The name doubtless indicates that this region had been occupied especially by ripha'tm, at .some period before Joshua s conquests. Its celebrity is mainly connected with events that occurred soon after Darid had been made king of all Israel in Jerusalem. In two successive campaigns the Philistines attacked him here, and were defeated (2 S 5"-», 1 Ch 148-" and 2 S S'^'^^, 1 Ch 14"-"). The Brst of these two campaigns was of the most desperate character (2 S 23"-", 1 Ch lI"-'»). See G. A. Smith, HGHL p. 218. W. J. Beecher.
REPHAN (LXX BA 'Vaifiv, Q "Pf^dr, in Am 6»; WH VofjLipi, variants ?tii<p6.ii, '?efi<piv [AV Remphan], 'VaKpav, 'Pf^di-, in Ac 7**). — Tliis word replaces the p'3 of tlie Heb. text, and there is much difl'erence of opinion as to the reason of this change. Influenced by the fact that the LXX tr. was made at Alexandria in Egypt, some have contended that the translators substituted for the word Chiun (apparently pronounced by them, more correctly, Kewnn), the meaning of which was prob- ably obscure to them, an Egyptian equivalent term, viz. repa-ln-neteru], a title of the god Set, identified with Saturn ; but this, besides being a hardly probable hypothesis itself, is also unlikely on account of the etymological difficulties in- volved. The general opinion at present is, that Hep/inn is sini|ily a mistake for, or an alteration of, the Kfitxtn {Chiun) of the Heb. text, K having been replaced by Ji, and pk (0) substituted for i, with the sound of v, sharpened to something resembling /. There is no doubt that this is the best oi all the explanations proposed, for Kewan would seem to be nothing else but the Semitic-Babylonian Kaawanu, for an older Kaya- wanu, ' the planet Saturn.' That a Babylonian etymology is to be sought rather than any other, may be regarded as indicated by the fact that SiccUTil in the lirst part of the verse is apparently from the Akkad. Sakkut or Sak-ui, the latter being one of the non-Semitic names of Saturn, translated
by Kaawanu in Babylonian. In addition to this, Saturn was also called §alam, ^ahne, as ' the dark star,' a name which recalls the expression cj'pTs, 'your images,' which, in the Heb., immediately follows Chiun { = Kaawanu = Bephan), and would furnish a parallel to the translation of orr^p ('your king ') after Siecuth, by ' Moloch ' in the LXX. As has been already shown (see NiMKOD, NiSKOCH, etc.), the Hebrew scribes were accustomed to distort the names of heathen deities, apparently to show their contempt for them, and there is but little doubt tliat this has been done in the present case. No name resembling Replian or Remphan as the pronunciation of the ideographs for Saturn has as yet been found in Akkadian or Semitic- Babylonian.
LiTEKjiTrRR.— Schrader in SK, 1874, pp. ."i24-.'5.15, and In Riehm'8 U WU ; Delitzsch in the Calwer BibcUexicun, under 'Ciliun,' and in Assyr. HWB 669*' (end of art. *SaImu'): and the Comm. on Amos and Actfi. T. G. PlNCIIES.
REPHIDIM (cn-fi and oi'Jl; LXX'Po(^i5c(^ Eua. 'Pa<pi.dlfi ; Vulg. Raphidim). — A station between the wilderness of Sin and the wilderness of Sinai (cf. Ex 17' with 19^). The same order is given in the itinerary of Nu 33 ; but two additional stations are there given, Dophkah and Alush (vv."-"), between Sin and Kephidim. These are the only pa.ssages in which tlie name occurs, and from tliem it appears that Rephidim is outside the wilderness of Sinai, and that the people, when encamped there, have not yet reached the mount of God.
The events recorded in connexion with this place are: (1) the people strive (2"n) with Moses and ' tempt ' (i.e. prove, toj) the Lord because there is no water to drink (Ex 17'-'); (2) the defeat of Amalek (w.""") ; (3) the visit of Jethro when he counsels Moses about appointing judges (Ex 18). The first two are ex^iressly, the third may be by inference (cf. 19-), assigned to Repliidim.
Now, in the account of the first event, the smitten rock is described as being in Horeb (' I will stand l)efore thee upon the rock in Horeb,' Ex 17*). Also in 18° Jethro comes to Moses 'where he was encamped at the mount of God.' According to internal evidence in both these narratives, the people are already at Horeb the mount of God, and the ditticulty of harmonizing these statements with those introduced with reference to the situation of Rephidim is apparent.
The first of these events has been discussed in the art. Meribah, where the similarity between it and another event (Nu 20'-") assigned to a period after leaving Sinai is pointed out. In the account of the third event, the description of the persons appointed, on Jethro's advice, to assist Moses in judging the people, resembles that in Dt 1'-" (note especially the verbal coincidences of Ex 18" with Dt 1"). In Deuteronomy the appointment is said to have been made at the departure from Sinai — at which time the reference to ordinances and laws (Ex IS'*) would be appropriate, and it has been suggested that Ex 18 was at one time read in connexion with Nu lO'^'*" (see Driver on Dt 1, at p. 15 of Intern. Crit. Comm., and Dillniann on Ex 18). These remarks illustrate what has been said in art. EXODUS AND JOURNEY TO CANAAN, vol. i. p. 804" and 8(I5*.