Arieh
Arieh, along with Argob, was with King Pekahiah when Pekah conspired against him and assassinated him.
Biography
Arieh appears in a single, brief but violent passage of Scripture, 2 Kings 15:25, as a figure present with King Pekahiah of Israel when the military commander Pekah, son of Remaliah, led a conspiracy against the king. Arieh is listed alongside Argob in what appears to be his proximity to the king, possibly as a royal bodyguard, official, or courtier. Pekah struck Pekahiah down in the citadel of the royal palace in Samaria, killing both the king and these associates. Whether Arieh and Argob were loyalists who died defending Pekahiah or were themselves among the conspirators is debated; the text's ambiguity has led to differing scholarly interpretations of their exact role in the regicide.
Significance
Arieh's mention, however brief, illuminates the turbulent final decades of the northern kingdom of Israel, a period marked by rapid dynastic turnover and political bloodshed. The conspiracy against Pekahiah in which Arieh perished reflects the instability that prophets like Hosea diagnosed as the consequence of Israel's chronic unfaithfulness to the Mosaic covenant (Hosea 8:4). This context underscores a theological warning: kingdoms built on injustice and idolatry cannot endure. Arieh's fate is a minor thread in the tragic unraveling of the northern monarchy that would culminate in the Assyrian deportation just decades later (2 Kings 17).
Verse Appearances (1)
2Kgs
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]