The uniquely painful ministry and personal message of the prophet Hosea manage to bring the fate of an ancient country and the facts of our own struggles into a sharp double focus. Despite Hosea's extreme distance from us in days, the metaphor that defined both his personal life and his preached message continues to transfix us. The power of his predicament as well as his predictions remain undiminished.

A prophet in the northern nation of Israel, Hosea lived during the tumult of the eighth century B.C. He was a contemporary with Isaiah, which meant that he, too, endured the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and Jeroboam II. Like Isaiah, Hosea watched uneasily as Assyria's star rose to a place of power among the nations of the ancient Near Eastern world. The disastrous alliance Isr…