2 Kings 17:4

And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea,.... That he was forming a scheme to rebel against him, and cast off his yoke; of this he had intelligence by spies he sent, and placed to observe him very probably: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt; to treat with him, and enter into alliance with him, to help him against, and free him from, the king of Assyria. This king of Egypt is supposed to be Sabacon the Ethiopian, who reigned in Egypt ninety years; of whom Herodotus (y) and Diodorus Siculus (z) make mention; by Theodoret he is called Adramelech the Ethiopian, who dwelt in Egypt: and brought no presents to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year; did not pay him his yearly tribute: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison; that is, after he took Samaria, the siege of which is next related; unless it can be thought that he met with him somewhere out of the capital, and seized him, and made him his prisoner, and after that besieged his city; which is not so likely. (y) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 137. (z) Bibliothec l. 1. p. 59.

2 Kings 17:4 . The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea — If the king and people of Israel had applied themselves to God, made their peace with him, and addressed their prayers to him, they might, and no doubt would have recovered their liberty, ease, and honour; but they withheld their tribute, and trusted to the king of Egypt to assist them in their revolt, which, if it had been attended with success, would only have been to change their oppressors: but Egypt became to them the staff of a broken reed. This provoked the king of Assyria to proceed against them with the more severity. For he, Hoshea, sent messengers to So, king of Egypt — By some heathen writers called Sua, or Sabacus, that, by his assistance, he might shake off the yoke of the king of Assyria, who now was, and for many years had been, the rival of the king of Egypt, 2 Kings 18:21 ; Jeremiah 37:5 . “This So,” says Mr. Locke, “seems to be Sabacon, the Ethiopian king of Egypt, of whom Herodotus relates, that, being warned in a dream, he departed of his own accord from Egypt, after he had reigned there fifteen years. It was in the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign that he invaded Egypt, and having taken Boccharis the king thereof prisoner, with great cruelty he burned him alive, and then seized on his kingdom.” — Dodd.

And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, {b} as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. (b) For he had paid tribute for eight years.

So king of Egypt; by heathen writers called Sua or Sabachus ; that by his assistance he might shake off the yoke of the king of Assyria; who now was, and for many years had been, the king of Egypt’s rival: see 2 Kings 18:21 Jeremiah 36:5 . Shut him up, and bound him in prison, to wit, after he had come up against him, and taken him, with Samaria; the particular relation whereof here follows.

So, king of Egypt, is generally identified with Shebek (730 B.C.), the Sabaco of Herodotus. Hoshea's application to him was a return to a policy which had been successful in the reign of Jeroboam I(( 1 Kings 12:20 note), but had not been resorted to by any other Israelite monarch. Egypt had for many years been weak, but Sabaco was a conqueror, who at the head of the swarthy hordes of Ethiopia had invaded Egypt and made himself master of the country. In the inscriptions of Shebek he boasts to have received tribute from "the king of Shara" (Syria), which is probably his mode of noticing Hoshea's application. References to the Egyptian proclivities of Hoshea are frequent in the prophet Hosea Hos 7:11; Hosea 11:1 , Hosea 11:5 ; Hosea 12:4 . King Hoshea, simultaneously with his reception as a vassal by Sabaco, ceased to pay tribute to Shalmaneser, thus openly rebelling, and provoking the chastisement which followed.

(4) Conspiracy — i.e., as is presently explained, a conspiracy with the king of Egypt against his suzerain. Shalmaneser regarded Hoshea, and probably the king of Egypt also, as his “servant” ( 2Kings 17:3 ). (Comp. 2Kings 12:20 and Jeremiah 11:9 .) Thenius wishes to read “falsehood,” after the LXX., ἀδικίαν (comp. Deuteronomy 19:18 ; Micah 6:12 ), a change involving transposition of two Heb. letters ( sh è qer for q è sher ) ; but the change is needless. So.—The Hebrew letters should be pointed differently, so as to be pronounced Sèwè, or Sĕwē, as this name corresponds to the Assyrian Shab’i, and the Egyptian Shabaka, the Greek Sabaco, the first king of the 25th, or Ethiopian dynasty, whom Sargon defeated at Raphia in 720 B.C. Sargon calls him “prince,” or “ruler,; (shiltân), rather than “king” of Egypt; and it appears that at this time Lower Egypt was divided among a number of petty principalities, whose recognition of any central authority was very uncertain—a fact which rendered an Egyptian alliance of little value to Israel. (See Isaiah 19, 20) Brought.—Rather, offered. The word elsewhere is always used of sacrifice. As he had done.—Omit. The Hebrew phrase (according to a year, in a year), which is not found elsewhere, denotes the regular payment of yearly dues. This Hoshea failed to discharge. Therefore . . . shut him up.—Comp. Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 36:5; Jeremiah 32:2-3.

4. found conspiracy in Hoshea—After having paid tribute for several years, Hoshea, determined on throwing off the Assyrian yoke, withheld the stipulated tribute. Shalmaneser, incensed at this rebellion, proclaimed war against Israel. This was in the sixth year of Hoshea's reign. he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt—the Sabaco of the classic historians, a famous Ethiopian who, for fifty years, occupied the Egyptian throne, and through whose aid Hoshea hoped to resist the threatened attack of the Assyrian conqueror. But Shalmaneser, marching against [Hoshea], scoured the whole country of Israel, besieged the capital Samaria, and carried the principal inhabitants into captivity in his own land, having taken the king himself, and imprisoned him for life. This ancient policy of transplanting a conquered people into a foreign land, was founded on the idea that, among a mixed multitude, differing in language and religion, they would be kept in better subjection, and have less opportunity of combining together to recover their independence.

4 . found conspiracy in Hoshea ] No doubt the tributary princes were watched by Assyrian residents in their courts, and the news of negotiations with a foreign power would soon be sent from Samaria to Shalmaneser. to So king of Egypt ] The LXX. writes the king’s name Σηγώρ . The identification of this monarch is somewhat doubtful. The most probable supposition is that he is the same with either Shebek or Shebetek, the first and second kings of the Ethiopian twenty-fifth dynasty. By Manetho this king is named Sabachon, and in the Assyrian records (Smith, Assyrian Canon , p. 126) there appears an Egyptian general, whose name is represented as Sibakhi or Sibahe . He is represented as helping the king of Gaza against Assyria and being overthrown. This may be the person here spoken of. We can see at any rate that Egyptian influence extended as far as Palestine at this period, and therefore that Hoshea might very likely be tempted to seek aid in that quarter in the hope that he would find a less grasping superior lord than Shalmaneser. and brought [R.V. offered ] no present ] As the word for ‘present’ here and in verse 3 is the usual one for the ‘meal-offering’ (see note above) so the verb employed here is that which is constant in the accounts of ‘offering’ sacrifices. Hence the change.

The verb in its application to sacrifices is found Genesis 8:20 ; Genesis 22:2 ; Exodus 24:5 , et sacpe . as he had done year by year ] The LXX. has ‘in that year’. the king of Assyria shut him up ] The LXX. gives ἐπολιόρκησεν αὐτόν , i.e. ‘besieged him’, referring the shutting up to the effect of a siege. But this sense is not warranted by the use of the verb elsewhere. Cf. Jeremiah 33:1 ; Jeremiah 36:5 ; Jeremiah 39:15 , which all refer to imprisonment.

Verse 4. - And the King of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So, King of Egypt. We learn from the Prophet Hosea that the expediency of calling in Egypt as a counterpoise to Assyria had long been in the thoughts of those who directed the policy of the Israelite state (see Hosea 7:11 ; Hosea 12:1 , etc.). Now at last the plunge was taken. An Ethiopian dynasty of some strength and vigor had possession of Egypt, and held its court during some part of the year at Memphis ( Hosea 9:6 ). The king who occupied the throne was called Shabak or Shebek - a name which the Greeks represented by Sabakos or Sevechus, and the Hebrews by סוא . (The original vocalization of this word was probably סֵוֶא , Seveh ; but in later times this vocalization was lost, and the Masorites pointed the word as סוא , Soh or So). The Assyrians knew the king as Sibakhi, and contended with him under Sargon. Hoshea now sent an embassy to this monarch's court, requesting his alliance and his support against the great Asiatic power by which the existence of all the petty states of Western Asia was threatened. Shalmaneser was at the time endeavoring to capture Tyro, and Hoshea might reasonably fear that, when Tyre was taken, his own turn would come. It is not clear how Shabak received Hoshea's overtures; but we may, perhaps, assume that it was with favor, since otherwise Hoshea would scarcely have ventured to withhold his tribute, as he seems to have done.