OSEE (Heb. Hōfēa). - Last ruler of the Kingdom of Israel (732-724 B.C.), who accelerated its final collapse. When he ascended the throne, the Kingdom was fatally on the path of decline. With Galilee and Transjordan lost through the work of the powerful king of the Assyrians Tiglath-Pileser III (v.), of the ancient Kingdom of Israel only the mountainous territory around Samaria remained (II Kings 15, 29; cf. I Chron. 5, 26). Amid growing discontent against Assyrian power, H., son of Elah, conspired against the king Pekah, his predecessor, and, having killed him, usurped the throne (II Kings 15, 30).
It is probable that this conspiracy against Pekah, of known anti-Assyrian sentiments, was instigated by Tiglath-Pileser himself, who boasts of it in his inscription, where the event is narrated thus: "The house of Omri, all his people together with their possessions I deported to Assyria; when they overthrew their king Pakaha (Pekah), I placed Ausia (H.) on the throne over them." It was the year 732. As can be deduced from these words, H.'s position before Assyria was that of a vassal king, so much so that, according to the Assyrian document, he had to pay Tiglath-Pileser a tribute of 10,000 talents of gold and other unspecified amounts of silver.
But when Salmanasar V (726-722) succeeded Tiglath-Pileser as his son, H. changed policy and refused Assyria the annual tribute, while in Phoenicia and Syria the revolt against the Assyrian yoke was rekindled. But he was brought back to obedience, at Salmanasar's first appearance near Tyre. Subsequently he again suspended the tribute, and when his secret relations with Egypt, the age-old antagonist of Assyrian power, were discovered by the Assyrian king (in II Kings 17, 4 the king of Egypt who entered into relations with H. is called So [Heb. Sē]: it is difficult to identify him, this period of Egyptian history, from the XXIIIrd to the XXIVth dynasty, being very obscure; it seems that this is a general of the Pharaoh called, in the Assyrian documents, Sib'e or Sib'u, and styled turtannu, that is, general of the king of Egypt: cf. A. Vaccari [v. bibl.], p. 449), his treachery became clear.
The vengeance of the king of Assyria was not long in coming: the rebel king of Israel was put in chains and cast into prison (II Kings 16, 4). In this way H. disappears from history, and with him the Kingdom of Israel came to an end, 320 years after the secession from the Kingdom of Judah (931 B.C.). His deposition was followed by the three-year siege (724-722 B.C.) of Samaria (v.).
Bibliography5 works
Gaetano Stano