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Rephaite

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Musa va 'Uj,a 15th-century manuscript painting from Iran or Iraq, depicting the RephaiteOg.

In theHebrew Bible,as well as non-Jewishancient texts from the region, theNorthwest SemitictermRephaiteorRepha'im(cf. the plural word inHebrew:רְפָאִים,romanized:rəfāʾīm;Ugaritic:rpʾum,[1]Phoenician:𐤓𐤐𐤀𐤌,romanized:rpʾm)[2]refers either to a people of greater-than-average height and stature inDeuteronomy 2:10-11, or departed spirits in the afterlife,Sheolas written in the following scriptures:Isaiah 26:14;Psalms88:10, andProverbs 9:18, as well asIsaiah 14:9.[3]

Etymology[edit]

The term Rephaim first appears inUgarit.

There is no consensus regarding the exact vocalization of the name “Rpʾum” in Ugaritic, since the word does not appear in syllabic texts. The first syllable, /ra/, is mostly based on Semitic names from Ugarit, Canaan, Mari and other places written in syllabic text that carry the element Rpʾ. Examples: Ra-pí-ú-um; A-bi-ra-pí; Ya-ku-un-ra-pí; Am-mu-ra-pí; Ra-pa-Ya-ma; Ra-pí-DINGIR and more. It is not certain, however, if the element Rpʾ in these names refers solely to the Rephaim[.] For the nominative case, several readings have been suggested in various studies, such as Rapaʾūma, Rāpaʾūma, Rāpiʾūma, Rapiʾūma and so on.[1]

There are two main groups of etymological hypotheses explaining the origins of the biblical term,Repha'im.The first group proposes that this is a nativeHebrew languageterm, which could be derived either from the rootרפאorרפה.The first root conveys the meaning of healing, as in the healing of souls living in the Jewish afterlife,Sheol,where they await thefinal judgment by God.The second root denotes weakness or powerlessness; souls within Sheol are weak in the sense that they hold no physical power or status as they did in the living world. Because all things that give the living power are moot in the land of the dead, its inhabitants are thus powerless and weak and must be submissive to Elohim.[4][5][6]

The second group of etymological hypotheses treat rephaim as aloanwordfrom another ancientSemitic language.Among the proposals is theAkkadianrabu"prince",but this explanation enjoys rather limited popularity. Far more support has been gained by the hypothesis which derives the Hebrewrefaimfrom theUgariticrpumwhich denotes the semi-deified deceasedancestorswho are mentioned in such sources as the so-calledRephaim Text(KTU1:20–22).[7][8]Despite the inconsistency between these possible meanings and that modern translations clearly distinguish between Rephaites as one of the tribes (e.g.Book of Genesis14:5; 15:18–21;Book of Deuteronomy2:11–20) andrephaimas the inhabitants of the underworld (e.g.Book of Isaiah14:9–11; 26:13–15), the same word is used in the original text.[9]

Canaanite people group[edit]

In the Hebrew Bible, "Rephaites" or "Repha'im" describe an ancient race ofgiantsin Canaan, from theBronze Ageto theIron Age.Many locations were also named after them. According toGenesis 14:5,KingChedorlaomerand his allies attacked and defeated the Rephaites atAshteroth-Karnaim.Rephaites are also mentioned atGenesis 15:20;Deuteronomy 2:10–21,3:11;theBook of Joshua(Joshua 12:4,13:12,15:8,17:15,18:16); theBooks of Samuel(2 Samuel 5:18–22,23:13); and theBooks of Chronicles(1 Chronicles 11:15,14:9and20:4).

In the biblical narrative, theIsraeliteswere instructed to exterminate the previous inhabitants of the "promised land",i.e.Canaan,which include various named peoples, including some unusually tall/large individuals. Several passages in theBook of Joshua,and alsoDeuteronomy 3:11,suggest thatOg,the King of Bashan, was one of the last survivors of the Rephaim, and that his bed was 9cubitslong. (An ordinary cubit is the length of a man's forearm according to theNew American Standard Bible,or approximately 18 in (460 mm). This makes the bed over 13 feet long.)Anak,according toDeuteronomy 2:11,was also a Rephaite.

The Rephaites were called the "Emim" by theMoabitesinDeuteronomy 2:11whilst theAmmonitescalled them the "Zamzummim" inDeuteronomy 2:18–21.

Long dead ancestors[edit]

Repha'im have also been considered the residents of the Netherworld (Sheolin the Hebrew Bible) in more recent scholarship. Possible examples of this usage appear as "shades","spirits ", or" dead "in various translations of the Bible. See:Isa 14:9,26:14,26:19;Ps 88:10;Prov 2:18,9:18,21:16;Job 26:5,and possibly2 Chron 16:12,whereRepha'immay be read as "dead ancestors" or "weakeners", as opposed toRophe'im,"doctors". The Heb. root רפא means "heal", and thus the masculine plural nominalized form of this root may indicate that these "deceased ancestors" could be invoked for ritual purposes that would benefit the living.[10][11][12]

Various ancientNorthwest Semitictexts are also replete with references to terms evidently cognate withRephaimas the dead or dead kings.[13]Lewis (1989)[14]undertakes a detailed study of several enigmatic funerary ritual texts from the ancient coastal city ofUgarit.Lewis concludes that the"Ugaritic Funerary Text"[15]provides important evidence for understanding Ugarit'scult of the dead,wherein beings calledrapi'uma,the long dead, andmalakuma,recently dead kings, were invoked in a funeral liturgy, presented with food/drink offerings, and asked to provide blessings for the reign of the current king. The many references torepha'imin theHebrew Biblein contexts involving Sheol and dead spirits strongly suggests that many ancientIsraelitesimagined the spirits of the dead as playing an active and important role in securing blessings, healing, or other benefits in the lives of the living.[16]In 2021, a new theory regarding the identity of the Rephaim was published by J. Yogev, which suggests that the Rephaim were systematically eradicated from biblical texts as an agenda to eliminate their memory according to monotheistic belief systems in biblical times.[17]

The divine status of the Rephaim is evident from "The Rephaim," where they are called "gods" and "divine ones," but also from the end of "Baal" inStories from Ancient Canaan:

Sun rules the Rephaim, Sun rules the divine ones: Your company are the gods, see, the dead are your company.[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^abYogev, J. (2021).The Rephaim: Sons of the Gods.Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Brill. p. 6.ISBN978-90-04-46086-7.
  2. ^Booth, Scott W."Using Corpus Linguistics to Address some Questions of Phoenician Grammar and Syntax found in the Kulamuwa Inscription"(PDF).Archived from the original on March 23, 2012.Retrieved2013-12-04.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).2007. p. 197.
  3. ^"Rephaim".www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.Retrieved2021-06-05.
  4. ^Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles A. Briggs C.A.,A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament(Oxford, 1907/2013) [BDB], (CD-ROM), 9242.
  5. ^Kohler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. 2002.The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament.Leiden: Brill [HALOT]. (CD-ROM), 8014.
  6. ^Harris, R. Laird., Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. 2003.Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.Chicago: Moody Press [TWOT]. (CD-ROM), 2198d.
  7. ^Lewis, Theodore J. 1999. "Dead." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons, pp. 223–231.
  8. ^Rouillard-Bonraisin, Hedwige. 1999. "Rephaim." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons, pp. 692–700.
  9. ^Kosior, Wojciech (2018-05-22),"The Fallen (Or) Giants? The Gigantic Qualities of the Nefilim in the Hebrew Bible",Jewish Translation - Translating Jewishness,De Gruyter, pp. 17–38,doi:10.1515/9783110550788-002,ISBN9783110550788,retrieved2018-08-04
  10. ^R. Mark Shipp.Of Dead Kings and Dirges: Myth and Meaning in Isaiah 14:4b-21.2002 p. 121: "It is also possible that the distinction here is not between the Rephaim and non-Rephaim dead kings, but rather between the rpim qdmym (Ulkn, Tr 'limn, Sdn w Rdn, Trmn; the" ancient Rephaim ") and the more recent Rephaim (Ammishtamru,..."
  11. ^Matthew J. SurianoThe Politics of Dead Kings: Dynastic Ancestors in the Book of...2010 p160 "Unlike the texts from Ras Shamra, however, Israelite literature negatively portrayed the Rephaim in order to undermine a politically potent element that was otherwise embraced in Ugaritic tradition. The equation of the Rephaim as dead..."
  12. ^Brian B. SchmidtIsrael's beneficent dead: ancestor cult and necromancy in ancient...1994 p267 "The Ugaritic rp 'um are repeatedly invoked as confirmation for the existence of both a living and dead biblical Rephaim. De Moor's theory comprises the most compelling and thoroughgoing proposal to date. According to this author,"
  13. ^KAI13.7-8, 14.8, 177.1;CTA6.6.46-52, CTA 20-22 =KTU1.161. See the article by M.S. Smith, "Rephaim," in theAnchor Bible Dictionary.
  14. ^T. J. Lewis (professor of Hebrew Bible at Johns Hopkins University),Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit(Scholars Press, 1989)
  15. ^KTU1.161 = Ras Shamra 34.126
  16. ^On the role of the dead and burial customs in ancient Israelite society and the cultures of the ancient Levant generally, see L. Bloch-Smith'sJudahite Burial Practices and Beliefs About the Dead(Continuum, 1992).
  17. ^see J. YogevThe Rephaim: Sons of the Gods(Brill, 2021)
  18. ^Coogan, Michael D.; Smith, Mark S. (2012-03-15).Stories from Ancient Canaan, Second Edition.Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.ISBN0-664-23242-6.
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