Dictionaries :: Emim

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Emim:

e'-mim ('emim; Ommaein, Ommein, or Ommiein):

Stated to have been the earlier inhabitants of Moab (De 2:10,11), and to have been of tall stature, and hence, "accounted Rephaim (or giants) as the Anakim" or the Zamzummim of Ammon (De 2:20). As the name was given to them by the Moabites, it may not have been that by which they called themselves. A tall race, known to the Israelites as REPHAIM (which see), once existed in Southern Palestine as well as on the East side of the Jordan, but its exact relationship is unknown. In the time of Abraham the Emim were living in the Moabite district of Shaveh-kiriathaim, identified with the modern Kureiyat (Ge 14:5).

Written by A. H. Sayce