HOSEA (Heb. Hôsêa'). — Last ruler of the Kingdom of Israel (732–724 BC), whose reign hastened its final downfall. When he ascended the throne, the Kingdom was already fatally on the path to decline. Having lost Galilee and Transjordan through the campaigns of the powerful Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (v.), only the mountainous territory around Samaria remained of the former Kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 15:29; cf. 1 Chron. 5:26).
In the growing discontent against Assyrian domination, H., the son of Elah, conspired against King Pekah, his predecessor, and after killing him, usurped the throne (2 Kings 15:30).
It is probable that this conspiracy against Pekah, who was known for his anti-Assyrian sentiments, was instigated by Tiglath-pileser himself, who boasts of the deed in his inscription, where the event is thus recorded: “The house of Omri, all its people together with its possessions I deported to Assyria; when they overthrew their king Pakaha (Pekah), I placed Ausia (Hosea) upon the throne over them.” This occurred in the year 732 BC. As is evident from these words, Hosea’s position vis-à-vis Assyria was that of a vassal king, so much so that, according to the Assyrian document, he was obliged to pay Tiglath-pileser a tribute of 10,000 talents of silver and unspecified amounts of gold.
Upon the death of Tiglath-pileser and the accession of his son Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC), Hosea changed his policy and refused to pay the annual tribute to Assyria, while in Phoenicia and Syria the revolt against Assyrian rule flared anew. He was, however, brought back into obedience at the first appearance of Shalmaneser near Tyre. Later he again withheld the tribute, and when the Assyrian king discovered his secret dealings with Egypt, the age-old antagonist of Assyrian power (in 2 Kings 17:4 the king of Egypt who entered into relations with Hosea is called So [Heb. Sô’]; it is difficult to identify him, since this period of Egyptian history, from the 23rd to the 24th Dynasty, is very obscure; it seems to refer to a general of the Pharaoh, called in Assyrian documents Sô’ or Sô’u, and styled turtānu, i.e., general of the king of Egypt: cf. A. Vaccari [V. BIBLICA.], p. 449), his treachery was manifest.
The vengeance of the king of Assyria was not long delayed: the rebellious king of Israel was seized, chained, and cast into prison (2 Kings 17:4). Thus Hosea disappears from history, and with him the Kingdom of Israel came to an end after 220 years from its secession from the Kingdom of Judah (931 BC). His deposition was followed SAMALIA (v.) (724–722 BC).
OSER, Irmhart (Fremhart, Vrinhart, Liehart). — Theologian, born in Augsburg ca. 1310–15; studied in Bologna in 1335; served as parish priest at St. Marein (Styria) and later at Strassgang near Graz (1340); became a canon in Augsburg (1358), where he likely died.
Around 1350 he translated into German the *Treatise of Rabbi Maḥi* (11th cent.) on the true Messiah, from the Latin translation by the Spanish Dominican Alfonso Bonihominis (1339); this work spread rapidly throughout Germany, with more than thirty surviving manuscripts; it was printed in Augsburg in 1475, Zwickau in 1524, and Marburg in 1600. A Latin letter of his to Aegidius of Graz is found in ms. Vat. lat. 724, f. 100v, where he is described as a professor of canon law.