jareb Summary and Overview

(adversary) is to be explained either as the proper name of a country or person, as a noun in apposition, or as a verb from a root, rub, "to contend plead." All these senses are represented in the Authorized Version and the marginal readings, #Ho 5:13; 10:6| and the east preferable has been inserted in the text. Jareb is most probably the name of some city of Assyria or another name of the country itself.

JA'REB (an adversary). The marginal reading would indicate that it was the name of a place, but that is forbidden by the form of the original word. Hos 5:13; Neh 10:6. Some make it the name of a king, but it is better to translate it "the hostile king" -- i.e. "the king of Assyria."

Hosea 5:13; 10:6. "Ephraim went to the Assyrian and (Judah) sent to king Jareb," "the calf shall be carried into Assyria ... a present to king Jareb" Hebrew "avenger." The Assyrian king, seeking his own aggrandizement, proposed to undertake Israel's and Judah's cause. As in Judges 6:32, Jerub in Jerubbaal means "let Baal plead."Judah under Ahaz applied to Tiglath Pileser for aid against Syria and Israel (2 Kings 16:7,8; 2 Chronicles 28:16-21). The Assyrian "distressed, but strengthened him not,"as Hosea foretells, "he could not ... cure you of your wound."The Israelite Menahem subsidized Pul (2 Kings 15:19). Instead of "avenger" to ward off foes, the expected protector proved to be God's "avenger" for Israel's and Judah's sins. Pusey explains James "the strifeful king," Assyrian history being, as their own inscriptions prove, one perpetual warfare. The Assyrian word jarbam is "to fight"; Gesenius explains James "the hostile king."