Biblical Demonology: 7v – The Rephaim

Who are the Rephaim in the Bible? Where did they reside and what activities did they carry out?

The Rephaim generally appear in two genres of biblical literature: historical and poetic. Understanding these beings requires taking these genres into account when they are mentioned. But, before we go further with the biblical analysis, we need to delve into the cultural background of the Rephaim. This means engaging with extra-biblical texts written around the time of the setting of the biblical texts. In Ugarit, the equivalent of the word Rephaim is rp’um. Texts which mention the rp’um bear striking resemblances to the paranormal understanding of the Rephaim.

Cultural background of the ‘rp’um‘

Schmidt [1] analyses a variety of Ugaritic texts, including the Rephaim Text (KTU 1.20 – KTU 1.22) and suggestions from other academics to provide a number of suggestions for the rp’um. He proposes they were mythic heroes, which battled alongside Baal against Mot (Thamaqu as a rp’u of Baal and Yahipanu an everlasting royal prince), and loyal earthly warriors ‘in the service of the royal court at Ugarit’. [2]

Their association with the dead is found in two funerary inscriptions on the tombs of two kings (Tabnit and Eshumazar of Sidon) which cursed any tomb raiders with no peace amongst the rp’um [3].

A ritual described in KTU 1.108 has them blessing the king of Ugarit [4], yet another link which suggests these beings were somehow interested in the affairs of earthly rulers.

Heiser states that unlike the Bible, the rp’um in Ugaritic texts never appear as giants, but are instead inhabitants of the underworld, appearing along with the ‘ilm (gods) and ‘ilnym (underworld gods) [5].

Van der Toorn [6] observes the rp’um act as a group (as per certain biblical passages we’ll see later):

• the Rephaim Text, in which they travel from the underworld to a seven-day banquet held at the threshing floors and orchards
• in KTU 1.161 (a funereal service for a king), where they accompany Ditanu.

So, according to Ugaritic understanding, the rp’um were understood to be noble dead who may once have been human, loyal protectors of the king.

The Rephaim as the dead in the Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, Rephaim is mentioned 25 times. When used poetically to discuss spirit beings, it always means the spirits of the dead [7] (e.g. Psalm 88:10; Proverbs 2:8; 21:16; Isaiah 14:9; 26:14,19). When used historically, it means people of great physical stature (Deuteronomy 2:20; 3:10; Jeremiah 46:20,24). We are not concerned with the physical stature issue here (the meaning behind the giants is discussed in another article here).

Isaiah 14 contains a taunt against the king of Babylon, and includes the following:

Sheol [the underworld] beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades [Rephaim] to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.

All of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’

Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers…

But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.

Isaiah 14:9-11, 15 (ESV)

Isaiah informs us that the Rephaim were understood here to be leaders of the earth, royal dead, brought down to the grave like any other human being, who rise to welcome new denizens of the afterlife. ‘Transcending the boundaries of time, space, and morality, the community of the Rephaim embraces all the royal dead.’ [8]

Elsewhere the Rephaim are not spoken of as royal dead, but merely associated with the ordinary dead:

The shades [Rephaim] below tremble,
    the waters and their inhabitants.

Job 26:5 (NRSV)

Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the shades [Rephaim] rise up to praise you? Selah

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

Psalm 88:10-12 (NRSV)

O Lord our God,
    other lords besides you have ruled over us,
    but we acknowledge your name alone.

The dead do not live;
    shades [Rephaim] do not rise—
because you have punished and destroyed them,
    and wiped out all memory of them…

Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.
    O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
    and the earth will give birth to those long dead [Rephaim].

Isaiah 26:13,14,19 (NRSV)

This last Isaiah passage is a polemic against the understanding of the rp’um as rising from the underworld (when associated with the fertility and funereal rites of the surrounding cultures). But, the Rephaim of Yahweh will rise from the earth again – perhaps linking with the kings who bring their glory into the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21:24.

In Proverbs, the Rephaim are associated with death and those who spurn wisdom:

… for her way leads down to death,
    and her paths to the shades [Rephaim]…

But they do not know that the dead [Rephaim] are there,
    that her guests are in the depths of Sheol…

Whoever wanders from the way of understanding
    will rest in the assembly of the dead [Rephaim].

Proverbs 2:18; 9:18; 21:16

From the poetic books, the Rephaim are clearly understood as the spirits of the dead.

Conclusions

In the poetic material of the Bible, the Rephaim are associated with the dead, with a link to the kings and leaders of nations. This partially mirrors the Ugaritic rp’um who were tied with royalty, whether mythic or earthly.

The Rephaim were believed to be roused to meet and greet new arrivals to Sheol, the underworld. However, they remain in the underworld and don’t seem to be present with the living in the same way that the Rp’um were at certain banquets / fertility / royal funereal rituals.

We can now add to our Daimones diagram, placing them into Walton’s Class III Daimones category [9].

Next Time – We shall consider the yiddĕ ̔ōnî, potentially atemporal spirit beings with the ability to know the future and relay it to humans.

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Bibliography

DDD – Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible

Heiser, M. S. (2020), Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness, Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Schmidt, B. B. (1996) Israel’s Beneficient Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition, Winina Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns

Van der Toorn, K., Van der Horst, P. W., et al (1998), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Lieden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers.

Walton, J. H. and Walton, J. H. (2019), Demons and Spirits in Biblical Theology: Reading the Biblical Text in Its Cultural and Literary Context, Eugene, OR: Cascade.

Footnotes

[1] Schmidt, 82 – 90.

[2] Ibid., 91.

[3] DDD, 694.

[4] Ibid., 695.

[5] Heiser, 11.

[6] DDD, 692 – 693.

[7] Ibid., 692.

[8] Ibid., 696.

[9] Walton, 56.