Prophet
Prophet Prophet Hosea
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Prophet Hosea — of the tribe of Issachar, who denounced Israel's idolatry through his own marriage to the unfaithful Gomer as a living parable of the nation's apostasy from God.
Hosea, by tradition, came from the tribe of Issachar and labored in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Micah, and Amos. His ministry, by tradition, lasted over 60 years, under the Judean kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah and the Israelite king Jeroboam II.
At God's command, Hosea took as his wife Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, a woman given to unfaithfulness — a living parable of Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness, idolatrously betraying God, its divine "husband." Their children were given prophetic symbolic names: Jezreel (recalling the bloodshed at Jezreel), Lo-Ruhamah ("unpitied" — a sign of the withdrawal of God's mercy from Israel), and Lo-Ammi ("not My people" — a sign of Israel's temporary rejection).
Hosea denounced Israel's idolatry and social injustice, foretelling the coming invasion of foreign peoples and captivity, but also proclaiming future restoration and God's unchanging love and mercy. His book is read in the Church as testimony to steadfastness in faith and foresight of Christ's coming.