We read of a river of this name Gen. 36. 37; where one Saul, a descendant of Esau, resided on the borders of it. If the word be taken from Rachab, it means enlargement or extent.
Reho´both, a name meaning ’wide places,’ or ’ample room,’ as is indicated by Isaac in giving it to some of the wells which he dug in the south of Palestine (Gen 26:22).
1. A city of ancient Assyria, site unknown, Gen 10:11 .\par 2. A place in the wilderness south of Gerar and Beersheba, so named by Isaac on the occasion of his digging a well there, Gen 26:22 .\par 3. A city on the Euphrates, thought to be the modern Er-rahabeh, south of Carchemish, Gen 36:37 ; 1Ch 1:48 ; 17:3\par
Reho’both. (wide places, that is, streets).
1. The third of the series of wells , dug by Isaac, Gen 26:22, in the Philistines’ territory, lately identified as er-Ruheibeh, 16 miles south of Beersheba.
2. One of the four cities, built by Asshur, or by Nimrod, in Asshur, according as this difficult passage is translated. Gen 10:11. Nothing certain is known of its position.
3. The city of a certain Saul or Shaul, one of the early kings of the Edomites. Gen 36:37; 1Ch 1:48. The affix "by the river," fixes the situation of Rehoboth, as on the Euphrates.
("room, broad space".) Third of Isaac’s wells, called so because after that the wells Esek ("contention") and Sitnah ("hatred"), which his men had dug, the Gerar herdsmen would not let him keep peaceably, now at last his good has overcome their evil, and God makes room for him. Spiritually Rom 12:18-21; Gen 32:20; Gen 13:7-9; Mat 5:25; Rev 15:2; Joh 14:2. In the wady er Ruhaibeh are ruins of a large city, eight hours S. of Beersheba, and an ancient well, 12 ft. in circumference, built with hewn stone, now filled up (Robinson Phys. Geog., 243; "Our Work in Palestine," 299). Its site is marked by fallen masonry, seemingly a cupola roof of well cemented brick shaped stones. At hand is Shutnet, the "Sitnah" of Scripture: Rehoboth lies 20 miles S.W. of Bir es Seba or Beersheba, with three remaining wells, two full of water, one dry.
[Reho’both]
1. City built by Asshur, or by Nimrod in Asshur. Gen 10:11. Usually placed near to Nineveh, but see No. 2.
2. City in the East, ’by the river,’ from whence one named Saul, or Shaul, became an early king of Edom. Gen 36:37; 1Ch 1:48. There are two places named Rahabeh, near the Euphrates, which may be these cities. One is eight miles below the junction of the Khabur river, and the other four or five miles further south on the left bank, and called Rahabeh Melek, that is ’royal.’
3. Name of a well which Isaac dug, so called because God had ’made room’ for them. Gen 26:22.
REHOBOTH.—1. A well dug by the servants of Isaac and finally conceded to him, after two others, dug also by them, had become a subject of quarrel with Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen 26:22). Several identifications have been proposed, of which the most probable is that made by Palmer with er-Ruhaibeh, about 20 miles S. of Beersheba. 2. The name of a king of Edom in Gen 36:37, where he is called ‘Rehoboth of the River.’ ‘The River’ here may not be, as usually, the Euphrates, but the ‘River of Egypt’ (see Egypt [River of]).
J. F. M’Curdy.