Deuteronomy 2:20

20 (That also is reckoned a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in time past, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim;

Deuteronomy 2:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 2:20

That also was accounted a land of giants
Ammon was so reckoned as well as Moab, ( Deuteronomy 2:10 Deuteronomy 2:11 )

giants dwelt therein in old time;
the Rephaim dwelt there, as they did also in Ashteroth Karnaim, ( Genesis 14:5 )

and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
they are thought to be the same with the Zuzims in ( Genesis 14:5 ) who had their name, as Hillerus ^F3 thinks, from Mezuzah, a door post, from their tall stature, being as high as one; and for a like reason Saph the giant might have his name, ( 2 Samuel 21:18 ) . The word Zamzummims, according to him ^F4, signifies contrivers of evil and terrible things; they were inventors of wickedness, crafty and subtle in forming wicked and mischievous designs, which struck terror into people, and made them formidable to them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 158, 288, 289.
F4 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 161, 310, 428.

Deuteronomy 2:20 In-Context

18 Thou art to pass this day over the border of Moab, [which is] Ar,

19 and come near over against the children of Ammon; thou shalt not distress them nor attack them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon a possession; for unto the children of Lot have I given it as a possession.

20 (That also is reckoned a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in time past, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim;

21 a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakim; and Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead;

22 as he did to the children of Esau, who dwelt in Seir, from before whom he destroyed the Horites; and they dispossessed them, and dwelt in their stead, even to this day.