Bibliography Mark S. Smith, Rephaim, ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 674 676. REPHAIM [Heb rĕpāʾı m פ א ים).[(ר A term in the Hebrew Bible whose uses fall generally into two categories: (1) descriptions of the dead in the underworld, or (2) references to a group or nation of giants or warriors. A. The Rephaim as the Dead In the OT the Rephaim are frequently described as dead humans who dwell in the underworld. Ps 88:11 Eng 88:10 sets the Rephaim (RSV shades ) in parallelism with the dead (mētı m), asking if God s love is declared in the grave and if God s wondrous acts are known in the darkness and the land of forgetfulness (vv 12 13 Eng 11 12). The psalmist implores God not to consign him to death and the grave as well as to the underworld where the dead go after life. The same parallelism between the Rephaim ( shades ) and the dead occurs in Isa 26:14, 19. Fifth-century Phoenician inscriptions likewise attest to the Rephaim as those whom the living join in dying (KAI 13:7 8; 14:8). A Punic-Latin bilingual text renders the divine Rephaim with the Lat the sacred shades, that is, V 5, p 675 the dead (KAI 177: 1; Horwitz 1979: 41; L Heureux 1979: 112 27; Cooper 1981: 460 67). References to the Rephaim in the book of Proverbs also indicate that they are the dead dwelling in the netherworld. In Prov 2:18 the house of folly leads (or, sinks down) to death and to the Rephaim. The foolish man does not know that the Rephaim (RSV dead ) are in the underworld, according to Prov 9:18. Prov 21:16 characterizes the Rephaim as a congregation or assembly (qāhāl). Further specification of the abode of the dead Rephaim comes from Job 26:5. In this verse the extent of God s power reaches down beneath the waters of the oceans, down to the abode of the Rephaim. There in the underworld the Rephaim (RSV shades ) tremble at God s might. (The final passage of the Ugaritic Baal cycle, CTA 6.6.46 52, also juxtaposes the sea with the Rephaim in the netherworld). Unlike the references to the Rephaim in Psalm 88, references in the book of Proverbs, Job 26, and Isa 14:9 describe the Rephaim as dead kings. This latter passage is a KAI Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, 3 vols., ed. H. Donner and W. Röllig, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1962 KAI Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften, 3 vols., ed. H. Donner and W. Röllig, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1962 CTA A. Herdner. 1963. Corpus des tablettes en cunéiformes alphabétiques découvertes à Ras Shamra- Ugarit de 1929 à 1939. MRS 10. Paris
genuine reminiscence of the Rephaim as a line of deceased monarchs. When the Lord relegates the king of Babylon to the netherworld, the netherworld and its inhabitants respond in the following way to the latter s arrival: Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come, it rouses the Rephaim to greet you, it raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations. Unlike any other biblical text, this passage preserves vestiges of a 2d-millennium understanding of the Rephaim. For, while other biblical passages as well as the Phoenician inscriptions and the Punic-Latin bilingual know the Rephaim only as the dead in a general sense, the concept of the Rephaim in Isa 14:9 is similar to the Ugaritic notion of the Rephaim as the ancestral line of dead heroes and kings. 2 Chr 16:12 may contain yet another reference to the dead Rephaim. This passage faults the ailing king Asa for consulting doctors (rōpĕʾı m). It has been proposed (Jastrow 1909: 49 n. 23) that Asa did not consult doctors but the Rephaim, perhaps much as Saul asked the witch of Endor to consult the dead (1 Samuel 28). It is difficult to criticize Asa for seeking medical aid unless the help was sought from theologically dangerous sources, such as the dead Rephaim. B. The Rephaim as Giants The Rephaim are also described in the OT as a people. In Gen 14:5, Chedorlaomer and his cohorts smite the Rephaim in Ashtaroth-karnaim along with peoples called Zuzim and Emim. According to Deut 2:10, the Emim had once lived in Moab. They were as tall as the Anakim, who were giants (Num 13:33). According to Deut 2:11, they were also known as the Rephaim, but the Moabites called them Emim. Deut 2:20 relates that the territory of Ammon, like that of Moab, was known as the land of the Rephaim, but that the Ammonites called them Zamzummim. From the perspective of Deuteronomy, the Rephaim were a legendary race of giants existing in the distant past. See also REPHAIM, VALLEY OF. Unlike Gen 14:5, which describes the Rephaim, Zuzim, and Emim as distinct peoples, Deuteronomy understands them as different names for the same people. Gen 15:20 lists the Rephaim with various ethnic groups which inhabited the areas between the Nile and the Euphrates. Because the term Rephaim lacks the formal grammatical indicator for a people in biblical Hebrew, the Rephaim were likely not an actual nation or people, but a loosely defined group used to fill out this list. (One may compare Josh 5:1 or Num 13:29, where the Rephaim are omitted [Rosenberg 1980: 204].) The Genesis and Deuteronomy 2 passages transformed old traditions about the Rephaim from legendary giants into a people comparable to other nations. In 2d second n. note(s)
Deuteronomy, the Rephaim serve part of a further theological purpose. In describing the dispossession of the Rephaim by Moab and Ammon, the Horites by Seir, and the Avvim by Caphtor, Israel s dispossession of the Canaanites is shown to be no less moral (Rosenberg 1980: 208). Other passages in Deuteronomy and Joshua also have a vague view of the Rephaim. Deut 3:11, 13 as well as Josh 12:4 and 13:12 recall Og of Bashan as a remnant of the Rephaim. All of these passages describe the Rephaim as some type of group or nation living in the distant past. The Rephaim as a line of warriors is apparently preserved in the epithet the Raphites (hārāpâ; RSV giants ) found in 2 Sam 21:16, 18, 20 and 1 Chr 20:4, 6, 8 (L Heureux 1976: 83 85). This expression may have derived from an eponymous ancestor named Rapah or the like (cf. Talmon 1983: 237 41). An Ugaritic text (RS 24.252 = KTU 1.108) describes a figure named Rapaʾu (Ug rpʾu, the vocalization of which is based on the biblical Hebrew hārāpâ). This personage has the same address as Og. Both figures are said to dwell in Ashtarot and Edrei (assuming that the Ugaritic words ʿṯtrt and hdrʿy are place names). Judging from this Ugaritic evidence and Deuteronomy 3, the biblical traditions regarding the Rephaim may have originated in the area of NE Transjordan. C. Conclusions How one reconciles these different views of the Rephaim in the OT has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. Fortunately the Ugaritic texts as well as the later biblical and Phoenician texts clarify the process which led to different presentations of the Rephaim in the Bible. In 2d-millennium Ugarit, the Rephaim were the line of dead kings and heroes, as the Ugaritic text, RS 34.126 = KTU 1.161 indicates (Pitard 1979; Bordreuil and Pardee 1982; Levine and de Tarragon 1984). Generally this precise understanding of the Rephaim was lost in the course of the 1st millennium (see Horwitz 1979: 41 43). While Isa 14:9 preserves the older understanding of the Rephaim, in other occurrences the older concept of the Rephaim was fractured, bifurcating into various descriptions of the Rephaim. The Rephaim as a line or group of heroes and monarchs at Ugarit corresponds to the biblical view of them as a people or nation. As heroes and monarchs, the Rephaim survived in the Bible as giants or warriors. The royal aspect of the Rephaim is most evident in Isa 14:9. The Ugaritic view of the Rephaim as a dead group has V 5, p 676 broadened in the biblical texts describing the Rephaim as the dead in general. KTU Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, vol. 1, ed. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartín. AOAT 24. Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1976 Ug Ugaritic NE northeast (ern) 2d second KTU Keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, vol. 1, ed. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartín. AOAT 24. Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1976 1st first
The NT also preserves a reference to the Ugaritic god Rapaʾu. In his defense speech before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7, Stephen contrasts the fidelity of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses with the infidelity of their fellow Israelites. As an example of the latter s unfaithfulness, Stephen cites in Acts 7:43 a version of Amos 5:26: And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon. The gods Moloch and Rephan are lacking in the Hebrew text of Amos 5:26, and extant in only a few mss of the LXX of the same verse. The deity Moloch was known in Israel and perhaps in Punic Carthage as the god to whom children were sacrificed in fire. This god is also attested in texts from Ugarit. The name Rephan in Acts 7:43 varies a great deal in NT mss. The origin of the name has been attributed to two scribal errors, since the name of the deity in question in the Hebrew text of Amos 5:26 is Kaiwan (kywn). In this case, the Greek form Rephan is assumed to have resulted from the mistaking of Hebrew kap for reš and the transliteration of Hebrew waw by Greek phi. With the recent discovery of the Ugaritic god Rapaʾu, it has been suggested as an alternative that Rephan is a vestige of this Ugaritic deity (Pope 1977: 170). Accordingly, Stephen s citation of Rephan with Moloch as examples of Israelite idolatry captures the flavor of Canaanite paganism which the Israelites were said to have enjoyed and the Israelite prophets so zealously condemned. Bibliography Bordreuil, P., and Pardee, D. 1982. Le Rituel funéraire ougaritique RS 34.126. Syr 59: 121 28. Cooper, A. 1981. Divine Names and Epithets in the Ugaritic Texts. Vol. 3, pp. 33 469 in Ras Samra Parallels, ed. S. Rummel. AnOr 51. Rome. Dietrich, M.; Loretz, O.; and Sanmartín, J. 1976. Die Ugaritischen Totengeister RPU (M) und die biblischen Rephaim. UF 8: 45 52. Horwitz, W. 1979. The Significance of the Rephaim. JNSL 7: 37 43. mss manuscripts LXX Septuagint mss manuscripts Syr Syria: Revue d Art Oriental et d Archéologie, Paris AnOr Analecta orientalia UF Ugarit-Forschungen JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, Stellenbosch
Jastrow, M. 1909. Rôʾēh and Hôzēh in the Old Testament. JBL 28: 42 56. Levine, B., and Tarragon, J. M. de. 1984. Dead Kings and Rephaim: The Patrons of the Ugaritic Dynasty. JAOS 104: 649 59. L Heureux, C. E. 1976. The yelı dê hārāpāʾ A Cultic Association of Warriors. BASOR 221: 83 85.. 1979. Rank Among the Canaanite Gods; El, Baʿal and the Rephaʾim. HSM 21. Missoula. Pitard, W. 1979. The Ugaritic Funerary Text RS 34.126. BASOR 232: 65 75. Pope, M. H. 1977. Notes on the Rephaim Texts. Pp. 163 81 in Essays on the Ancient Near East in Memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein, ed. M. de Jong Ellis. Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 19. Hamden, CT. Rosenberg, R. 1980. The Concept of Biblical Sheol Within the Context of Ancient Near Eastern Beliefs. Diss. Harvard University. Talmon, S. 1983. Biblical rep āʾı m and Ugaritic rpu/i (m). HAR 7: 235 49. Mark S. Smith JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society, New Haven BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research Diss. dissertation HAR Hebrew Annual Review Mark S. Smith Assistant Professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, New Haven, CT