17:3 Hoshea. Hoshea was the last king of Israel before the Assyrian captivity. Shalmenezer V besieged the well-fortified capital city of Samaria, but died in the siege. His successor, Sargon II, sacked the city and carried the Israelites away to various Assyrian cities (this information is obtained from an inscription in Sargon’s palace). See Isaiah 20:1. It is noteworthy that the names of at least ten Hebrew kings (Omri, Ahab, Jehu, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, of Israel; and Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh, of Judah) have been found on excavated Assyrian tablets. The same is true of the various Assyrian kings mentioned in the Bible. All such records are fully consistent with the Biblical records.