Rephaim

Repha'im [many Reph'aim] (Heb. usually with the art. ha-Rephaim', הָרפָאַים [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;

Ge 14:5). They are again mentioned (15:20); their dispersion recorded (De 2:10,20), 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 8:2,37). It is probable that they had possessed districts west of the Jordan in early times, since the "valley of Rephaim" (κοιλὰς τῶν Τιτάνων, 2Sa 5:18; 1Ch 11:15; Isa 17:5; κ. τῶν γιγάντων, 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 Ge 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.