It is important for us to search for the meaning of “Rephaim country” as a concept in halakhic or legal terminology. It is not necessarily a concept that is easily recognizable on the ground, but the Torah found it important to point out the geographical regions that, from a legal perspective, are considered part of this land.
The verse refers to Rephaim country clearly bases itself on God’s promise of the land of Israel to Abraham:
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:18-20)
Ten nations are listed here: six of the seven Canaanite nations (only the Hivvites are missing) and an additional four: the Kenites, the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites, and the Rephaim.
In Parshas Devarim, as well as in the story of the war between the four kings and the five kings in Genesis 14, there is one region that is considered Rephaim country par excellence: the northern region, consisting of Ashtaroth and Bashan, the land of King Og (who was himself one of the last surviving Rephaim, despite the fact that his subjects were Amorites). In describing this region, the Torah states that it “is called (yikarei) Rephaim country” (Deuteronomy 3:13).
This teaches us another thing about the Torah’s legal terminology: If the word yeichashev means de jure – a technical legal consideration – then the word yikarei means de facto – a consideration in practice, though not by law. Gilead, the area south of Bashan, was already the land of the Zuzim (apparently the Zamzummim of our Parsha) in Genesis 14, its eastern part later became Ammonite land and its central and western part became Amorite land under the rule of King Sihon of Heshbon. The next area to the south, east of the Dead Sea, is – according to Genesis 14 and the “prehistoric” account in our Parsha – the land of the Emim. The Emim were dispossessed by the Moabites, but shortly before the arrival of the people of Israel Sihon gained control over the northern half of this land, the area north of the Arnon River. The Torah stresses here that despite the fact that these two lands had been known since ancient times as the land of the Zuzim/Zamzummim and the land of the Emim (including in Genesis 14!), this is only what they are called (yikarei) – de facto. In other words, these are merely the names that the Ammonites and Moabites use to refer to the lands. From a legal perspective, however, the lands are counted (yeichashevu) as part of Rephaim country, which God had promised to Abraham. It is important for the Torah to emphasize the giant stature of the members of these nations, since this was a characteristic trait of the Rephaim, and pointing this out lends support to the idea that all these nations share a common ethnic background. The Torah is saying that, formally, all the giants of the Transjordan are members of the same nation: the Rephaim. “Emim” and “Zamzummim” are simply names for Rephaite tribes. The story of King Og of Bashan’s giant bedstead serves to strengthen the de facto usage of “Rephaim country” to refer to Bashan. The nation that resided in Bashan at the time, after all, consisted mostly of Amorites. The fact that the king of this nation was not Amorite but Rephaite is reinforced by reminding the reader of the king’s enormous dimensions. The reader can get a sense of these dimensions even after Og himself was already dead and buried, thanks to Og’s iron bedstead, which was preserved.
