Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pahathmoab (governor of Moab), head of one of the chief houses of the tribe of Judah. Of the individual or the occasion of his receiving so singular a name nothing is known certainty but as we read in (1 Chronicles 4:22) of a family of Shilonites, of the tribe of Judah, who in very early times "had dominion in Moab," it may be conjectured that this was the origin of the name.