Who was King Hoshea in the Bible?

Hoshea was the final king of the northern kingdom of Israel, reigning from approximately 732 to 722 BC. His reign ended when the Assyrian Empire conquered the capital, Samaria, leading to the exile of the Israelites (2 Kings 17:1-6).

Why is King Hoshea significant in the Bible?

Hoshea's reign marks the tragic end of the independent kingdom of Israel. His story illustrates the consequences of national disobedience to God, culminating in the Assyrian conquest and exile as divine judgment for idolatry (2 Kings 17:7-23).

What happened during King Hoshea's reign?

Hoshea initially paid tribute to Assyria but later rebelled by seeking an alliance with Egypt. This prompted the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser V, to invade, besiege Samaria for three years, and finally capture the city, ending the kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 17:3-6).

Hoshea

Old TestamentDivided MonarchyMaleKing

Hoshea was the last king of Israel, reigning from around 732 to 722 BC, until the Assyrian conquest of Samaria.

Hoshea

Biography

Hoshea son of Elah was the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel, reigning from approximately 732 to 722 BC (2 Kings 17:1-6). He came to power by assassinating his predecessor Pekah and immediately found himself a vassal of the Assyrian empire under Tiglath-pileser III. When Shalmaneser V of Assyria discovered that Hoshea had sent envoys to Egypt seeking an alliance and had withheld tribute, the Assyrian king imprisoned him and besieged Samaria. After a three-year siege, Samaria fell in 722 BC, the event traditionally attributed to Shalmaneser or his successor Sargon II, and the population of the northern kingdom was deported, ending the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel permanently.

Significance

Hoshea's reign marks one of the most catastrophic moments in Israel's history: the end of the northern kingdom and the dispersal of the ten tribes into Assyrian exile. The biblical narrator in 2 Kings 17 provides a theological autopsy of this catastrophe, tracing it to generations of covenant unfaithfulness, idolatry, syncretism, and rejection of the prophets' warnings. Though Hoshea is noted as doing evil 'yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him' (2 Kings 17:2), his political miscalculation and the nation's spiritual bankruptcy made the end inevitable. His story stands as a solemn witness to the consequences of abandoning the covenant God and seeking security in earthly alliances rather than divine fidelity.

Verse Appearances (8)

2Kgs

2Kgs 15:30 2Kgs 17:1 2Kgs 17:3 2Kgs 17:4 2Kgs 17:6 2Kgs 18:1 2Kgs 18:9 2Kgs 18:10

References

Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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