REHOBOTH (rthi, also This name occurs in four passages in Scripture. It is derived from the root 1111, to be wide,' or spacious ;' and may thus signify open, roomy places,' as plains (it is a plural form) or streets.' It is applied by the sacred writers to three distinct places.
1. Rehoboth the City, or Rehohoth-Ir rbh, ; 'Powgcla- ir6X1P ; Alex. Pow(3ths ; platens civi tatis). The passage in which this word occurs may be rendered in two ways : ' Out of the land came he (that is Nimrod) forth to Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir,' etc. ; or, Out of that land came forth Asshnr, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth,' etc. The for mer rendering is more in accordance with the general scope of the context ; hut the latter is grammatical, and is supported by the Septuagint and Vulgate. However this may be, Rehoboth was one of the four cities then founded. It has been supposed by recent commentators that these four constituted one great city. They argue that the first name, Nineveh, is the chief, and that the other three are subordinate. He built Nineveh, with (taking 1, not as a copulative, but as the sign of subordination) Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah.' From this it would follow that the four places formed a large com posite city, or range of towns, to which the general name ' Nineveh' was given (see Keil and De litzsch, ad loc.) This appears to put too great a strain upon the passage ; and it is better, because more natural, to take them as distinct places. They were most probably not far distant from each other ; and as Nineveh and Calah stood on the Tigris, the others may be looked for there also. [Cm.A1-1.] This prevents us from identifying Re hoboth-ir with Rehoboth of the river, which must have stood on the Euphrates (see below, No. 2). The name Rehoboth has not been discovered upon the Tigris's plain ; and no ruins or mounds have yet been found that would seem to mark its site (Michaelis, p. 240.
2. Rehoboth by the river, or more accurately, Rehoboth of the river "n; 'Powww9 rfp rapc1 roraAdv; in I Chron. 'Peu,969; but Alex. 'Pow
; de Akio Rehoboth ; but in Chron. Rohoboth, qua juxta aliment sita est). In enumerating the kings who reigned in Edom before the time of the Israelitish monarchy, the following occurs : And Sarnia') died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead' (Gen. xxxvi. 37 ; Chron. i. 48). The kings of Edom were not all natives of that country. The river is doubtless the Euphrates (cf. Gen. xxxi. 21 ; XV. 18 ; Dent. i. 7 ; Exod. xxiii. 31). The Targum of Onkelos adds, Rehoboth, which is on the Phrat.' Though some have attempted to identify the city with that founded by Nimrod, there are no good grounds for it ; and as the Euphrates was far distant from the site of Nineveh, there is a strong probability against it (Bochart, opp., i. 225 ; Winer, R. W., s. v. Rechoboth).
Rehoboth has been identified with a ruin called Rahabah ) situated on the bank of the • Euphrates, a short distance below the mouth of the Khabfir. Chesney says : On the right bank of the Euphrates, at the north-western extremity of the plain of Shinar, and three and a half miles south-west of the town of Mayadin, are extensive ruins around a castle still bearing the name of Rehoboth' (1, p. 119 ; ii. p. 222). Rahabah is mentioned by Abulfeda. In his day there was a small village on the site. Schultens in his note (Index Geogr. in vit. Salad., s.v. Rahaba) identifies it with Rehoboth of Gen. xxxvi. 37 Land this is the view of Bochart (1. c.), Winer, Gesenius (The saurus, p. 1281), and others. It is probably correct, though the same name is given to another place at some distance, and nearer the river.
3. Rehoboth (etipuXcopta, latitndo), the name given by Isaac to a well which he digged in the valley of Gerar. He had digged several wells before, but was obliged to abandon them in consequence of the quarrels of the Philistines. When this one was completed, they did not strive for it ; 'and he called the name of it Rehoboth ; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room (2'171) for us' (Gen. xxvi.