2 Kings 17:2

2. Not as the kings of Israel that were before him “It looks,” says Ewald, “like the bitter irony of fate that this Hoshea, who was to be the last king, was a better one than any of his predecessors. The words of the true prophets who had uttered so many and such important truths concerning this kingdom during the last fifty years, may, perhaps, have exercised a powerful influence over him, and instilled into him better principles. But they had always predicted its fall as certain; and now the irresistible force of history was to prove that no single man, whatever might be his position and superiority, could be strong enough to delay the ruin of the whole structure, if the right moment for its reformation had passed.”