Hoshea
Easton's Dictionary
Salvation. (1.) The original name of the son of Nun, afterwards called Joshua (Num. 13:8, 16; Deut. 32:44).
(2.) 1 Chr. 27:20. The ruler of Ephraim in David’s time.
(3.) The last king of Israel. He conspired against and slew his predecessor, Pekah (Isa. 7:16), but did not ascend the throne till after an interregnum of warfare of eight years (2 Kings 17:1, 2). Soon after this he submitted to Shalmaneser, the Assyrian king, who a second time invaded the land to punish Hoshea, because of his withholding tribute which he had promised to pay. A second revolt brought back the Assyrian king Sargon, who besieged Samaria, and carried the ten tribes away beyond the Euphrates, B.C. 720 (2 Kings 17:5, 6; 18:9-12). No more is heard of Hoshea. He disappeared like “foam upon the water” (Hos. 10:7; 13:11).
Smith's Dictionary
(salvation).
The nineteenth, last and best king of Israel. He succeeded Pekah, whom he slew in a successful conspiracy, thereby fulfilling a prophecy of Isaiah. (Isaiah 7:16) In the third year of his reign (B.C. 726) Shalmaneser cruelly stormed the strong caves of Beth-arbel, (Hosea 8:14) and made cruel tributary, (2 Kings 17:3) for three years. At the end of this period Hoshea entered into a secret alliance with So, king, of Egypt, to throw off the Assyrian yoke. The alliance did him no good; it was revealed, to the court of Nineveh by the Assyrian party in Ephraim, and Hoshea was immediately seized as a rebellious vasal, shut up in prison, and apparently treated with the utmost indignity. (Micah 5:1) Of the subsequent fortunes of Hoshea nothing is known. The son of Nun, i.e. Joshua, (32:44) and also in Numb 13:8 Though to there the Authorized Version has Oshea. Shon of Azaziah, (1 Chronicles 27:20) like his great namesake, a man of Ephraim, ruler of his tribe in the time of King David. (B.C. 1019.) One of the heads of the people who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:23) (B.C. 410.)