Hoshea (King of Israel)

Biblical Account

Hoshea was the son of Elah. According to 2 Kings 15:30, he led a conspiracy against Pekah, king of Israel, killed him, and reigned in his place. Second Kings 17:1–6 records that he reigned in Samaria for nine years. Scripture assesses him this way: "he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him" (2 Kings 17:2).

Hoshea served Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, and paid him tribute each year. He later sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and stopped paying tribute. Shalmaneser regarded this as rebellion, imprisoned Hoshea, and besieged Samaria for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried the Israelites away captive to various parts of Assyria. Second Kings 18:9–10 records these events again, dating them by the regnal years of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

Significance in Scripture

Hoshea's reign marks the end of the northern kingdom of Israel, which had lasted roughly two hundred years since Jeroboam. Second Kings 17:7–23 explains that the fall of the northern kingdom resulted less from the failings of a single king than from the people's long-standing idolatry and their rejection of the prophets' warnings. The latter part of the same chapter (vv. 24–41) records how Assyria resettled other peoples in Samaria, an account frequently cited to explain the origins of the Samaritans. The New Testament does not mention King Hoshea.

Interpretation and Issues

• A different person with the same name: King Hoshea bears the same Hebrew name as the prophet Hosea, but the two are different people. The name, meaning "salvation," was also the original name of Joshua (Numbers 13:16). King Hoshea does not appear in the superscription of the prophetic book of Hosea (Hosea 1:1). Many interpreters, however, read the prophet's rebuke of Israel for wavering between Egypt and Assyria (Hosea 7:11) in light of the circumstances of this period.
• Chronological questions: The accession dates given in 2 Kings 15:30 and 17:1 appear to be inconsistent. Evangelical scholars seek to harmonize them by positing periods in which kings reigned jointly (coregencies), while other scholars attribute the discrepancy to scribal error in transmission. His reign is commonly dated from about 732 to about 722 BC, though estimates vary among scholars.
• Comparison with extrabiblical records: An inscription of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III is reported to state that he installed Hoshea as king. Sargon II also claimed the conquest of Samaria as his own achievement. Scholars therefore disagree over which king actually captured Samaria. There is likewise no consensus on the identity of the Egyptian king "So."
• Later traditions: Rabbinic literature preserves a tradition that Hoshea was judged less wicked than other kings because he removed the guards who had prevented Israelites from making pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This is an interpretation from Jewish tradition and is not found in the biblical text. The so-called "lost ten tribes" stories about where the exiled tribes went are likewise traditions that arose outside the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

In Korean Protestant churches, King Hoshea is mentioned chiefly in Bible studies and sermons that work sequentially through 2 Kings, and in read-through-the-Bible programs that cover the fall of the northern kingdom. He is sometimes presented as an example of a king who, caught between great powers, relied on diplomacy and alliances rather than on God. Because he shares a name with the prophet Hosea, questions asking students to distinguish the two figures also appear in church school lessons and Bible quizzes.