Zamzummims

The Zamzummims are an ancient race of giants east of the Jordan, identified with the Rephaim. UPDV renders the name as Zamzummim in Deuteronomy and uses the parallel form Zuzim in Genesis. Both stand among the pre-Israelite giant-peoples of the Transjordan.

Struck by Chedorlaomer's Coalition

The earliest notice falls in the campaign of the four kings against the cities of the plain. Chedorlaomer's coalition cuts a swath through the Transjordan giant-races: "And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim" (Ge 14:5). The Zuzim — the same people in the parallel form — are listed alongside the Rephaim and the Emim as one of the giant-races of the eastern country, struck in their own land.

A Land of Rephaim Held by the Ammonites

The fuller account belongs to Moses' rehearsal of Israel's path past Ammon. The Ammonite territory is identified as a former giant-land: "(That also is accounted a land of Rephaim: Rephaim dwelt in it previously; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim; but [the Speech of] Yahweh destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead;" (De 2:20-21). Three things are stacked here. First, the Ammonite name for them is Zamzummim. Second, they are described as great, many, and tall, set on the Anakim scale. Third, their destruction is given to the Speech of Yahweh, with the Ammonites stepping into the country they vacated.