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 native Hebrew language term, which could be derived either from the root רפא or רפה. The first root conveys the meaning of healing, as in the healing of souls living in the Jewish afterlife, Sheol, where they await the final 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 a loanword from another ancient Semitic language. Among the proposals is the Akkadianrabu "prince", but this explanation enjoys rather limited popularity. Far more support has been gained by the hypothesis which derives the Hebrew refaim from the Ugariticrpum which denotes the semi-deified deceased ancestors who are mentioned in such sources as the so-called Rephaim Text (KTU 1:20–22).[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 Genesis 14:5; 15:18–21; Book of Deuteronomy 2:11–20) and rephaim as the inhabitants of the underworld (e.g. Book of Isaiah 14:9–11; 26:13–15), the same word is used in the original text.[9]
Medieval Jewish exegetes like Nachmanides and Radak have suggested that the Rephaim and Hivites are one and the same. This used to explain why the two names never appear together in Biblical lists of Canaanite tribes. Nonetheless, later scholars have called this assumption into question. Others have argued that the Rephaim were not strictly Canaanite, but that their land was still nonetheless promised to Abraham.[10]
In the biblical narrative, the Israelites were 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 the Book of Joshua, and also Deuteronomy 3:11, suggest that Og, the King of Bashan, was one of the last survivors of the Rephaim, and that his bed was 9 cubits long. (An ordinary cubit is the length of a man's forearm according to the New American Standard Bible, or approximately 18 in (460 mm). This makes the bed over 13 feet long.) Anak, according to Deuteronomy 2:11, was also a Rephaite.
Repha'im have also been considered the residents of the Netherworld (Sheol in 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 possibly 2 Chron 16:12, where Repha'im may be read as "dead ancestors" or "weakeners", as opposed to Rophe'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.[11][12][13]
Various ancient Northwest Semitic texts are also replete with references to terms evidently cognate with Rephaim as the dead or dead kings.[14] Lewis (1989)[15] undertakes a detailed study of several enigmatic funerary ritual texts from the ancient coastal city of Ugarit. Lewis concludes that the "Ugaritic Funerary Text"[16] provides important evidence for understanding Ugarit's cult of the dead, wherein beings called rapi'uma, the long dead, and malakuma, 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 to repha'im in the Hebrew Bible in contexts involving Sheol and dead spirits strongly suggests that many ancient Israelites imagined 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.[17] 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.[18]
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" in Stories from Ancient Canaan:
Sun rules the Rephaim,
Sun rules the divine ones:
Your company are the gods,
see, the dead are your company.[19]
^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.
^Kohler, Ludwig, and Walter Baumgartner. 2002. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Leiden: Brill [HALOT]. (CD-ROM), 8014.
^Harris, R. Laird., Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. 2003. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press [TWOT]. (CD-ROM), 2198d.
^Lewis, Theodore J. 1999. "Dead." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons, pp. 223–231.
^Rouillard-Bonraisin, Hedwige. 1999. "Rephaim." In Dictionary of Deities and Demons, pp. 692–700.
^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, ..."
^Matthew J. Suriano The 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 ..."
^Brian B. Schmidt Israel'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,"
^KAI 13.7-8, 14.8, 177.1; CTA 6.6.46-52, CTA 20-22 = KTU 1.161. See the article by M.S. Smith, "Rephaim," in the Anchor Bible Dictionary.
^T. J. Lewis (professor of Hebrew Bible at Johns Hopkins University), Cults of the Dead in Ancient Israel and Ugarit (Scholars Press, 1989)
^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's Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs About the Dead (Continuum, 1992).
^see J. Yogev The Rephaim: Sons of the Gods (Brill, 2021)
^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.
