REHOBOTH
REHOBOTH (translated
εὐρυχωρία in LXX.), one of the wells dug by Isaac in the country of Gerar,--after Esek (contention) and Sitnah (hatred),--for which the herdsmen did not strive: so he called it Rehoboth: “And he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” (
Gen. 26.18, 20--22.)
There was a town in the vicinity of the well, the traces of which were recovered, with the well itself, by Mr. Rowlands, in 1843. “About a quarter of an hour beyond
Sebâta, we came to the remains of what must have been a very well-built city, called now
Rohébeh. This is undoubtedly the ancient Rehoboth, where Abraham, and afterwards Isaac, digged a well.
This lies, as Rehoboth did, in the land of Gerar. Outside the walls of the city is an ancient well of living and good water called
Bir-Rohébeh. This most probably is the site, if not the well itself, digged by Isaac.” (Williams's
Holy City, vol. i. Appendix, i. p. 465.)
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G.W]
