15:25 Pekah the son of Remaliah. A high-ranking official in the northern kingdom, he was evidently part of an anti-Assyrian faction within the northern kingdom (v. 29). He pursued improved relations with the Syrians during his reign as a way to offset Assyrian designs in the west (16:1–9; Is. 7:1).

fifty men of the people of Gilead. Pekah, like the rebels before him (vv. 10, 14), may have been from Gilead. Pekah may have reigned over Gilead before attempting to overthrow Pekahiah in Samaria.