f)athelic in tliem : Ephraim's decadence among tlie nations is ike grey hairs coming up on the head of one old before his time (7*) ; in his inability to grasp the crisis now come upon him. and use It as the entrance upon a larger life, he is like the child that dies on tlie threshold of birth (I.S»). In His guidance of His people God has been like one that teaches a child to go (If). Ephraim must bring <Mlt his children to the murderer; _noro merciful would it be if God would deny them children, givinir them a miscarryinir womb and dry breasts 19"""). The pleasiint homes of Ephraim shall be overgrown with nettles, his children shall be wanderers among the nations, and a foreign land shall bury thent (ii«").
•Jewish writers identilV lieeri the father of Hosea with Beerah. a Reuhenite prince carried captive by Tiglath-pileser (1 V\\ '^). According to Christian tradition the prophet was of the tribe of Issachar, and from a place called Belemothor Belemon ( It.aalmoth,
• Whether such forms as S'Jin 11», DNp 10", 'HN tchere f 18" b« examples of northern dialect may be doubtful.
Ephrem Syrus in Knobel. Prophttinrtiui, il. 1.'4; the form llele- Hum has been compared with a place Italamon [UV]. near Dothan, mentioned in .Ith s'). A .Tewish legend (In t'arpzov, Iritroif.) states that the pri>phet died in liabylon, and was carried to Galilee and buried In Safed iNeubalier, tivng. Ju Tiilmml, 'I'i'k). According to another trattition he was a natlvo of Gilead. and the grave of Nebi i^sha (prophet Ilosea) la shown near es-Salt (Baedelier, Piilfit. .S:)7).
ii. THE PROPHET'S Time.— Clis. 1-3 contain references to events and prophecies of the time of .Jeroboam II., though written litter; while much in clis. 4-14 reflects the period of di.sorder that fol- loweil his death. The chronology of tlie period is obscure. The atnials of Tiglath-pileser state that Menahem paid tribute to Assyria in 73H (2 K l.j''.") ; this nnist have been towards the end of his reign (.said to have lasted about ten years, 2 K lo'') ; and as his two predecessors reigned only 7 months in all, .Jeroboam's death must have occurred c. 740-745. llosea's mini.stry therefore began .some time previous to this date (1'). The prophet's career probably closed before 735-734, the dale of the Syro-Ephraimitio inva-sion of .Iiulah, as he makes no allusion to this event, nor yet to tho deijortation of northern Israel by Tiglatli-iJileser in 7.;4. Gilead is still an integial part of Israel (o' 6* 12"), and Assyria is not spoken of as an enemy but as a delusive .support (o'* 7" 8" 12'- '■' 14'). The title 'king Jareb' (LXX 'lapei/i) given to the king of A.s.syria (o'^ 10'') remains ob.scure. (See .lAl!EH.) Xoi, less obscure is 10" ' as Shalman .spoiled Beth-arbel.' If Shalman were a shorter furm of Shalmane.ser, reference might be to Shalman- eser III. (783-773), though the period of his reign is rather remote. Others consider that Shalinan- eser IV. (727-722) is referred to, and regard the words as a later gloss. Nothing is known of any operation of Shalmaneser IV. against a place Heth- arbel, and it is by no means certain that Shalman is a conti'aetion for vShalmaneser.* Kveii if tho word '.Judah' be genuine in u'-' (which there may be some reason to doubt, as it is not repeated in the parallelism), the passage does not say that Judah had recourse to Assyria for help as Ephraim did. and contains no allusiini to the appeal of Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser. The reference to the kings of Judah in the heading (V) is no doubt from the hand of a later editor (cf. Is V. Mic 1'). The lir.st liart of the title, 'The word of the Loi;l) which came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,' may be older; at any rate the name lieeri is historical. The name ' Jeroboam ' may be an inference from 1* ' the house of Jehu,' and be due to the hand which inserted the names of the kings of Judah. If this is not the case, the title must be restricted to chs. 1-3 ; but there is little probability that these chapters were put out or ever existed separately. Chs. 1-3 appear rather an introductory programme to 4-14, expressing the principle or essential con- ception of the prophet's teaching, and showing how it was symbolized in his personal experience. Though referring to events in the early part of the prophet's career, chs. 1-3 contain the result of reflection on his whole history and teaching, and in date of composition may be the latest ijart of the book. The only thing that might seeni opposed to this conclusion is the fact that in chs. 1-3 there is no reference to the dynastic revolutions often alluded to in chs. 4-14. But chs. 1-3 are meant to present the prophet's fund<a- ment.al conception, which is that of the conjugal tie between J" and Lsrael, and Israel's unfaithful- ness to this tie; and this unfaithfulness, which is a state of the mind, ' a spirit of whoredom,' is most conspicuous in the cultus (though cf. 3* ' without king,' etc.).
Hosea may have heard Amos, he must at least have heard of him and of his teaching, but there is
* Cf. Schrader, i'A T' 440 IT., and the Comm. iK loc.