ARGOB. — 1. A warrior or official of the court of Pekah, king of Israel, by whom he was slain at Samaria (2 Kgs 15:25).
2. A region of Bashan, belonging to the kingdom of Og (Deut 3:4–5, 13). Conquered by the Israelites, it fell by inheritance to Jair of the tribe of Manasseh (Deut 3:14), who occupied the districts that took their name from him, Havvoth-jair, still mentioned in Solomon’s time (1 Kgs 4:13). There is debate whether these were fortified cities or tent-villages; whether in Gilead or Bashan; whether sixty (Josh 13:30; 1 Kgs 4:13), thirty (Judg 10:4), or twenty-three (1 Chr 2:23). Under Solomon, Argob formed the sixth prefecture, governed by Ben-geber (1 Kgs 4:13). Some have identified it with Bashan; others with Hirbet ‘Arqub er-Raḥuḥ, at the confluence of the Nahr er-Ruqqad and the Yarmuk. But with high probability Argob corresponds to the region of the Leqā (Trachonitis, q.v.) and the plain before it, extending toward Gaulanitis: ‘argobh, “stony,” translated Trakōnā or Tark(g)ōnā in the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, suits the Leqā, an expanse of lava flow forming a plateau 8–10 meters higher than the surrounding plain. There are abundant remains of cities built of black basalt, attesting an ancient civilization and a hardy population.