When it comes to Israel’s history, we tend to know far more about the southern kingdom of Judah than the northern kingdom of Samaria. After the split, the only good kings in Israel’s history came from Judah. We are all probably familiar with figureheads such as Hezekiah, Josiah, and Jehoshaphat. But most of us probably can’t list many of Samaria’s kings, let alone the last one they had, Hoshea.
Hoshea was not a good king, which tracks with the rest of the northern kingdom’s record. But he was known for two things. One, not being as bad as the former kings. And two, being the last king before Assyria invaded.
We’ll uncover his life story, where he went wrong, and what cautionary tales we can derive from his actions.
When Did King Hoshea Become King of Judah?
Before we can talk about his kingdom falling, we need a greater understanding of this man.
Hoshea ascended to his throne in the same way that a great majority of those in the Northern Kingdom did . . . through assassination.
In Samaria’s history, we see a slew of men killing off their predecessors, only to find themselves killed months or years later. Often, it happens between close friends, advisors, or generals.
A man by the name of Pekah ruled the throne before Hoshea did. We don’t get fed many biographical details about Hoshea, apart from the fact that he was the son of a man named Elah.
According to the historian Josephus, Hoshea was a friend of Pekah’s.
Little did Hoshea know he’d bitten off far more than he could chew.
At the time of Pekah, the kingdom of Samaria increasingly became a tribute vassal kingdom to Assyria. Assyria, and later Babylon, worked a lot like a mob. If you paid them, they wouldn’t invade you.
Hoshea had started his relationship with Assyria like his predecessor. He’d pay the Assyrian king Shalmaneser, and the Assyrians would leave them alone.
That is . . . until Hoshea turned to Egypt for help (2 Kings 17).
What Did King Hosea Do?
In a tribute-vassal relationship, the idea is that you have to depend on the bigger kingdom to take care of you. If you go around the kingdom’s back and start recruiting the help of other countries, you will have an invasion on your hands.
Throughout the history of the kings, they started to rely on other nations. Nations whom they had animosity with centuries before.
In an ironic twist, Hoshea starts to call upon the help of Egypt, the same country that enslaved his people centuries before. Despite the warnings from the prophets not to rely on other nations, the kings ignored this and started to rely on foreign powers.
Assyria gets word of this and decides to attack the kingdom of Samaria.
Hoshea wasn’t super sneaky about his plan to get Egypt on his side. After all, he stopped paying Assyria.
The king of Assyria captured Hoshea and put him in prison. Then, he attacked the kingdom for three years. Israel doesn’t last long, and the king deports many of them to the land of Assyria. The rest scatter.
The following passage in 2 Kings 17 makes it clear that Israel’s sin eventually drove them from the land. But we can imagine Hoshea didn’t do much to prevent this fate. Had he continued to pay Assyria, or turned to God, perhaps his kingdom would’ve lasted much longer.
How do we know this?
Around the same time he reigned, Hezekiah was on the throne of Judah.
Assyria had threatened to overtake Judah at the same time. Hezekiah, unsure of what to do, placed the letters from the king of Assyria in front of God. He prayed that God would find a way to help them survive.
And God allowed this to happen.
Despite the evil kings who had reigned in Judah before, Judah got to be around for a little longer because one good king trusted God.
We unfortunately don’t find out what happened with King Hoshea after this. The passage does indicate he was kept alive in prison during the invasion. We know that the people of Assyria end up filling the land. Despite warnings from God, they continue worshipping the Assyrian gods.
We find out later that the people of Israel intermarried with these people and became the Samaritans. The New Testament shows that the Samaritans were not seen as fully Israelite. They became shunned and exiled from the Jewish people forever.
This is why we see such hatred in the southern kingdom of Judah when the exiles return from Babylon. They want to avoid becoming like the Samaritans. From this, we see groups such as the Pharisees (deeply concerned about racial and religious purity) spring out around the time of Nehemiah and Ezra.
And why the Jewish people found it particularly offensive that Gentiles were being grafted into Christian communities during the time of the early church. All these actions reminded them of what the Assyrians had done to the Israelite people.
If Hoshea had turned to the Lord, all of this could have been prevented.
What Can We Learn from King Hoshea?
King Hoshea wasn’t a good king. He allowed pagan practices to continue, killed the former king in cold blood, and tried to rely on foreign powers instead of God to help him.
He’s full of cautionary tales. So, what can we learn from him?
First, powerful kingdoms will fall eventually.
It’s so ironic that he relies on Egypt, the same country that used to enslave the Hebrew people for 400 years. He had the prophets of God in his land and chose to listen to the earthly powers at hand.
We see throughout history that God can wipe out any kingdom. Rome fell with a terrible crash.
In the same way, when we see powerful kingdoms today, we need to know that in the end, only God’s kingdom will last. We need to seek God as a nation, or we will face the same fate.
Second, he should’ve taken a page from Hezekiah.
Where Hoshea failed, Hezekiah succeeded.
Assyria looked threatening to both kingdoms. Both kingdoms were paying them money to stay away.
Hoshea turned to Egypt.
Hezekiah turned to God.
And we see which kingdom lasted longer. Judah survived almost two more centuries after their southern neighbor entered exile. Had they had more good kings, perhaps their reign would’ve been longer.
When we face Assyria, whatever that Assyria may look like, it’s so important for us to turn to God. To place everything at his feet and pray for his protection and provision.
Finally, Hoshea’s actions caused a chain reaction that affected Jesus and the church.
If not for Hoshea, we likely wouldn’t have had the Pharisees, the pushback of the Gentiles being grafted into the church—and likely the strong anti-semitic happenings throughout church history.
Because had Hoshea turned to the Lord, the people of Israel would’ve inhabited the land. Likely not intermarried with the Assyrians, we wouldn’t have lost the ten tribes of Israel that inhabited the northern kingdom.
If this had happened, we wouldn’t have seen such a strong push in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra for Israelites not to intermingle with foreigners.
We may not remember Hoshea’s name, but his actions affected Israelite history forever.
His actions created the Pharisees, the same people who sought to kill Jesus.
Although Jesus ended up working this for good. That his death and resurrection could bring new life. All at the hands of the Pharisees.
Leaders are important. So, let’s pray that the leader of our nation looks more like Hezekiah than a Hoshea.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/FTiare
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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