25; 1Ch 8:2; 1Ch 8:37). It is probable that they had possessed districts west of the Jordan in early times, since the valley of Rephaim ( , 2Sa 5:18; 1Ch 11:15; Isa 17:5; . , Joseph. Ant. 7:4, 1), a rich valley south-west of Jerusalem, derived its name from them. That they were not Canaanites is clear from there being no allusion to them in Gen 10:15-19. They were probably one of those aboriginal peoples to whose existence the traditions of many nations testify, and of whose genealogy the Bible gives us no information. The few names recorded have, as Ewald remarks, a Shemitic aspect (Gesch. des Volkes Isr. i, 311); but from the hatred existing between them and both the Canaanites and Hebrews, some suppose them to be Japhethites, who comprised especially the inhabitants of the coasts and islands (Kalisch, on Genesis p. 351). SEE CANAANITE.
is rendered by the Greek versions very variously (Sept. , , , , , and [Psalm 87:10; Isa 26:14, where it is confused with ; comp. Genesis 1, 2], and sometimes , , especially in the later versions). In the A.V. the words used for it are Rephaim, giants, and the dead. That it has the latter meaning in many passages.is certain (Psa 88:10; Pro 2:18; Pro 9:18; Pro 21:16; Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19). The question arises, how are these meanings to be reconciled? Gesenius gives no derivation for the national name, and derives =mortui, from , sanavit, and the proper name Rapha from an Arabic root signifying tall, thus seeming to sever all connection between the meanings of the word, which is surely most unlikely. Masius, Simon, etc., suppose the second meaning to come from the fact that both spectres and giants strike terror (accepting the derivation from , remisit, unstrung with fear, R. Bechai, on Deuteronomy 2); Vitringa and Hiller from the notion of length involved in stretching out a corpse, or from the fancy that spirits appear in more than human size (Hiller, Syntagn. Hermen. p. 205; Virg. AEn. ii, 772, etc.). J. D. Michaelis (ad Lowth S. Poes. p. 466) endeavored to prove that the Rephaim, etc., were troglodytes, and that hence they came to be identified with the dead. Passing over other conjectures, Bottcher sees in and a double root, and thinks that the giants were called (languefacti) by a euphemism; and that the dead were’so called by a title which will thus exactly parallel the Greek , (comp. Buttmann, Lexil. ii, 237 sq.). An attentive consideration seems to leave little room for doubt that the dead were called Rephaim (as Gesenius also hints) tfrom some notion of Sheol being the residence of the fallen spirits or buried giants. The passages which seem most strongly to prove this are Pro 21:16 (where obviously something more than mere physical death is meant, since that is the common lot of all), Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19, which are difficult to explain without some such supposition, Isa 14:9, where the word (Sept. ), if taken in its literal meaning of goats, may mean evil spirits represented in that form (comp. Lev 17:7), and especially Job 26:5-6. Behold the gyantes (A.V. dead things) grown under the waters (Douay version), where there seems to be clear allusion to some subaqueous prison of rebellious spirits like that in which (according to the Hindui legend) Vishnu the water-god confines a race of giants (comp. , as a title of Neptune, Hesiod, Theog. 732; Nork, Brammin. und Rabb. p. 319 sq.). SEE GIANT. Branches of this great unknown people were the following
1. EMIM (; Septt. , ), smitten by Chedorlaomer at Shaveh Kiriathaim (Gen 14:5), and occupying the country afterwards held by the Moabites (Deu 2:10), who gave them the name , terrors. The word rendered tall may perhaps be merely haughty (). SEE EMIM.
2. ANAKIM (). The imbecile terror of the spies exaggerated their proportions into something superhuman (Num 13:28; Num 13:33), and their name became proverbial (Deu 2:10; Deu 9:2). SEE ANAKIM.
3. ZUZIM (), whose principal town was Ham (Gen 14:5), and who lived between the Arnon and the Jabbok, being a northern tribe of Rephaim. The Ammonites who defeated them called them Zamzunzim, (Deu 2:20 sq., which is, however, probably an early gloss). See Jour. Sac. Lit. Oct. 1851, p. 151 sq.; Jan. 1852, p. 363 sq.; April, 1852, p. 55 sq.; July, 1852, p. 302 sq.; Oct. 1852, p. 87 sq.; Jan. 1853, p. 279 sq. SEE ZUZIM.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Rephaim
lofty men; giants, (Gen. 14:5; 2 Sam. 21:16, 18, marg. A.V., Rapha, marg. R.V., Raphah; Deut. 3:13, R.V.; A.V., “giants”). The aborigines of Palestine, afterwards conquered and dispossessed by the Canaanite tribes, are classed under this general title. They were known to the Moabites as Emim, i.e., “fearful”, (Deut. 2:11), and to the Ammonites as Zamzummim. Some of them found refuge among the Philistines, and were still existing in the days of David. We know nothing of their origin. They were not necessarily connected with the “giants” (R.V., “Nephilim”) of Gen. 6:4. (See GIANTS)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
REPHAIM
Prior to Israels conquest of Canaan, the Rephaim were scattered over a wide area on both sides of the Jordan. They were one of many groups who were to be destroyed when Israel took possession of Canaan (Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20; Deu 2:9-11; Deu 2:19-21). They were of large stature (comparable in size to the Anakim; see ANAK), and were feared by other peoples of the region (Deu 2:10-11; Deu 2:20-21; Jos 12:4). There was a valley west of Jerusalem known as the Valley of Rephaim (Jos 15:8; 2Sa 5:18).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Rephaim
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 rphm 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.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Rephaim
refa-im, re-faim (, repha’m, from , rapha’, a terrible one hence giant, in 1Ch 20:4, , yeldhe ha-rapha’, sons of the giant; the King James Version, Rephaims): A race of aboriginal or early inhabitants East of the Jordan in Ashterothkarnaim (Gen 14:5) and in the valley of Rephaim Southwest of Jerusalem (Jos 15:8). They associated with other giant races, as the Emim and Anakim (Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11) and the Zamzummim (Deu 2:20). It is probable that they were all of the same stock, being given different names by the different tribes who came in contact with them. The same Hebrew word is rendered the dead, or the shades in various passages (Job 26:5 margin; Psa 88:10 margin; Pro 2:18 margin; Pro 9:18 margin; Pro 21:16 margin; Isa 14:9 margin; Isa 26:14, Isa 26:19 margin). In these instances the word is derived from , rapheh, weak, powerless, a shadow or shade.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Rephaim
Rephaim, an ancient people of unusual stature, who, in the time of Abraham, dwelt in the country beyond the Jordan, in and about Ashtoreth-Karnaim (Gen 14:5). There seems reason to think that the Rephaim were the most ancient or aboriginal inhabitants of Palestine prior to the Canaanites, by whom they were gradually dispossessed of the regions west of the Jordan, and driven beyond that river. Only a remnant of the race remained at the time of the ingress of the Israelites under Joshua.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Rephaim
[Repha’im] See GIANT.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Rephaim
1. An ancient people of Palestine, of great stature
Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20; Deu 2:11; Deu 2:20; Deu 3:11; Deu 3:13; Jos 12:4; Jos 13:12; Jos 17:15
2. A valley:
– Boundary between Judah and Benjamin
Jos 15:8; Jos 18:16
– Battle ground of David and the Philistines
2Sa 5:18; 2Sa 5:22; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 11:15; 1Ch 14:9
– Productiveness of
Isa 17:5
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Rephaim
Rephaim (rph’a-m or re-ph’im), Valley of. Jos 15:8; Jos 18:16; and translated “the valley of the giants” in the A. V., but vale of “Rephaim” in the R. V. It was one of the landmarks of the land of Judah, named after the Rephaim, or “giants,” who at an early period were found on both sides of the Jordan. Comp. Gen 14:5; Deu 3:11-13; Jos 13:12; Jos 17:15. David twice defeated the Philistines in this valley. 2Sa 5:17-25; 2Sa 23:13; 1Ch 11:15-16; 1Ch 14:9-16. The valley was noted for its fertility. Isa 17:5. Its position as a boundary of Judah would indicate it to have been south of the valley of Hinnom.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Rephaim
Reph’a-im. See Giants.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Rephaim
The Rephaim were the ancient giants of the land of Canaan. There were anciently several families of them in this country. It is commonly thought that they were descended from one called Rephah or Rapha; but others imagine that the word Rephaim properly signifies giants, in the ancient language of this people. There were some of the Rephaim beyond Jordan, at Ashteroth Karnaim, in the time of Abraham, when Chedorlaomer made war against them, Gen 14:5. There were also some of them in the country in the days of Moses. Og, king of Bashan, was one of the posterity of the Rephaim, Jos 12:4. Also in the time of Joshua there were some of their descendants in the land of Canaan, Joshua 17; Joshua 15. Lastly, we hear of them still in David’s time, in the city of Gath, 1Ch 20:4-6. The giants Goliah, Sippai, Lahmi, and others, were some remains of the Rephaim; their magnitude and strength are known from Scripture. See GIANTS.