Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 14:5

"And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim," — Genesis 14:5 (ASV)

The Rephaims. — They are described as an Amorite tribe (Amos 2:9) of great stature, settled in Bashan, where Moses conquered them (Joshua 13:12). We also find them on the other side of the Jordan, in Mount Ephraim (Joshua 17:15), on the western side of Jerusalem (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16; 2 Samuel 5:18; 2 Samuel 5:22), and even among the Philistines (2 Samuel 21:16; 2 Samuel 21:18). In many of these places, the word is wrongly translated as giants. From this wide dispersion, we may safely conclude that they belonged to the earlier settlers in the land and that only their rulers, like Og (Joshua 9:10), were Amorites.

Ashteroth Karnaim. — This name refers to The two-horned Astarte, the Phoenician Venus, whom the Rephaim identified with the moon. Her worship had, no doubt, been introduced by the Amorites. This city was Og’s capital (Deuteronomy 1:4) and is called Be-Eshtera, meaning “the house of Astarte,” in Joshua 21:27. Its remains have been found at Tell-Ashtereh, in the Hauran, about two leagues from the ancient Edrei.

The Zuzim. — They are called Zamzummim in Deuteronomy 2:20, where they are identified with the Rephaim, of whose stock they were an inferior branch. Their capital, Ham, has been identified with Hameitât, about six miles to the east of the lower part of the Dead Sea (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 117).

The Emims. — We also read of them in Deuteronomy 2:10-11: The Emim ... also were accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim.

In Shaveh Kiriathaim. — This more probably means in the plain of Kiriathaim. This city, given to the tribe of Reuben (Numbers 32:37), was, following the decline of the Israelites on the east of the Jordan, reoccupied by the Moabites (Jeremiah 48:1), who had taken it from the Emim.