Deuteronomy 2:20 is a short note in Moses’ review of Israel’s journey. It says that the land east of the Jordan had once been home to a people called the Rephaim, and that the Ammonites called them the Zamzummim. Moses speaks these words to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the land God has promised them, reminding them that the land they are receiving has its own history.
(That also is considered a land of Rephaim: Rephaim lived there before; but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim…
Deuteronomy 2:20 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 2:20 Means
The verse begins by calling the territory “a land of Rephaim,” meaning it was once known as the home of this group of tall, strong people. Moses then notes that the Rephaim lived there before, which tells the reader that the land was already occupied long before Israel arrived. The Ammonites knew these people by another name, the Zamzummim, a detail that shows how the same people could be remembered differently by different nations.
The verse does not give a lesson in itself. It is a historical aside, placed inside a longer passage about how God has given different peoples different lands. Its purpose is to show that the nations around Israel also had histories shaped by God’s hand, and that Israel’s inheritance was never the first chapter in the story of that ground.
The Context of Deuteronomy 2:20
Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah, presented as a series of speeches Moses gave to Israel on the plains of Moab just before they crossed into Canaan. Traditionally, Moses is considered its author, and its first audience was the generation that had grown up in the wilderness. They needed to hear again the law, the history, and the promises of God before they took up their new life.
Verses 17 through 23 record God’s instructions to Israel as they pass near Moab and Ammon. Israel is told not to provoke these peoples, because God has already given their lands to Moab and Ammon as an inheritance. Verse 20 is a parenthetical note within that instruction, and it reads differently once you see that it supports the main point: God is the one who allots land to nations, and he has done so for others as well as for Israel.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 2:20
Leviticus 25:23
“‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
(WEB)
This verse states that the land belongs ultimately to God, and that the people who dwell in it are strangers and sojourners. It pairs naturally with Deuteronomy 2:20, since both teach that land is a gift held under God’s authority rather than a permanent possession owned by any one group.
Acts 17:26
He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings…
(WEB)
Paul tells the Athenians that God determined the times and boundaries of the nations. This echoes the pattern in Deuteronomy 2:20, where God allots lands to different peoples across history, and it widens the picture from one nation to all of humanity.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 2:20
Lord, you have been at work in the places I live and the ground I walk on long before I arrived. Help me to receive what has been given to me with humility and thankfulness. Teach me to honor those who came before, and to remember that every inheritance is held in your hands. Guide me as I steward what you have entrusted to me today. Amen.
