Jareb
Ja'reb (Heb. Yareb', יָרֵב, i. q. יָרַיב, contentious,. i.e. an adversary) occurs as a proper name in the Auth. Vers. of Ho 5:13; Ho 10:6, where a "king Jareb" (יָרֵב מֶלֶך, Sept. βασιλεὺς Ι᾿αρείμ, Vulg. rex ultor) is spoken of as the false refuge and final subjugator of the kingdom of Israel. It probably is a figurative title of the king of Assyria (mentioned in the same connection), who, like the Persian monarchs, affected the title of "the great king" (Michaelis, Supplem., actually derives it from the Syriac ireb, "to be great"); here spoken in irony towards the faithless nation as their greatest scourge (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 1286). Had Jareb been the proper name of the king of Assyria, as it would be if this rendering were correct, the word preceding (מֶלֶך, melek, "king") would have required the article. That it is rather to be applied to the country than to the king may be inferred from its standing in parallelism with Asshur. Such is the opinion of First (Handw. s.v.), who illustrates the symbolical usage by a comparison with Rahab as applied to Egypt. At the same time he hazards a conjecture that it may have been an old Assyrian word, adopted into the Hebrew language, and so modified as to express an intelligible idea, while retaining something of its original form. The clause in which it occurs is supposed by many to refer to Judah, in order to make the parallelism complete; and, with this in view, Jarchi interprets it of Ahaz, who sent to Tiglath-Pileser (2Ki 16:8) to aid him against the combined forces of Syria and Israel. But there is no reason to suppose that the two clauses do. not both refer to Ephraim, and the allusion would then be, as explained by Jerome, to Pul, who was subsidized by Menahem (2Ki 15:19), and Judah would be indirectly included. Other interpretations of the most fanciful character have been given (Glass, Phil. Sacr. 4:3, 17, p. 644).
