the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Rehob
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Rechob', רְחֹב [twice רְחוֹב, 2 Samuel 10:8; Nehemiah 10:11], a street, from its width; Sept. ῾Ραάβ v. r. ῾Ροώβ, etc.), the name of two men and also of three places in the north of Palestine.
1. The father of the Hadadezer, king of Zobah, whom David smote at the Euphrates (2 Samuel 8:3; 2 Samuel 8:12). B.C. ante 1043. Josephus (Ant. 7:5, 1) calls him Araiis (Ἀράος ), and the old Latin version Arachus. The name possibly had some connection with the district of Syria called Rehob, or Beth-rehob (2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8).
2. A Levite who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:11). B.C. 410.
3. The northern limit of the exploration of the spies who explored Canaan (Numbers 13:21). It is specified as being "as men come unto Hamath," or, as the phrase is elsewhere rendered, "at the entrance of Hamath," i.e. at the commencement of the territory of that name, by which in the early books of the Bible the great valley of Lebanon, the Bika'ah of the prophets, and the Bfuka'a of the modern Arabs, seems to be roughly designated. This, and the consideration of the improbability that the spies went farther than the upper end of the Jordan valley, seems to fix the position of Rehob as not far from Tell el-Kady and Banias. This is conifirmed by the statement of Judges 18:28, that Laish or Dan (Tell el- Kady) was "in the valley that is by Beth-rehob." Dr. Robinson (Later Bib. Res. p. 371) proposes to identify it with Hunin, an ancient fortress in the mountains north-west of the plain of Huleh, the upper district of the Jordan valley. But since the names Ruheib, of a valley, and Deir-Rabba, of an Arab ruin, are found near Bhnias, Thomson (Land and Book, 1, 391) prefers that vicinity. There is no reason to doubt that this Rehob or Beth- rehob was identical with the place mentioned under both names in 2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8, in connection with Maacah, which was also in the upper district of the Huleh. (See BETH-REHOB).
4. One of the towns allotted to Asher (Joshua 19:28), and which from the list appears to have been in close proximity to Zidon. It is named between Ebron, or Abdon, and Hammon. Schwarz, from some Jewish writer, gives it a position seven and a half miles east of Tyre, on the river Leontes; referring, perhaps, to the modern village Rezieh or Harziyeh.
5. Asher contained another Rehob (Joshua 19:30).
One of the two was allotted to the Gershonite Levites (21:31; 1 Chronicles 6:75), and of one its Canaanitish inhabitants retained possession (Judges 1:31). The mention of Aphik in this latter passage may imply that the Rehob referred to was that of Joshua 19:30. This, Eusebius and Jerome (Onomasticon, s.v. "Roob") confound with the Rehob of the spies, and place four Roman miles from Scythopolis. The place they refer to still survives as Rehab, three and a half miles south of Beisan, but their identification of a town in that position with one in the territory of Asher is obviously inaccurate. The Rehob in question is possibly represented by the modern Tell Kurdany, south of the river Belus, near the northern base of which is a village with a perennial spring (Robinson, Later Bib. Res. p. 104).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Rehob'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/r/rehob.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
