Meaning of HOSEA

(From the Hebrew "Hoshea": "saved, salvation").
(a) First name of Joshua, son of Num, changed to Moses (Num. 13:8, 16; 1 Chron. 27:20).

(b) Son of Azariah, one of the princes of Ephraim during the reign of David (1 Chron. 27:20).

(c) One of those who sealed Nehemiah's covenant (Neh. 10:23).

(d) Last king of Israel, son of Elah. In conspiracy with Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, Hosea killed Pekah, king of Israel, and usurped the throne (2 Kings 15:30). He reigned for nine years, between 730 and 722 BC. Hosea, as king of Israel, did evil in the sight of Jehovah, although not to the extent of those who had been kings before him.

Shalmanser, king of Assyria, came up against him. Hosea, unable to defend himself, submitted as a tributary (2 Kings 17:3); He then requested help from Pharaoh, believing that Egypt would help him in order to also keep the Assyrians away from their own borders.

Thus, he refused to continue paying the annual tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 17:4). Shalmaneser again invaded the territories of Israel, imprisoned Hoshea, and besieged Samaria (see SHALMANSAR, c).

The city of Samaria was subjected to great hardship, but it held out for three years, at the end of which Shalmansar died. He was succeeded by Sargon, who had the glory of taking Samaria. He deported the nobles to Assyria, and made them reside in Cala and Habor, by the river Gozan, and in cities of Media (2 Kings 17:5, 6).

This event is called the Captivity of the Ten Tribes. Hosea was no more responsible than the other kings for the collapse of the northern kingdom; Simply, with him the cup of iniquities that Israel had been filling over the centuries overflowed (2 Kings 17:7-23). (See SAMARIA, a, SARGON, ISRAEL.)

(e) The prophet Hosea, son of Beeri; he spoke during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and under Jeroboam II, king of Israel (Hos. 1:1). The date can be established thanks to the mention of Jeroboam (Hos. 1:1); This date is corroborated by the internal evidence of Os. 1:4, where it is stated that the house of Jehu, of which Jeroboam II was a part, continued to occupy the throne.

The passages of Hos. 7:3, 16; 8:4 allude to the riots and murders that took place in the northern kingdom after the death of Jeroboam. The conditions described between Os. 5:8 and 6:6 can be related to the war between Syria and Israel (734-733 BC; cf. 2 Kings 15:29-16:9; 1 Chr. 5:26; 2 Chr. 28; Is. 7 :1-9).

There have been critics who have claimed that the chronological indication of the kings of Judah (Hos. 1:1) was given to present Hosea as a contemporary of Isaiah (Is. 1:1).

Hosea's prophetic ministry began under Jeroboam II at a time when Uzziah was still alive, so it must have been before 746, or 750 B.C. This was also the time when Amos, originally from Judah, was sent to the northern kingdom, while Micah was prophesying in the kingdom of Judah.