Rehob
Rehob is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tell Bir el Gharbi. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Rehob, identified with Tell Bir el-Gharbi in the Galilee, appears in several Old Testament passages related to the tribal territories and Levitical cities. The city was located within the territory of Asher (Joshua 19:30) and was designated as a Levitical city given to the Gershonite clan (Joshua 21:31; 1 Chronicles 6:75). As a Levitical city, Rehob served a vital religious function, providing a dwelling place for the Levites who were scattered throughout Israel to facilitate worship and instruction in the Torah. However, the book of Judges records that Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Rehob, and instead the Israelites lived among the Canaanites who remained in the land (Judges 1:31). This failure to fully possess their allotted territory exemplifies a recurring pattern in the conquest narratives, where Israel's incomplete obedience led to ongoing cultural and religious compromise with the surrounding peoples, ultimately contributing to the cycles of apostasy described throughout the book of Judges.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Tell Bir el-Gharbi is located in the western lower Galilee of modern Israel, in an area of agricultural plains and low hills. The site has been identified through geographic analysis and comparison with biblical boundary descriptions, though definitive confirmation through inscription finds remains elusive. Surface pottery collections from the tell indicate occupation spanning the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, periods consistent with the biblical chronology of the conquest and settlement. The surrounding area contains multiple tells and ancient settlement remains reflecting the dense population of the Galilee during the biblical period. The site's proximity to the Acco plain and major trade routes underscores its strategic importance in antiquity.
Verse Appearances (4)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]