received and guarded them should not be excluded. If there is no explicit evidence in its favour, the notion goes some way to explaining what is incontrovertible, viz. that Hosea’s work found its way to Judah at or after the final collapse of Samaria in 722/1 BC (see below). Whatever the precise circumstances, the massive unity of purpose which has been detected in the work is most naturally attributed to a single mind and a single author; and, if he was assisted in his endeavour by such a person