1. Most modern English translations render Eretz Rephaim as "a land of the Rephaites/giants." This is akin to translating the expression "the capital of Malaysia is Kuala Lumpur" as "the capital of Malaysia is a muddy confluence." While grammatically correct—kuala means 'river mouth' or 'confluence' and lumpur means 'mud' in Malay—no one would think to render the expression as such. This is unfortunate and misses the play between the old name and the new one given to it in the next verse.
2. The act of name-changing has occurred four times in this section, but they were always acts by other people: the Moabites called the Rephaites Emites, while the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (2:11 & 20), the Sidonians called Mount Hermon Sirion, while the Amorites called it Senir (3:9).
3. F. Viviano, "In the Shadow of Attila," National Geographic (June 2005); 71. I am thankful to my son, Martyn, for pointing out the significance of Viviano's observation to me.
4. Election, of course, was—and is—not always a personally (or even, nationally) convenient or blissful experience, as so lucidly illustrated by Tevye, when he laments sardonically to God in The Fiddler on the Roof, "I am tired of being one of the chosen. Could you choose someone else for a while?"