Hoshama is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Hoshama was one of the sons of Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin, the king of Judah. He is named only once in Scripture, in the genealogy recorded in 1 Chronicles 3:18, where the sons of Jeconiah are listed: “Malchiram also, and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.” This places Hoshama within the royal line of David, in the closing generations of the kingdom of Judah.
The setting of this genealogy is significant. Jeconiah was the king of Judah who was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and his sons were born in exile rather than in the palace of Jerusalem. The Chronicler, writing after the return from exile, preserved these names to show that the Davidic line continued even in captivity. Hoshama thus belongs to a generation that lived under foreign rule, far from the throne their father had once occupied.
Scripture records nothing else about Hoshama. We are told neither his deeds, his death, nor any word he spoke. He appears simply as a name in a list, one son among several brothers. Yet his inclusion in the genealogy is itself meaningful: he is counted among the descendants of David through whom God preserved His covenant line. What Scripture says of him is, in the end, only this—that he was a son of Jeconiah, a branch of the royal house of Judah, and a link in the chain of generations that God did not forget.
The Name
The name Hoshama is a Hebrew name, and its meaning is not clearly recoverable from the text itself. Scholars have proposed possible derivations, often connecting it to roots associated with hearing or with the idea of “Yahweh has heard,” but these suggestions are not firmly established, and the name’s exact sense remains uncertain. Because Scripture gives no interpretation of the name and the etymology is debated, it is best to say plainly that the meaning of Hoshama is not clearly known rather than to assign it a meaning the text does not support.
A Closing Thought
Most of us will never be remembered in a list of names read aloud for thousands of years. Hoshama did nothing recorded, said nothing preserved, and yet he was not forgotten by God. His name, carried across exile and generations, testifies that the Lord keeps account of the small and the silent. If your life feels hidden and your deeds unrecorded, take heart: the God who preserved Hoshama in His Word knows your name as well, and no faithful life is lost to Him.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 3:18 — Malchiram also, and Pedaiah, and Shenazar, Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.