And the head of Ephraim [is] Samaria,..... Samaria was the metropolis or chief city of Ephraim, or the ten tribes of Israel:and the head of Samaria [is] Remaliah's son; Pekah, son of Remaliah, was king of Samaria, as of all Israel.
The sense is, that, until the sixty five years were ended, there should be no enlargement of the kingdom of Israel; Judah should not be added to it; Samaria should continue, and not Jerusalem be the metropolis of it; and Pekah, during his life, should be king of Israel, but not of Judah.
If ye will not believe; the Targum adds,"the words of the prophet;''surely ye shall not be established, or remain ; that is, in their own land, but should be carried captive, as they were after a time; or it is, "because ye are not true and firm"; in the faith of God, as Kimchi interprets it; or, "because ye are not confirmed" ; that is, by a sign; wherefore it follows: wnmat al yk "non permanebitis", V.
L. Cocceius.