Deuteronomy 2:11 is a short historical aside. Moses notes that a people called the Emim, a race of large, tall warriors, lived in the land of Moab, and that they were classed with the Rephaim and Anakim, but the Moabites had their own name for them. Moses says this while recounting Israel’s journey to the edge of the Promised Land.
These also are considered to be Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.
Deuteronomy 2:11 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 2:11 Means
The verse begins with “These also are considered to be Rephaim,” which tells you the Emim were grouped with a larger family of giant peoples. The word “Rephaim” was a broad term for the ancient inhabitants of the region who were remembered for great size and strength. Moses is simply placing the Emim within that known category, the way you might say a certain animal belongs to a particular species.
“As the Anakim” links them to another group famous in Israel’s memory for towering stature. The phrase “but the Moabites call them Emim” shows that different peoples had different names for the same group. The verse does not promise anything directly to the reader. It records a fact of history, and its job is to show that the land had a past before Israel arrived.
The Context of Deuteronomy 2:11
Deuteronomy is the final book of the Torah, presented as Moses’ farewell speeches to the generation of Israelites about to enter Canaan. Traditionally Moses is named as its author, and its first audience was the new generation that had grown up in the wilderness. The book looks back over the forty years of travel and reminds Israel of God’s faithfulness and their own failures.
The verses just before this one (Deuteronomy 2:8-10) describe God telling Israel not to fight Moab or take its land, because God had given that land to the descendants of Lot. The verses just after (2:12-14) describe how Esau’s descendants had also displaced earlier peoples in Seir, and how Israel was told to cross the brook Zered. Read in that setting, verse 11 is part of a pattern: God gives land to different peoples in different times, and Israel is being reminded that the land it is about to take was also once handed over to others.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 2:11
Deuteronomy 2:9
The LORD said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
(WEB)
This verse shows God telling Israel not to contend with Moab because He had given Ar to Lot’s descendants. Reading it alongside verse 11 helps you see why Moses is recounting the peoples of the region, since each received its land from God’s own hand.
Deuteronomy 2:14
The days in which we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we had come over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the middle of the camp, as the LORD swore to them.
(WEB)
This verse closes the passage by marking the end of the thirty-eight years of wandering. It shows that the events Moses describes were part of a larger timeline, with God guiding Israel from Kadesh Barnea to the brook Zered.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 2:11
Lord, thank you that you know the history of every people and every place, including the ones I will never read about. When I feel small beside the giants in my life, remind me that you have been directing nations long before I arrived on the scene. Help me trust that the things that loom over me are already within your sight and under your care. Give me steady faith for the road ahead, one step at a time. Amen.
