In the tenth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea
the
son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine
years.
] In this account there is some difficulty, since it was in the
twentieth of Jotham, that is, the fourth of Ahaz, that Hosea
conspired against Pekah king of Israel, and slew him, when it
might be reasonably thought he began his reign: now either there
was an interregnum until the twelfth of Ahaz, or Hoshea however
was not generally received and acknowledged as king till then, as
others think; he being a tributary to the king of Assyria, and a
kind of viceroy, is not said to reign until he rebelled against
him; after which he reigned nine years, four in the times of
Ahaz, and five in the reign of Hezekiah, ( 2 Kings 18:9
2 Kings
18:10 ) , in this way the author of the Jewish chronology
goes F18, in which he is followed by other
Jewish writers; and this bids as fair as any to remove the
difficulty, unless these nine years refer to the time of his
reign before the twelfth of Ahaz; and the sense be, that in the
twelfth of Ahaz he had reigned nine year's; but it is said he
"began" to reign then.