In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, for nine years.
This verse reads like a plain line in a royal register. It is not. It names Israel's last king, and the nine years it counts are the years in which his kingdom ends.
He did not inherit the crown. He seized it, and the dates around that seizure take some untangling.
Son of Elah and the last king of Israel. He conspired against Pekah and killed him, and reigned in his place, "in the twentieth year of Jotham." But Jotham reigned only 16 years. This probably means that Pekah was killed in the twentieth year after Jotham became king. There was then anarchy for about 9 years, thought to be noticed in Hosea 10. Hoshea began to reign B.C. 730, the twelfth year of Ahaz, which agrees with 2 Kings 17:1.
Another writer measures the gap a little differently, and admits the record leaves out the reason.
At least eight years with no king passed between the murder of Pekah, his predecessor, and his own taking of the throne. Why this kingless interval, we have no means of knowing, nor how the time was occupied.
Hoshea's nine years close a much longer story.
After the split, the Northern Kingdom continued about 260 years. Then the kings of Assyria destroyed it and deported the people. Nineteen kings in all reigned over the ten tribes. Sadly, there was not a single good king among them. Some, it must be said, were more desperate in their wickedness than others.
Hoshea's answer to Assyria was payment, not repentance.
Hoshea, the murderer of Pekah, reigned nine years in Samaria while doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. His conduct toward Him was less profane than that of his predecessors. But he took no account of the judgments of God. Through all the prophets God had foretold that Israel would fall under Assyria. Year after year king Hoshea had been sending presents to the king of Assyria. In this he followed one of his predecessors, Menahem.
God had borne with nineteen kings. With Hoshea that patience ends.
Hoshea, although less wicked than his predecessors, ends the list of kings whom the patience of God had borne with in Israel. God thought of His people; and now there was no more hope for them. They were not even a vessel fit to hold the election of God, to whom He made Himself known. Brought into subjection to the king of Assyria, Hoshea had sought help from Egypt. After the king of Assyria had put him in prison, Samaria and all Israel could not hold out long.
Even the king's name carried a message.
Israel's last king was Hoshea. His name means "deliverance." It shows what might have been if he and the people had repented of their sins.
The name outlived the man. Another writer hears in it a promise still ahead.
His name means deliverer. It may have a prophetic significance, as a gracious reminder to the now long-scattered nation. It points to that great "Deliverer" who will "come from Zion" (God's grace) and "banish ungodliness from Jacob." And then, and so, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26).
- Conspiracy. Hoshea reached the throne by killing Pekah, and the crown he seized was the last one Israel would ever wear.
- Delay. At least eight years passed with no king at all. No writer claims to know why.
- Deafness. The prophets had already warned that Assyria would rule Israel. Hoshea sent presents year after year instead of repenting.
- Deadline. Nineteen kings had tried God's patience. With this one it ends. The nation was no longer a vessel fit to hold what God had given it.
- Deliverance. The last king's name means deliverance. Israel refused it then. Grace still holds it out to a scattered people.
And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not as the kings of Israel that had been before him.
Israel's northern kingdom ends with Hoshea, and God's verdict on him is unusual: he did evil, but not like the kings before him. So was he really better, and why does judgment fall in his reign?
Hoshea is the last of those kings. One writer sees the end of God's patience here, not a fresh start.
Hoshea was less wicked than the kings before him. Yet he closes the list of kings whom God's patience had borne with in Israel. God thought of His people; and now there was no more hope of them. They were not even a vessel fit to hold God's election — the people to whom He had made Himself known.
The comparison may sound like progress. One commentator gives a different reason: the golden calf-idols at Bethel and Dan were already gone.
Israel's last king was Hoshea. His name means "deliverance." It shows what might have been if he and the people had repented of their sins. The record of his character is brief: "And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him." This does not mean that he improved. The Assyrian had already taken the golden calves away from Bethel and Dan. So he could no longer sin like Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and the other kings of Israel. Hosea had predicted this (Hosea 10:5-8).
If the idols were gone, not worshipping them earns nothing. Another writer presses the point: skipping a sin is not the same as hating it.
He was the last of the nineteen kings who ruled — or rather misruled — Israel. That last clause gives Hoshea no credit. The Assyrian plunderers had most likely removed and carried away the golden calves of Dan and Bethel. See Hosea 10:5-8. If he did not worship them, or other detestable things, it was not because he "abhorred idols" (Rom. 2:22).
Commentators differ on how much this clause means. Where some see no credit for Hoshea, another sees how God weighs each life.
It is interesting to see what the Lord notes here. Hoshea did evil in His sight, but not as the kings of Israel before him did. The Judge of all the earth always does right. He knows the heart and weighs with the balances of the sanctuary.
So what was his evil? One writer points to what Hoshea left out of his reckoning.
Hoshea, the murderer of Pekah, reigned nine years in Samaria while doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord. His conduct toward Him was less irreverent than that of the kings before him. But he took no account of the judgments of God. Through all the prophets God had foretold that Israel would come under Assyria.
Hoshea then tried to keep both Assyria and Egypt on his side. It cost him his throne and his city.
His Assyrian overlord now imprisoned him. He overran the land with his armies and besieged Samaria for three years, till it fell. He had found treachery in Hoshea. Instead of paying his normal tribute, Hoshea had sent envoys to the king of Egypt to ask for help. Our Lord Jesus plainly declares that no man can serve two masters — an important lesson for us to learn, too.
Hoshea's name promised deliverance. One writer points past him to the only One who brings it.
Hoshea (deliverance) proved anything but that to his people. One alone will bring deliverance to the ten tribes. Israel was taken captive into Assyria and resettled in various places. The ten tribes have never returned from their captivity. They will not return until the Lord Himself brings them back in a day to come.
- Measured — God weighs Hoshea with care. His evil was real, but it was not the evil of the kings before him. The Judge of all the earth always does right and reads the heart.
- Not excused — the milder record is no compliment. The calf-idols were already gone, so he could not sin as Jeroboam did. Avoiding an idol you cannot reach is not hating it.
- Still evil — he ignored the judgment the prophets had announced. Then he tried to serve Assyria and Egypt at once.
- Ended — he closes the list of kings God's patience had borne with. Israel was no longer even a vessel fit to hold God's election, and hope for it was gone.
- Unfulfilled — his name meant deliverance, and it showed what repentance could have brought. Instead the ten tribes went into a captivity that only the Lord Himself will reverse.
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hoshea became his servant, and tendered him presents.
An Assyrian army comes up against Israel. Hoshea's answer is not repentance but payment. He submits to Shalmaneser and buys peace with tribute. Commentators ask what it cost Israel to lean on the power God had raised up against her.
Hoshea's throne was never really his own. One writer gives two possible reasons for his shaky start.
It seems he had trouble tightening his hold on a kingdom that was now sinking fast. Or perhaps he had to get his right to rule approved by the powerful Assyrians. Either way, he ruled only as a vassal of the Assyrian king.
Becoming a vassal was not a one-off surrender. A vassal kept his throne by paying a stronger king, year after year. Hoshea copied an earlier king of Israel who had done the same — and he ignored what the prophets had said was coming.
His conduct toward Him was less godless than that of his predecessors. But he took no account of the judgments of God, by which all the prophets had foretold that Israel would be put under Assyria. Year after year king Hoshea had been sending gifts to the king of Assyria (v. 3). In this he followed one of his predecessors, Menahem, who by gifts had made himself a vassal of the Assyrian king Pul, so that Pul would establish the kingdom in his hands.
Shalmaneser's arrival was not bad luck. One writer traces it straight to Hoshea's own conduct.
But his evil deeds, whatever they were, quickly brought the Assyrian — "the rod of God's anger" — down on him and his wicked subjects… He had conspired against his weaker Israelite master. He tried the same thing, to his sorrow, with his powerful Gentile lord.
The title cuts both ways. Assyria is a tool in God's hand, and the tool is answerable too:
God used this power as His rod to chasten His people… It is as if God says to this mighty power: I am using you to chastise My straying people. But if you lift yourself up against Me, I must bring you down.
The verse just before ours calls Hoshea less evil than the kings before him. Commentators differ on how to read that. One takes it as no compliment:
Nothing in that last clause counts in Hoshea's favour. The Assyrian raiders had most likely already carried away the golden calves of Dan and Bethel… If he did not worship them, or other detestable things, it was not because he "abhorred idols."
Another reads the same clause as a sign that God measures each man exactly:
It is striking to see the Lord note that Hoshea did evil in His sight, but not like the kings of Israel before him. The Judge of all the earth always does right. He knows the heart, and He weighs it in the balances of the sanctuary.
Hoshea did not stay loyal to Assyria. He also turned to Egypt, and the prophets had already named that habit.
The prophet speaks of the king's two-faced, untrustworthy conduct: "Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind; all day long they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt" (Hosea 12:1), and again "Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria" (Hosea 7:11).
One writer puts the lesson bluntly, and it reaches past Hoshea:
Egypt gave Israel no help and only wounded them badly. Egypt was like a staff that breaks under the weight of the man leaning on it, and then pierces his hand. Whenever God's people turn to Egypt — a picture of the world — for help, and make godless alliances, they do so to their own hurt and shame.
- Sin first. Hoshea's evil deeds brought the Assyrian down on him. The invasion was a consequence, not an accident.
- Rod second. Commentators call Assyria "the rod of God's anger." God chastens His people with the empire, then brings the empire down if it lifts itself up against Him.
- Tribute third. Becoming a vassal meant gifts sent year after year, copying Menahem. Hoshea took no account of the judgments the prophets had foretold.
- Double-dealing fourth. A covenant with Assyria and oil sent to Egypt at the same time — the prophets called Ephraim a silly dove, calling to Egypt and going to Assyria.
- Ruin last. Egypt was a staff that breaks and pierces the hand. Turning to the world for help ends in hurt and shame.
But the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and sent up no present to the king of Assyria as [he had done] from year to year. And the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
Hoshea's reign ends with a secret message sent to Egypt, not with a battle. His Assyrian overlord found out, and that one move cost Hoshea his freedom and opened the way to the fall of Samaria.
Hoshea had come to the throne by plotting against his predecessor. One writer sees the same instinct turned on a far stronger master, with a very different result.
He who conspired against his weaker Israelite master attempted the same — to his sorrow — with his powerful Gentile lord.
One reference work names him as an Egyptian king, and traces where Hoshea's gifts to Egypt led.
The twenty-fifth dynasty was a foreign one, of Ethiopians who reigned in Nubia. Its first king, named Shabaka, or Sabaco, was the So of Scripture. Hoshea, king of Israel, tried to form an alliance with this king in order to break free from his allegiance to Assyria. He made presents to Egypt; but the scheme was not carried out. It led to the capture of Samaria and the captivity of the ten tribes.
A prophet had already described this double game: a covenant with Assyria, and oil sent down to Egypt.
The prophet mentions this two-faced, suspicious conduct of the king. "Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt" (Hosea 12:1). And again: "Ephraim is like a dove, silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria" (Hosea 7:11). So, discovering Hoshea's conspiracy, Shalmaneser "shut him up and bound him in prison" (v. 4).
Another writer takes the dove further. The bird does not just lack sense; it flies toward the trap while looking for safety.
The Lord was their help and their rest, but they did not fly back to Him. Like a moth around a flame, they fluttered around Egypt and Assyria, trying to find deliverance there. They went from Egypt to Assyria and from Assyria back to Egypt. They never saw the net spread to destroy them — and that net was Assyria itself. In this net the Lord caught them. Their freedom would end and captivity would begin.
Turning to Egypt was an old habit that never once paid off. One writer names what Egypt really was, then turns the point on the reader.
Egypt has been a breaking staff to Israel; a staff of reed, which offered much but never kept its promises, bringing only ruin to all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of the people of God. Yet God had rescued them from that land, and in that rescue they had seen His judgment on it. Yet they could turn back to it again and again. This is an inconsistency that none of us who knows himself can claim to be a stranger to! ... The lesson is as plain as it is basic. It is the lesson, "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
Hoshea was less wicked than the kings before him, yet the line of kings closes with him. One writer reads his imprisonment as the point where hope for the kingdom ran out.
Hoshea, although less wicked than his predecessors, ends the list of kings whom the patience of God had borne with in Israel. God thought of His people; and now there was no more hope for them. They were not even a vessel fit to hold the election of God, to whom He made Himself known. Brought under subjection to the king of Assyria, Hoshea had sought help from Egypt. After the king of Assyria put him in prison, Samaria and all Israel could not hold out long.
- Habit. Hoshea plotted his way past a weaker king, then tried the same trick on a stronger one. The habit that won him a throne cost him his freedom.
- Bait. Egypt was a staff of reed. It promised much and kept nothing, yet God's people kept going down to it for help.
- Blindness. Israel flew between Egypt and Assyria like a dove without sense. It never saw that Assyria itself was the net.
- End. With Hoshea in prison, God's long patience with the northern kingdom closed. Samaria could not stand for long.
- Lesson. The prop they leaned on instead of God became the chain that held them. No one who knows himself is a stranger to that habit.