REPHAIM rĕf’ ĭ əm (רְפָאִימ֒, H8327; LXX see below; derived either from Heb. רָפָא֒, H8324, to heal, or from the root רפה, to sink, relax, in sense; sunken, powerless ones).

1. The word may denote the inhabitants of the nether world in both the OT (esp. in poetic and wisdom lit.), in Phoen. funerary inscrs. (Tabnith and Eshmunazar, c. 300 b.c.; cf. G. A. Cooke, North Semitic Inscriptions [1903], 26ff., 30ff.), and prob. in a group of fragmentary and obscure Ugaritic mythological texts (rpum, rpim). The most that can be said with certainty about this use of rephaim is that the Israelites applied the term to people who were dead and gone. The word is used in parallel with מֵתִימ׃֙, “the dead” (Ps 88:10; Prov 2:18; Isa 26:14); they are in Sheol (Prov 9:18; Isa 14:9); they cannot praise God now (Ps 88:10); and their case is now hopeless (Isa 26:14). Some texts may suggest that they are conscious in their insubstantial afterlife: they tremble (Job 26:5); they welcome the newly dead to Sheol (Isa 14:9), and constitute a united assembly (Prov 9:18; Isa 14:9). These texts are best interpreted by understanding the poets to be using the figure of speech called prosopoeia (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used In the Bible [reprinted 1968], 861, 866). According to Isaiah 26:19 these will at some future day be raised into light. There is a suggestion in Isaiah 14:9; 26:14, in the Phoen. inscrs. and in the Ugaritic texts that they are the aristocracy of the dead. See Sheol.

2. The inhabitants of Trans-Jordan in pre-Israelite times whom the Moabites and Ammonites called respectively “Emim” and “Zamzummim.” They were subdued by Chedorlaomer at c. 2000 b.c. in Ashtaroth-karnaim (Gen 14:5; LXX γίγαντας, “giants”). Ashtaroth, capital of ancient Bashan, sits on the famous King’s Highway and is near Karnaim which inherited its place as the regional capital under Aramaean and Assyrian rule. Their land is one of ten ethnic groups promised to Abraham (Gen 15:20). This promise is later qualified to exclude their land later taken over by the Moabites (Deut 2:10, 11) and the Ammonites (Deut 2:20, LXX ̔Ραφαΐν, LXX Alexandrinus ̔Ρεφαειμ), and to designate their holdings in Gilead and the whole of Bashan (Deut 3:13; LXX ̔Ραφαΐν) including the Forest of Ephraim (Josh 17:15). Og, king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and who was defeated by Moses was the last survivor of the remnant of the Rephaim (Josh 12:4; 13:12; LXX γίγαντας).

Deuteronomy 2:10, 11 says that they were great, many and tall like the Anakim. Og, king of Bashan, for example possessed a kingsize iron bed, nine cubits long and four cubits broad. Probably this statement combined with statements about the descendants of Rapha, who were giants associated with the Philistines in the time of David, caused the occasional tr. of “giants” in the LXX and Targ. Onkelos. G. E. Wright reasoned that “the Israelite tradition of giant Rephaim undoubtedly arose in part from the contemplation of megalithic structures especially in Transjordan.” In a note he added: “comparatively few of these structures have been found in Western Palestine” (“Troglodytes and Giants in Palestine,” JBL LVII [1938], 37). But here G. E. Wright is inconsistent with his normal and preferred method of interpreting artifacts. Instead of regarding these artifacts as occasioning an Israelite aetiology they should be regarded as circumstantial evidence supporting the Biblical narrative.

3. Giants among the Philistines who fought against David and his mighty men along their disputed border both at Gezer (1 Chron 20:4; LXX γίγαντας) and at Gath (1 Chron 20:6, 8). These giants were the descendants of Rapha, the eponymous ancestor of these Rephaim. The use of the article with Rapha, “the giant,” points up this fact (הָרָפָֽא, in 1 Chron 20:6, 8, LXX τῷ ̔Ραφὰ̀ and הָרָפָ֗ה, in 2 Sam 21:16, 18, 20, 22; LXX τοῦ ̔Ραφὰ̀).

The RSV correctly distinguished these three senses of rephaim by tr. it respectively “shades,” “Rephaim” and “giants.” The relationship between these three usages is obscure.

Bibliography G. E. Wright, “Troglodytes and Giants,” JBL, LVII (1938), 305-309; J. Gray, “The Rephaim,” PEQ, LXXXIV (1949), 127-139; G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, OT Studies, no. 3 (1956), 9, 10, 67-71, 155; W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (1968), n. 43.