Rehoboth ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת, ''Reḥovot''; lit. ''broad places'') is the name of three

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

places: * "A well in

Gerar Gerar ( ''Gərār'', "lodging-place") was a Philistine town and district in what is today south central Israel, mentioned in the Book of Genesis and in the Second Book of Chronicles of the Hebrew Bible. Identification According to the Internatio ...

dug by

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

(), supposed to be in Wady er-Ruheibeh, about 20 miles south of

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

." Isaac gave it the name Rehoboth, which means "open spaces". Isaac's servants had dug two wells and the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled because of these two wells with Isaac's herdsmens. So when they dug the third well and there were no quarrels Isaac named it Rehoboth saying "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land." * An ancient city from which came

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

, an Edomite king (; ), "Rehoboth by the river". Since "the River" in the Bible generally is used about

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

, scholars have suggested either of two sites near the junction of the Khabur River and the

. However, this would be a place far outside the Edomite territory. The river mentioned could be a river in the land of

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

, such as

Wadi Zered Wadi al-Hasa ( ar, وادي الحسا), known from the Hebrew Bible as the valley and brook of Zered ( he, זרד), is a wadi in western Jordan. It is located between the Karak and Tafilah governorates. Geography The wadi is very big and lon ...

(also known as Wadi al-Hasa). Rehoboth could possibly be identical with a site southeast of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

. * Rehoboth-Ir was a biblical town named in

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

as among those founded by

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

. Its exact geographic location is unknown. Rehoboth-Ir may possibly have been in the vicinity of the town of

Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...

. However, its name is identical to the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

phrase "''rehovot ir'', meaning "streets of the town" or "public square of the town", which may refer to

itself, rather than the name of a distinct town.

Nabatean and Byzantine town in the Negev

The town's ruins, called in Arabic "Khirbet Ruheibeh", are located in the Wadi er-Ruheibeh area, where Isaac's well was (). This was a thriving city in Byzantine times. In Israel today it is called "Rehovot ba-Negev" (Rehovot-in-the-

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

). It was apparently founded in the first century AD by the

Nabateans The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic language, Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabian Pe ...

. It grew to more than 10,000 people by the fifth century, thanks to its being on the

Incense Route The Incense Trade Route was an ancient network of major land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant ...

References

{{coord, 31.0299, N, 34.5657, E, source:wikidata, display=title Hebrew Bible cities

Nabatean and Byzantine town in the Negev

See also

References