Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 3:4

חבל ארגב [ALL] THE LINE OF ARGOB — We render this in the Targum by בית פלך טרכונא Now I have seen that the Jerusalem Targum of the Scroll of Esther terms a palace טרכונין. I learn from this that חבל ארגב signifies “the province of the Royal Palace”, denoting that the province is called after its name (after the name of the palace). Similarly, also the term ארגוב found in the Book of Kings (2 15:25) where the meaning is that Pekah the son of Remaliah slew Pekahia the son of Menahem near the king’s palace (את ארגוב), I learn that thus (after the palace) was the province named.

ארגוב, the meaning of this word depends on the context in which the word appears.

כל חבל ארגוב, “the whole district of Argov;” according to Rashi the word refers to “a province;” other commentators believe that Argov is the name of an individual who used to own this strip of land, having inherited it, and that it had been measured with a rope to determine its boundaries, hence the word חבל ארגוב. Onkelos translates it as בית פלך טרכונא, “the resi-dence in a district by that name, i.e. a famous palace.” Our verse then would refer to the province in which the palace was situated.

I learned from this that, etc. I.e., from Targum Yerushalmi I learned that a palace is called טרכונין, and then we can learn from this that ארגוב also means a palace. The term הפרכיא, in other words, means the Royal Palace.

In other words the empire is called after its name. I.e., an important city.