Depictions of Egypt in the Book of Hosea and Their Implications for Dating the Book

Abstract

Abstract Traditionally, the oracles contained in the book of Hosea, at least in their earliest forms, have been dated prior to the fall of the Northern Kingdom at the hands of the Assyrians. In a previous essay, I argued that there is evidence that would suggest that at least some of the oracles date a few decades later, to the reign of the Assyrian King Sennacherib. On the basis of Hosea’s presentation of Egypt both as a potential source of help and as a military threat, the present essay argues that Hosea’s oracles make more sense in the final decade of the eighth century, after Samaria’s fall, than before the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom, as most scholars have traditionally assumed.