The inscribed clay, known as a bulla, was purchased without provenance from a Bedouin antiquities merchant in the 1980s and is now thought to be from Jeroboam II’s 8th century BCE reign.

This prophet lived in the northern kingdom of Israel and began prophesying sometime near 745 B.C., during the latter part of King Jeroboam II’s reign. Hosea’s book begins with curious ...