Rehoboth

Rehoboth ("broad places" or "room") was the third well Isaac's herdsmen dug after settling in the valley of Gerar (Genesis 26:22). The first two — Esek ("contention") and Sitnah ("hostility") — had been seized by Philistine herdsmen in territorial disputes. When the third well went undisputed, Isaac named it Rehoboth: "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." A separate Rehoboth-on-the-river appears in Genesis 36:37 as the city of King Shaul of Edom. The Isaac-era Rehoboth is identified with Wadi er-Ruheibeh about 19 miles southwest of Beersheba.