Title: Rebekah (Wives of the Patriarchs, Book 2Author: Jill Eileen Smith
Publisher: Revell
About the Book: Can love heal the rift between two souls?
When her beloved father dies and she is left in the care of her conniving brother Laban, Rebekah knows her life has changed forever. Though she should be married by now, it's clear that Laban is dragging his feet, waiting for a higher bride-price to line his pockets. But then Rebekah is given a chance to leave her home to marry Isaac, a cousin she has never even seen, and her hope for the future is restored. Little does she know what a wondrous and heart-wrenching journey she is beginning.
As Rebekah experiences the joy of young love and the bitterness of misunderstanding and betrayal, her resolve is tested. When the rift between Isaac and her grows so wide it is surely too great to be mended, can she trust the God of Isaac's father Abraham to bridge the gap?
Available February 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of
Baker Publishing Group.
My thoughts: I really enjoy Biblical fiction books. They give you the basic gist of the Bible story, but also bring the story to life - so while it might be hard to understand or see the timeline in the original Biblical text - you get a feeling for the who the person/people of the story were in real life. Knowing that there have been some liberties taken to flesh out the characters, it is the big events in the characters lives that you remember.
In Rebekah's case, this would be her marriage to Isaac - the journey, both physically and spiritually to get to that point in her life. The birth of Jacob and Esau and the betrayal with the blessing when they were older. You are given some background into Isaac's childhood, and his relationship with Abraham and Sarai. Something I had never really thought about before was how I would feel if one of my parents would be willing to sacrifice me if they thought they were following God's will. Imagine what that does to a young child's relationship with their father - and how it affected the relationship between Abraham and Sarai.
While a lot of this is conjecture on the author's part, it makes these Biblical stories not just stories any more, but makes you realize that these were real people. They had the same struggles we do today with following God's will, betrayal and forgiveness. I have really enjoyed this series so far and am looking forward to the third book, Rachel. (Click to see my review of Sarai)
~I received a complimentary copy of Rebekah from Revell Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~
Publisher/Publication Date: Revell, Feb 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8007-3430-5
312 pages
