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COMMENTARY ON HOSEA, CHAPTER ONE Word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Achaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel (v.1). LESSED HOSEA, then, is prophesying in the days of Uzzi- ah, Jotham, Achaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel. While the period of prophecy is understood as taking its development up to this point, my view is that a clear explanation should now be given of the events in each case, as far as we can understand it, involving , as I said before, what kind of people they proved to be, whether good and well-disposed towards God, or inclined to the opposite, and what befell each of them, both those in Samaria and those in Jerusalem. This is the way, in fact, that we shall understand in quite easy fashion what the purpose of the prophecy had in view.1 Although the last to be mentioned is Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, he lived before Azariah, or Uzziah. It should be realized that he is different from the first king of that name, who lived in the time of the reign of Rehoboam son of Solomon, though of like mind and similar to him in impiety;2 it is written of him these terms: “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash began to reign over 33 1. Another feature of Cyril’s commentary that strikes one as Antiochene is his interest, not only in the hypothesis or narrative setting of each prophet, but also in the skopos of the material. He is also very ready to expose his opinion (oimai) while admitting his limitations. 2. Cyril properly addresses the oddity of mention of one king of Israel, whom he rightly identifies as Jeroboam II, while four kings of Judah are cited. While he implies the respective length of reigns is the factor, his modern counterpart Dennis McCarthy believes that “the compilers of the book of Hosea significantly ignore the miserable kinglets who follow Jeroboam.” 34 CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA Israel in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, not departing from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.” Do you see how he imitated the ways of his predecessor, (9) following the same course, as it were, and, so to speak, treading in the footsteps of the other’s impiety? What does the sacred text say next? “In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem . His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the Lord’s eyes, just as his father Amaziah had always done. But he did not take away the high places; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. The Lord struck the king, and he was leprous to the day of his death.”3 While Uzziah was pious and godly, he was not completely so; he did not abolish the high places, the text says; instead, those who were in error made offerings on them and offered sacrifices to the demons. Azariah, or Uzziah, was then carried away to such a degree of improper thinking as to believe that it belonged to the status of the king to perform the rites sanctioned by God and to maintain the sacred liturgy; and of course he sacrificed on his own authority in defiance of the laws of Moses. When he went up to the ritual that was in no way proper to him, however —namely, the priestly ritual—“the Lord struck him, and he was leprous to the day of his death.”4 By law the leper was unclean , and those affected by the disease were expelled from the camp; God had said to the revealer Moses, “Tell the children of Israel to banish from the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse.”5 He was punished with the disease for having presumed to do what was not proper for him, and God sentenced the king to...

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