But Pekah the son of Remaliah, a captain of his,.... The word signifies a "third" man, the third to the king, as some think; Josephus calls him a "chiliarch", one that had the command of a thousand men:conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the palace of the king's house; Josephus says it was at a banquet:with Argob, and Arieh; whom, according to Abarbinel, Pekah slew with the king, being mighty men, who were always about him; but they seem rather to be conspirators with Pekah, and assisting to him in smiting the king; the former of these, Ben Gersom thinks, was governor of Argob, a country on the other side Jordan, and the latter had his name from his fortitude, which signifies a lion:and with him fifty men of the Gileadites; which may seem to strengthen the above notion concerning Argob, since the Gileadites were of the same side of Jordan, and were near Argob, see De 3:13and he killed him, and reigned in his room, as his father killed Shallum, and reigned in his stead.
Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 9. c. 11. sect. 1.