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{{Short description|King of the Israelite Kingdom of Israel and son of Elah}}
{{expand Hebrew|topic=hist|date=May 2012}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Hosea]]}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Hoshea
| title        = King Of Israel
| image        = Hoshea King.png
| image_size   = 
| caption      = Hoshea from "[[Guillaume Rouillé]]'s ''[[Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]''
| succession   = [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|King of Israel (Northern Kingdom)]]
| reign        = {{circa|732}}–{{circa|722}} BCE 
| coronation   = 
| predecessor  = [[Pekah]]
| successor    = ''Monarchy abolished''
| birth_date   = {{circa|759}} BCE
| death_date   = {{circa|722}} BCE (aged approx. 36)
| royal house  = 
| regent       = 
| father       = Elah
| mother       = 
}}

'''Hoshea''' ({{langx|hbo|rtl=yes|translation=salvation|translit=Hōšēaʿ|הוֹשֵׁעַ}}; {{langx|akk|𒀀𒌑𒋛𒀪}} ''A'úsiʾ'' [''a-ú-si-ʾ'']; {{langx|la|Osee}}) was the nineteenth and last king of the northern [[Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)|Kingdom of Israel]] (or a puppet king) and son of Elah (not the Israelite [[Elah (king)|king Elah]]). [[William F. Albright]] dated his reign to {{BCE|732–721|link=y}}, while [[Edwin R. Thiele]] offered the dates 732–723 BCE.<ref>Edwin Thiele, ''[[The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings]]'', (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951;  2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). {{ISBN|978-0825438257}}, 134, 217.</ref> 

Hoshea, a trusted advisor and companion to King [[Pekah]] of Israel, seized power during a time of great turmoil. As the [[Assyrian Empire]] invaded Israel's eastern territories, Pekah's grip on the throne began to slip. Sensing an opportunity, Hoshea conspired against his master. In the 20th year of Pekah's reign, Hoshea struck, assassinating the king during a battle against the Assyrians and the children of the east. The Assyrian king, [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], took advantage of Israel's weakened state and installed Hoshea as the new king. However, Hoshea's reign was short-lived, and he soon found himself at the mercy of the Assyrians.

Despite paying tribute to the Assyrian Empire, Hoshea eventually stopped making payments, hoping to assert his independence. This decision proved disastrous. The Assyrian king, [[Shalmaneser V]], laid siege to [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]], the capital of Israel, and after a three-year siege, the city fell in 722 BCE. The Assyrians then deported many of the Israelites to other parts of their empire, marking the end of the Kingdom of Israel. Hoshea's rebellion had ultimately led to the downfall of his kingdom.

==Reign==
===Accession===
Assyrian records confirm the biblical account of how he became king. Under [[Ahaz]], Judah had rendered allegiance to Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria, when the Northern Kingdom under Pekah, in league with [[Rezin]] of [[Aram-Damascus]], had attempted to coerce the Judean king into joint action against Assyria. Hoshea, a captain in Pekah's own army, placed himself at the head of the Assyrian party in Samaria; he then removed Pekah by assassination; Tiglath-pileser rewarded Hoshea by making him king over the [[Tribe of Ephraim]] (a name used here for the entire northern kingdom), which had been reduced to smaller dimensions.<ref name= je>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7902-hoshea "Hoshea", ''Jewish Encyclopedia'']</ref> An undated inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III boasts of making Hoshea king after his predecessor had been overthrown:
{{blockquote|text=Israel (lit.: "Omri-house" ''Bit-Humria'')… overthrew their king Pekah (''Pa-qa-ha'') and I placed Hoshea (''A-ú -si''') as king over them. I received from them 10 talents of gold, 1,000(?) talents of silver as their [tri]bute and brought them to Assyria.<ref>James B. Pritchard, ed., 1969, ''Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament'' 3rd ed.; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), p. 284.</ref>}}

The amount of tribute exacted from Hoshea is not stated in the text, but [[Menahem]], about ten years previously (743 or 742 BCE),<ref>[[T. C. Mitchell]], 1991, "Israel and Judah until the Revolt of Jehu (931–841 BC)" in ''Cambridge Ancient History 3'', Part 1, ed. John Boardman et al., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 326.</ref> was required to pay 1,000 [[talents of silver]] to Tiglath-Pileser in order to "strengthen his hold on the kingdom" ([[2 Kings 15]]:19), apparently against Menahem's rival [[Pekah]].<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Kings|15:19|he}}</ref>

So long as Tiglath-pileser was on the throne, Hoshea remained loyal; but when [[Shalmaneser V]] succeeded, Hoshea made an effort to regain his independence and entered into negotiations with [[Osorkon IV#Identification with Shilkanni and So|So]], King of Egypt. Probably misled by Egypt's favorable promises, Hoshea discontinued paying tribute. Winckler contends that in this anti-Assyrian movement, in which [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] also had a share, a last effort was made on the part of the Arabic commercial states to shut out Assyria from the Arabo-Indian commerce, for which possession of the Mediterranean ports was of vital importance.<ref name=je/> 

Shalmaneser soon interpreted this as a sign of rebellion and directed his armies against Samaria. The [[Assyria]]n Eponym Canon shows that Shalmaneser campaigned "against" (somewhere, name missing) in the years 727, 726, and 725 BCE, and it is presumed that the missing name was Samaria.<ref name= Thiele165>Thiele, ''Mysterious Numbers'' 165.</ref> The Babylonian Chronicle states that Shalmaneser ravaged the city of Sha-ma-ra-in (Samaria).<ref name= Thiele165/> Additional evidence that it was Shalmaneser, not [[Sargon II]] who initially captured Samaria, despite the latter's claim, late in his reign, that he was its conqueror, was presented by Tadmor, who showed that Sargon had no campaigns in the west in his first two years of reign (722 and 721 BCE).<ref>Hayim Tadmor, "The Campaigns of Sargon II of Assur: A Chronological-Historical Study," ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' 12 (1958) 39, cited in Thiele, ''Mysterious Numbers'' 165, n. 4.</ref> Therefore, 722 is the last possible date for the fall of Samaria, after a siege of 3 years, the Bible gives ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|17:5|NIV}}), and 724 is the earliest date.

===End of reign===
It is likely that Hoshea, disappointed by the lack of Egyptian support, endeavored to avert the calamity by resuming the payment of tribute, but, distrusted, he was forced to fight and was taken prisoner in battle. Although deprived of its ruler, the capital mounted an effective defense.<ref name=je/> However, the Assyrians captured [[Samaria]] after a siege of three years. Shalmaneser V died shortly after the city fell, and the Assyrian army was recalled to assure the succession of [[Sargon II]]. The land of Israel—which had resisted the Assyrians for years without a king—again revolted. Sargon II returned with the Assyrian army in 720 BCE and conquered the kingdom, deporting its citizens beyond the [[Euphrates]] (some 27,290 according to the inscription of Sargon II), and settling people from [[Babylon]], [[Kutha]], Avva, [[Hama]] and [[Sepharvaim]] in their place (2 Kings 17:6, 24). According to the [[Books of Kings]], this destruction occurred "because the children of Israel sinned against the Lord" ({{bibleverse|2|Kings|17:7-24|NIV}}). What happened to Hoshea following the end of the Kingdom of Israel, and when or where he died after his capture by Sargon II, is unknown. The Rabbis explain the description of Hoshea "And he did what was evil in the eyes of the L‑rd, though not like the kings of Israel who had preceded him." because he had removed the blockade which had stood for hundreds of years on the road to Jerusalem, finally giving the Israelites the choice of either serving G‑d in the Holy Temple or continuing to practice idolatry; Nevertheless, although the sentries were removed, the Jews continued in their idolatrous ways and did not go up to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem; this happened three years before Samaria fell.<ref>[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1679684/jewish/The-Exile-of-the-Ten-Lost-Tribes-of-Israel.htm The Exhile of the Ten Lost Tribes Chabbad library]</ref>

==Seal of Hoshea's servant==
In the mid-1990s, an unprovenanced [[bulla (seal)|bulla]] appeared on the antiquities market. The seal has been dated by [[André Lemaire]] to the second half of the 8th century BCE on paleographic grounds, and its inscription reads "Belonging to Abdi, servant of Hoshea". If authentic, it is perhaps the only archaeological attestation of Hoshea in an Israelite inscription found to date.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Royal Signature: Name of Israel's Last King Surfaces in a Private Collection |journal=[[Biblical Archaeology Review]] |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/21/6/3 |last=Lemaire |first=André |issue=6 |volume=21 |pages=48–52 |year=1995 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources]]
*[[Osorkon IV#Identification with Shilkanni and So|So]], possibly [[Osorkon IV]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Rulers of Ancient Israel}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:8th-century BCE kings of Israel]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Biblical murderers]]
[[Category:Dethroned monarchs]]
[[Category:720s BC deaths]]
[[Category:750s BC births]]