• God’s Mercy to Mankind in Our Twentieth Century
    The Watchtower—1976 | March 1

    • 16. How did the kings of the kingdom of Judah down to Hezekiah conduct themselves religiously?

      16 What about the kings of the two-tribe kingdom of Judah? They wavered between the pure worship of Jehovah and the attaching of themselves to false gods. King Ahaz, the twelfth king when counted from David, turned to false worship. He even shut the doors of Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem. But his son, King Hezekiah, reopened the temple doors and restored pure worship for the kingdom of Judah. Quite beneficially, down into King Hezekiah’s reign, Hosea continued prophesying. This prophet found himself right in the thick of the things about which he was talking.

  • God’s Mercy to Mankind in Our Twentieth Century
    The Watchtower—1976 | March 1

    • 19. In the reigns of what kings of Judah and of Israel does Hosea locate his prophetic work?

      19 Locating himself in a definite period in the documented history of the twelve tribes of Israel, Hosea introduces himself, saying first of all: “The word of Jehovah that occurred to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel.” (Hos. 1:1) Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were descendants of King David and reigned at Jerusalem over the two-tribe kingdom of Judah. Uzziah began to rule as king in 829 B.C.E. and Hezekiah ended his reign in 716 B.C.E. So the combined reigns of these kings embraced a period of 113 years. On the other hand, in the line of kings over the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam the son of Joash was the second to bear such name and hence he was Jeroboam II.

      20. Whose great-grandson was Jeroboam II, and when during this king’s reign did Hosea start on his prophetic career?

      20 This Jeroboam’s great-grandfather was King Jehu the son of Nimshi. Jehu destroyed Baal worship out of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. He had Queen Jezebel thrown out of a window to her death, as she had wickedly promoted Baalism in Israel. Later Jeroboam II came on the scene as king during the reign of King Amaziah over Judah. Jeroboam’s reign overlapped onto the reign of Amaziah’s successor, King Uzziah. Hence, during the time that Jeroboam’s reign overlapped onto that of King Uzziah, or after 829 B.C.E., Jehovah God started Hosea off on his prophetic career.