HOSIIEA, or HOSEA, King of Israel, was the son of Flab, and apparently not of the regal line. His predecessor was Pekah, who, after having ravaged Judah, then governed by Ahaz, with the assist ance of Rezin, king of Syria, had seen his own kingdom in return ravaged by Tiglath-Pileser, the protector of Ahaz, who removed many of the inhabitants to Media and Assyria. In the confusion of this period Pekah was slain by Hoshea, who, after six years of anarchy, ascended the throne in B.C. 728. Scripture records that "he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him." lie permitted the announcement of Hezekiah that he had purified the temple to be made throughout his kingdom, and his subjects were allowed to attend the worship of the true God at Jerusalem. Shortly after his accession Israel was invaded by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, the successor of Tiglath-Pilcser; Hoshea was unable to make any effectual resistance, and consented to become tributary. The yoke was however heavy, and he sought
to throw it off by the assistance of So, king of Egypt. So, or Sabako, is the Sabakoph, whose name is found on Egyptian monu ments, and was an Ethiopian who reigned in Egypt. Shalmaneser then again invaded Israel, besieged Samaria, and after a siege of three years took it, when, in the ninth year of his reign, Hoshea and the ton tribes were carried away into Assyria, and placed "in Halab and in Haber by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Modes," from which time they have been lost, and there is no statement of the fate of Boehm; bnt at Arban, on the Khabour (the Kebar of Ezekiel), which falls Into the Euphrates near Carchemish, Mr. Layard found Assyrian sculptures recording the conquest, and Jewish communities existed around its neighbourhood as late as the 12th century.