Deuteronomy 2:20

20 (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived therein before; but 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 You are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab:

19 and when you come near over against the children of Ammon, don't bother them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the children of Lot for a possession.

20 (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived therein before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

21 a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place;

22 as he did for the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day: