Hoshea (high priest)


 * This article is about the high priest. For the last king of the Kingdom of Israel, see Hoshea.

Hoshea ("Name means::Salvation") (ca. 726/5–fl. 695/4–677/6 BC) was the twenty-fourth high priest of Israel. Flavius Josephus and the Seder 'Olam Zuṭa each call him by a variation of that name.

Genealogy
Hoshea was the son of Azariah III and father of Shallum. He was also the second cousin of Manasseh King of Judah.

Career
Hoshea became high priest a few years after Manasseh became king. Manasseh had a reputation for killing innocent people, and Azariah III might have been one of his victims. Hoshea appears to have made no protest when Manasseh undid all the reforms of his predecessor, Hezekiah.

In or about 676 BC, Esarhaddon of Assyria invaded the Kingdom of Judah and took many captives away, including Manasseh. Hoshea might or might not have been killed in that year.