Rehob

The name Rehob attaches in scripture to two men and to several northern towns, all gathered under one umbrella because they share a single Hebrew name. The references cluster in the conquest and settlement narratives of Joshua and Judges, in the Davidic war records of 2 Samuel, and once in the post-exilic covenant list of Nehemiah.

Rehob, Father of Hadadezer

The first Rehob is named only as a patronymic. He is the father of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, the Aramean ruler whom David defeats as he moves to consolidate his northern frontier: "David struck also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River" (2Sa 8:3). The same filiation is repeated when the Hadadezer plunder is gathered with the spoils of Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, and Amalek (2Sa 8:12). Nothing further is said of this Rehob himself; he survives in the record only through his son.

Rehob the Levite

The second Rehob is one of the Levites who set their seal to Nehemiah's covenant after the return from exile, named in a short list between Mica and Hashabiah (Ne 10:11). He is identified by no further detail.

Rehob, the Northern Limit of the Spies

Rehob also names a town in the far north of the land. It marks the upper end of the territory the twelve spies surveyed: "So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath" (Nu 13:21). The verse fixes Rehob as the geographic ceiling of their reconnaissance — paired against the wilderness of Zin in the south and standing at the threshold of Hamath beyond.

Beth-rehob and the Aramean Coalition

This northern Rehob lies in Aramean hands by the time of David's wars with Ammon. When the sons of Ammon make themselves a stench to David, they hire mercenary forces from the surrounding Aramean states: "the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men" (2Sa 10:6). The expanded form Beth-rehob ("house of Rehob") appears here. When the battle is joined, the same coalition is in the field: "the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field" (2Sa 10:8).

Rehob in the Allotment of Asher

Joshua's tribal lists name Rehob — apparently more than one town of that name — within the inheritance of Asher in the western Galilee. The first appears among the cities reaching toward the Phoenician coast: "and Adbon, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even to great Sidon" (Jos 19:28). A second occurrence closes the same allotment summary: "Acco also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty and two cities with their villages" (Jos 19:30).

Rehob as a Levitical City

One of the Asherite Rehobs is set apart for the Levites. In the Levitical-city allotment from Asher, it is grouped with Helkath: "Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities" (Jos 21:31). The Chronicler preserves the same assignment in his parallel list: "and Hukok with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs" (1Ch 6:75).

Canaanites Not Driven Out

Asher, however, does not finish the work of dispossession. Among the towns whose Canaanite inhabitants remain in place is Rehob, listed in a chain of unconquered northern cities: "Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob" (Judg 1:31). What was assigned in Joshua is held only partially in Judges, and Rehob remains contested ground on Israel's northern edge.