were probably the people whom the Ammonites called Zam zummim, and who were also reckoned among the Rephaim (Deu 2:20). Ham was possibly the ancient name of Rabba of the Ammonites (Deu 3:11), the remains being still preserved in the ruins of Ammân. - “ The Emim in the plain of Kiryathaim:” the אימים or אמים (i.e., fearful, terrible), were the earlier inhabitants of the country of the Moabites, who gave them the name; and, like the Anakim, they were also reckoned among the Rephaim (Deu 2:11). Kiryathaim is certainly not to be found where Eusebius and Jerome supposed, viz., in Καριάδα, Coraiatha, the modern Koerriath or Kereyat, ten miles to the west of Medabah; for this is not situated in the plain, and corresponds to Kerioth (Jer 48:24), with which Eusebius and Jerome have confounded Kiryathaim. It is probably still to be seen in the ruins of el Teym or et Tueme, about a mile to the west of Medabah. “ The Horites (from חרי, dwellers in caves), in the mountains of Seir,” were the earlier inhabitants of the land between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf, who were conquered and exterminated by the Edomites (Gen 36:20.). - “ To El-paran, which is by the wilderness:” i.e., on the eastern side of the desert of Paran (see Gen 21:21), probably the same as Elath (Deu 2:8) or Eloth (1Ki 9:26), the important harbour of Aila on the northern extremity of the so-called Elanitic Gulf, near the modern fortress of Akaba, where extensive heaps of rubbish show the site of the former town, which received its name El or Elath ( terebinth, or rather wood) probably from the palm-groves in the vicinity.
Verse 7
From Aila the conquerors turned round, and marched (not through the Arabah, but on the desert plateau which they ascended from
