BETH-REHOB (31r1 ; Sept. oricos 'Pad(3, and 'Poo5(3). A town beside the valley of the upper Jordan, not far distant from Laish (Judg. xviii. 28). It was an ancient stronghold of the Syrians, and apparently the capital of one of their little princi palities (2 Sam. x. 6). It is the same place which in Num. xiii. 21 is called Rehob (Sept. ver. 22, 'Po6p or 'Po0), and is described as on the way to Hamath. Now the leading road to Hamath from the south lay up the Jordan valley, and its continuation Coelesyria. This Rehob must not be confounded with the two other cities of the same name in the tribe of Asher, a mistake into which Winer (R. TV s. v.), and Gesenius ( Thesaur.) have fallen. The whole territory of Naphtali lay between the valley of the Jordan and Asher. Jerome and Eusebius would identify Beth-rehob with a village called Rocha, four miles from Scythopol is ( Onomast. s. v. Roob); but this is nearly fifty miles too far south, for Beth-rehob was near Laish, the site of which is well-known. Bochart, on the other hand, places it too far north, near Hamath (Opp. i. p. 79 ; ed. 1712). Only one historical notice of Beth-rehob has come down to us. Its inhabitants were hired by the Ammonites against David, and were defeated by Joab (2 Sam. x. 6-13).
On the eastern declivity of Lebanon, above the great plain of Hula, is the little village of Hunin.
It contains the ruins of one of the strongest fort resses in northern Palestine, exhibiting evidences in the peculiarity of its bevelled masonry, not merely of the highest antiquity, but of its Plicenician origin. It must have been a place of note in past ages, though both its history and name have long been lost. Dr. Robinson was the first to suggest that this may mark the site of Beth-rehob (.e. R. iii. 374 The situation certainly answers in every respect to the incidental notices in Scripture. It is on the leading route from the south to Hamath • it is upon the northern border of Palestine, beyond which it does not appear that the spies sent out by Moses penetrated. 'They searched the land, from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehab, as men come to Hamath' (Nu m. xiii. 2r) ; it is also near Laish, the site of which lies eight miles eastward, in the plain of Hilleh. he writer visited it in 1858, and was struck, down from the old castle walls into the seep valley far below, with the accuracy of the description given of Laish—` it was far from Zidon ; and it was in the deep valley (emek) that lieth by Beth-rehob' (Judg. xviii. 28).— J. L. P.