Genesis 10:11 has Rechovot Ir (רחובות עיר), one of the cities of Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Tigris, founded by Nimrod.
Genesis 26:22 - a well dug by Yitschak (Isaac).
Genesis 36:37 has Rechovot ha-Nahar (רחובות הנהר), the birthplace or king-city of the first, Edomite king Sha'ul (not the Sha'ul who was the first king of the Beney Yisra-El). Nahar means "river", and the river in question is presumed to be the Perat (Euphrates).
Genesis 36:37 has Rechovot ha-Nahar (רחובות הנהר), the birthplace or king-city of the first, Edomite king Sha'ul (not the Sha'ul who was the first king of the Beney Yisra-El). Nahar means "river", and the river in question is presumed to be the Perat (Euphrates).
Interesting etymology here, with the same word used to describe two very different parts of the city: a street, which could be any street; and "a broad space", which is very specific: most oriental cities had some sort of plaza where trials were held and markets set up, usually just inside the city gate - cf 2 Chronicles 32:6; Nehemiah 8:1 ff and Ezra 10:9.
However, a further odd coincidence of spelling, or perhaps a derivation in one or other direction, takes us to Rachav (רָחָב), mispronounced in English as Rahab, the famous "harlot" of Yericho (Jericho) who helped the spies in Joshua 2:1 and 6:17. Her "harlotry" was really her role as priestess of the serpent cult known as Tahamat in Sumer, and just as Elohim uses the multiple plural, so in this earlier matriarchal way do Tehom-Tahamat and Rachav-Rechovot.
However, a further odd coincidence of spelling, or perhaps a derivation in one or other direction, takes us to Rachav (רָחָב), mispronounced in English as Rahab, the famous "harlot" of Yericho (Jericho) who helped the spies in Joshua 2:1 and 6:17. Her "harlotry" was really her role as priestess of the serpent cult known as Tahamat in Sumer, and just as Elohim uses the multiple plural, so in this earlier matriarchal way do Tehom-Tahamat and Rachav-Rechovot.
The linking of the religious cults is noted in Rechav-Yah (רְחַבְיָה), a grandson of Mosheh through his second son Eli-Ezer (אֱלִיעֶזֶר) in 1 Chronicles 23:17, 24:21 and 26:25 and even more in Rechav-Am (רחבעם - Rehoboam), the heir of Shelomoh (Solomon) in 1 Kings 11:43 et al.
The notion of cities and wells named Rechovot, like the modern-day one near Tel Aviv, is erroneous etymology: the presence of Rachav tells us that the sites would have been temples or shrines, the open spaces suggesting nothing more than an absence of roof and the outdoor location of the shrine, as was commonplace, indeed normal.
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