Emims
“Terrors, frightful ones”
Summary
The Emims (or Emim) were an ancient race of giants who originally inhabited the region east of the Dead Sea, in territory later occupied by the Moabites. They were related to the Anakim and were defeated by Chedorlaomer's coalition during Abraham's time.
☩Identity and Characteristics
The Emims were a race of giants dwelling east of the Dead Sea in the region that became Moab. Their name (Hebrew Emim) means 'terrors' or 'frightful ones,' reflecting the fear they inspired due to their imposing stature. Moses records that they 'were a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; which also were accounted giants' (Deut 2:10-11). Though the Moabites called them Emims, they were reckoned among the Rephaim—the general designation for the giant peoples of Canaan.
☩Historical Encounter
The Emims appear in the biblical narrative during the war of the eastern kings recorded in Genesis 14. Chedorlaomer and his allies 'smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim' (Gen 14:5). Shaveh-Kiriathaim was located in what later became Sihon's territory, conquered from the Moabites. The Moabites eventually displaced the Emims and occupied their land, just as the descendants of Esau displaced the Horites in Seir (Deut 2:12, 22).
