Charles Ellicott Commentary Deuteronomy 2:10-12

"(The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim: these also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim. The Horites also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave unto them.)" — Deuteronomy 2:10-12 (ASV)

These three verses which follow should be read parenthetically.

The Emims. —See Genesis 14:5-6, for the first mention of Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, and Horim. (The termination im is plural in Hebrew, and, like cherubim, does not need the additional s.) These tribes were flourishing in the time of Abraham, but were conquered before the exodus.

The children of Esau succeeded them. —A partial mixture of the two races resulted in this case, and from their union sprang the Amalekites, Israel’s inveterate foes (Genesis 36:12; Genesis 36:22).

As Israel did to the land of his possession. —On the east of Jordan in Moses’ lifetime, as well as on the west of Jordan under Joshua. It is not necessary, therefore, to make the parenthesis (Deuteronomy 2:10–12) editorial, though it forms no essential part of Moses’ speech.