Tel Rehov does not correspond to the Hebrew Bible places named as Rehov, of which two were in the more westerly allotment of the Tribe of Asher, and one more northerly.
Identification of Tell es-Sarem/Tel Rehov with the ancient Canaanite and Israelite city of Rehov was based on the preservation of the name at the nearby Islamic holy tomb of esh-Sheikh er-Rihab (one kilometre; 1000 yards to the south of Tel Rehov), and the existence of the ruins of a Byzantine-period Jewish town that preserved the old name in the form of Rohob or Roōb/Roob (one kilometre; 1000 yards northwest of Tel Rehov).
Rehov was one of the largest cities in the region during the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE) and Iron Age I–IIA (1200–900 BCE). During the Late Bronze Age, while Egypt ruled over Canaan, Rehov was mentioned in at least three sources dated between the 15th–13th century BCE, and again in the list of conquests of Pharaoh Shoshenq I, whose campaign took place around 925 BCE
