343 f. 346). Ilencftforth Egypt sought to con- front Assyria bj' supporting the Palestinian and Hittite states. Hoshca of Israel and Hanno of Gaza were sustained in this policy of resistance to the Ninevite power by promises of aid by the Egj'ptian monarch. After the death of Tiglath, the Egyptian party and policy, which opposed Assyrian domination, were in the ascendant at Samaria, iust as we find in later times took place in Jerusalem (comp. Is 20. 30'-» 31'-'). But bitter ex])urieiice was destined in the coming years to prove that the Egyptian power was a broken reed. Within the next fitteen years Samaria, Gaza, and Ashdod were in succession fated to discover that Egypt's ' strength was to sit still,' and a terrible overthrow was to overtake them from the arms of A-ssj-ria through the procrastinating impotence of their South-western ally.
The cessation of tribute hy the king of Israel, which had hitherto been paid annually, was the first serious indication to the Assyrian monarch that Ephraim was preparing to throw otT his yoke. In the summer of the year B.C. 724 the armies of As.syria were directed against the Israelite capital. Hoshea at once endeavoured to avert disaster by gifts to the As.syrian monarch, but Shalmaneser had by this time discovered that Hoshea was playing a double part. Perhaps the Assyrian troops intercepted the emissaries which the latter was despatching to the king of Egypt. At this point it is by no means easy to discover the precise order of events narrated in 2 K 17''\ Eritz Homniel {Ga'ch. Babijl. u. As-iyr. p. 675) thinks that a decisive battle was fought before the walls of Samaria, in which king Ifoshea wan taken prisoner. The biblical statements (v.«) would seem to warrant this view. It would .some- what .simplify the chronological problem and allow nine years for the reign of Hoshea (Tide, Bab.- Assi/r. Gcsrii. i. p. 232 ad fn.).' But it is by no means certain that the capture and imprisoniuent of the Israelite king did not take place afte." the final overthrow of Samaria,
Shortly before this time the prophet Hosea uttered his last oracles. The final four chapters evidently belong to the closing years of the Northern kingdom. The shadows of the List overwhelming cal.amity rest on the prophet's soul. There is indescribable pathos in these closing appeals. J" pleads with Ephraim (11'): 'My
eojile are bent to backsliding from me [?] ?e up, Iv ■ ■ ab.andon thee, Israel ? How shall I make thee as
low shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? how .shall I
Adiiiah ? how shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.' But, alas ! Israel's doom is irrevocable. ' The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is laid up in store. . . . Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she hath rebelled against her God : they shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces' (13'= 14').
At nearly the same time Isaiah delivered his oracle against Ephraim (28'*-) : ' Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the summit of the fertile valley of them that are overcome Avith wine. Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one ; as a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, shall he cast down to the earth
Shatiaktl. See W'inckler, Untersuch. zur altorient. Gesch. p. 92 ff. On the complex text of 2 K 171-6 see AT-tiche Cntera. p. 15 ff. • Fritz Hommel in his Gesch. Bab. u. Ass. pp. 9t>4 IT. 669 ff. places the overthrow of Peljah in 733, but in his art. -Assyria (wh. see) places it two years later. This appears to be too late, though exact chronological sequence in the events of Tiglath pileser's campaigns (734 ff.) is difficult to attain. See Wincklar, Gesch. Babyt. u. Attyr, p. 230.
HOSPITALITY, HOST
HOSPITALITY, HOST
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violently. The crown of priJe of the drunkards of Kphraini shall be trodden under foot.'
The fultilment of the.-e jirojiheeies of doom fol- loweil swiftly. We know lliat in the year 724 Samaria was invested bj' the Assj'rian armies. Towards the end of the sie;;e (B.C. 722) Shal- mane.ser died. Meanwhile, the beleaguered in- habitants were an.\iously e-xpecting a relieving force to arrive from the banks of the Nile, which should divert the forces of Assyria and raise the siege of the hard-pre.ssed city. IJut a fatal par- alysis seemed to hamper the movements of Egypt. Time went on — more than two years elapsed — and no relieving force appeared. The numbers of the garrison were doubtle.ss thinned by constant battles with the besiegers, and by the ravages of jjrim famine. Sargon (Sarrukinu), in all probability a usurper, and certainly an able Assyrian general, succeeded to the throne of A.-isyria in i;.C. 722. The siege was pressed on with vigour under this energetic commander. Egypt's procrastination was now Israel's r\iin, and tlie fatal end was at hand. It is summarized in barely two ruthless lines of the great Khors.ibad inscription (lines 23 anil 24) : ' Samaria I besieged, I captured. 27,290 of her inh.abitants I carried away. 50 chariots I collected from their midst. The rest of their property I caused to be taken (?). My viceroy I placed over them, and imposed the tribute of the previous king.'