Faith of My Fathers: Biblical Fiction about King Manasseh's Reign

Faith of My Fathers, by Lynn Austin, continues the “Chronicles of the Kings” series about the Old Testament kings. After covering the life of Hezekiah in the previous three books, Faith of My Fathers begins the story of the next generation: Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, and Joshua son of the palace administrator Eliakim.

Manasseh's anger at his father’s death soon leads him to pagan idols and sorcery. Eliakim and the prophet Isaiah are soon executed and a new set of characters takes the stage. The main theme of this book involves Joshua’s anger and hatred toward his former friend, Manasseh, and how Joshua deals with his experiences: at first angry with God, but later returning to God and helping God’s people. Other fictional characters have similar experiences to the characters in previous books, such as Joshua’s sister Dinah and a maidservant named Miriam.

As with the previous books in this series, the historical background is not extremely well developed. The characters generally think like modern-day Christians, complete with a New Testament understanding of God as a loving and forgiving Father. The story itself could take place in any Christian era, with its emphases on persecution, suffering, and looking in repentance toward a loving and sovereign God. That said, Faith of My Fathers does offer good dialogue and many characters with their various subplots. This story is entertaining, with the good page-turning suspense of a good action novel, including a strong climax and a happy ending for the “good guys.”

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the story involves an item from Jewish history with some basis in facts gathered from the archeological records of Egypt. As the author notes at the end, apparently some Levites and priests did leave Israel during King Manasseh’s reign and settled a colony in Elephantine Island, Egypt; they may well have taken the Ark with them. Faith of My Fathers skillfully blends this idea into an exciting action plot, to be continued in the next book (Among the Gods).

Overall, Faith of My Fathers offers an excellent action-adventure book with Bible characters. Fans of Bible fiction will find this book adequate, as well as a good continuation of the characters and families from the previous three books of “Chronicles of the Kings.”

The Strength of His Hand: Chronicles of the Kings, #3

Lynn Austin continues her “Chronicles of the Kings” series with The Strength of His Hand, the third in this series. This novel covers Hezekiah’s later years as king, beginning with his serious illness from which he miraculously recovered and was granted another 15 years. Hezekiah’s testing, his pride during a meeting with the Babylonians, and further Assyrian threats also enter this story, crafted around yet another conflict – Hezekiah’s idolatrous wife Hephzibah, and the lack of an heir to Hezekiah’s throne.

Early in the story, Hezekiah confronts the possibility of not having an heir, and considers various scriptures and their meanings. Thus he learns that God’s promise to David – that David would always have a descendant on the throne – does not necessarily mean that Hezekiah must have a son to continue the line. When Hephzibah again urges Hezekiah to take another wife, in hopes of producing an heir, Hezekiah considers again the Jewish law that a king must not have “many” wives and concludes that not having “many” does not mean only one. Soon thereafter, however, Hezekiah takes ill and nearly dies as a result of an accident. As with so much of the story, the author fills in the gaps, providing an exciting story full of tension and betrayal to explain the cause of Hezekiah’s illness referenced in the Bible.

The Strength of His Hand picks up plot threads and characters developed in the previous two books, so that again Hezekiah himself has a rather minor part. Jerusha is back, now as Eliakim’s wife and a mother to several children. The conflict between Eliakim and Shebna continues, along with embellished accounts, based on verses from the book of Isaiah, regarding Shebna’s monument to himself and the subsequent exaltation of Eliakim.

Overall, the story presented is entertaining and dramatic, along with the message of God’s forgiveness and compassion. However, in several aspects the story remains shallow, especially in its poor application of Old Testament scripture. For example, scripture passages from Isaiah about Israel as the barren wife, rejoicing in the many children given her – clearly understood by Biblical scholars as referring to the returning exiles from Babylon almost 200 years later – are completely misinterpreted and applied directly to Hephzibah for her own personal meaning. The characters present to each other not an Old Testament understanding (the historical setting), nor even a New Testament one, but a weak, modern-day “God loves you” theology. The “gospel” presented to Hephzibah -- who has worshipped an idol and vowed to sacrifice her first child to Asherah – is the weak, modern-day evangelical message that she is a child of God and God forgives her, and so she must forgive herself. Nothing is said about repentance, or an understanding of who God is (versus the idols) including His sovereignty and holiness – much less the required sacrifices for sin that were still required of His people under the Mosaic law during this time.

Song of Redemption: King Hezekiah's Days

Lynn Austin continues her “Chronicles of the Kings” series about the life of King Hezekiah, with the second installment, Song of Redemption. Picking up immediately where Gods and Kings ended, it tells a story of Hezekiah’s first years as King of Judah. He learns again the true faith, from his grandfather Zechariah, and struggles with his own attitudes toward God, longing for the strong faith his grandfather has, even as he questions his own motives for his early decisions. Does he have enough faith to stop sending tribute money to Assyria (begun by his father), that God will deliver Judah from the Assyrians?

Biblical characters of whom we know little come to life here, especially Hezekiah’s cabinet members Shebna, Eliakim, and Eliakim’s father Hilkiah. Hephzibah also is back, with elements of her character foreshadowing what must happen later on: as the mother of Hezekiah’s successor son, Manasseh, Hephzibah is the one that must supply Manasseh with his pagan beliefs.

Song of Redemption also introduces a major secondary plot outside of Hezekiah’s story. A young Israelite woman, Jerusha, and her family show us the plight of the neighboring Israelites during Assyrian aggression, as well as the unimaginable brutality of the Assyrians. As the story progresses, the subplots become the main story, and we see more character growth in those around Hezekiah rather than in Hezekiah himself. Jerusha changes through her experiences. Conflict develops between Shebna and Eliakim, and Eliakim’s character is further developed.

Song of Redemption is an entertaining story with good action, conflict, and character growth. Throughout the story we experience the underlying message of forgiveness, the redemption promised to the characters as they turn to Yahweh, the heavenly Father who loves them and restores them.

Gods and Kings: Young Prince Hezekiah

Lynn Austin’s novel Gods and Kings begins a new series "Chronicles of the Kings," telling the story of the Kings of Old Testament Judah. Drawing on material from 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the author tells a story filled with danger and tragedy in a world of apostates and martyrs. Through excellent story-telling, Gods and Kings portrays a world not all that different from our own.

This first novel in the series covers the reign of King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s wicked father – of whom the Bible authors had nothing good to say. Much of the story focuses on Hezekiah as a young boy, traumatized from experiences of child-sacrifice to Molech, who then learns to call on Yahweh. The story ends at the beginning of Hezekiah’s reign, leaving several plots unresolved and awaiting a sequel.

In this story we see the common theme of a family member’s godly influence on a young child, who then forgets but later recalls the things of God as an adult. Gods and Kings also employs good language and story to relate the central issue – idolatry – to modern times. The gradual falling away of an apostate, and liberal characters who champion "change" to "modern times," are as relevant to our culture as theirs.

As with any Biblical fiction story, the original source material is limited (though much more in abundance here than, say, some of the characters from Genesis), and the author invents full stories about people who are only named in the Bible – Hezekiah’s mother Abijah, his grandfather Zechariah, his wife Hephzibah, and even Hilkiah (father of Eliakim). Unlike some works of Biblical fiction, all of these major and minor characters refer to actual names of people from Hezekiah’s day. Yet in the above cases, all that is known is their relationship to another person. Even Hezekiah’s wife is only named once, as the mother of Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son and successor. The author’s imagination supplies us, though, with very interesting characters and plots. The last part of the story (Hezekiah as an adult) seems less-developed and disjointed from the larger, earlier section of the story – perhaps largely because of the passage of time, with little reference to the earlier time, reflecting the adult Hezekiah’s spiritual condition.

Overall, though, this is an excellent book with well-researched history and plot relevance to our day, a great story that makes this period of Bible history come alive.

Hidden Places: A Farm Family During the Great Depression

Hidden Places, a historical fiction novel by Lynn Austin, vividly relates the struggles and hidden secrets of a farm family in the early 1930s. Eliza Wyatt, recently widowed with three young children, finds herself in charge of the Wyatt family orchard. Though embittered against God, she has followed the advice of her late husband's Aunt "Batty" to pray for an angel-and it seems God has brought such a messenger, someone to help with the difficult work. Yet the stranger, Gabriel Harper, seems to be less than forthright about himself and his past.

Everyone in the Deer Springs community is struggling, with land and farming equipment selling for pennies. Hobos ride the railroads and trespass on people's land, often begging for a meal in exchange for work. The local bank is closing, requiring all mortgages to be paid in full, including a loan on the Wyatt Orchard. To make matters worse, Eliza soon learns that she and her children do not even have legal ownership of the farm. Her husband Sam died before his father, and Frank Wyatt's will has left everything to his oldest son, Matthew. However, no one has seen Matthew in over ten years, since the Great War.

Eliza takes in the stranger, Gabe, who shows up at her doorstep, then nurses him through a bad "lockjaw" infection. Meanwhile, neighboring Aunt Batty (Betty, who sometimes seems crazy, or "batty") must move into the farmhouse when her roof collapses under the weight of snow, and she brings her half-blind ugly dog and fat cats with her, to add to the hectic madhouse. Aunt Batty's high-spirited joy uplifts the others, for added comic relief, though Eliza amusingly wonders if her children will become as crazy as Aunt Batty.

Eliza is determined to hold onto the orchard, for her children's sake. But that means keeping the farm going, while coming up with $500 and solving the mystery of Matthew Wyatt's whereabouts. Eliza soon discovers the family's dark secrets, while struggling inside with her own secret past, her own lies.

Through first person narratives, alternating between Eliza and Aunt Batty, comes an enriching story with strong characters and plot twists. Though many of the events takes place in the characters' past, in the 1890s and early 1900s, the issues are controversial, serious ones even by today's standards: children conceived out of wedlock; child abuse; attempted murder/suicide; even apparent identity theft. A family situation pulled straight from the Biblical story of Joseph and his brothers yields a similarly tragic result. Several characters deal with anger towards their fathers, yet can now hope for reconciliation.

Yet Hidden Places is not merely an emotional "soap opera" devoid of day-to-day troubles. The story also provides rich detail of the everyday working life of farmers, by an author clearly familiar with work. In the late winter, Eliza learns how to properly prune the fruit trees: to cut the newer branches "that take energy away from the fruit-bearing limbs," to open up the tree's center and allow light through to help ripen the fruit. Gabe sharpens the saw blades, operates a grindstone, and arranges for nearby hobos to carry off the larger pieces of brush for their bonfires. Later, when the radio announces a freeze warning, the whole family--even the youngest child, four year-old Becky--pitches in to make "smudge pots" with oil and corn cobs to keep the trees warm, staying up all night to replenish the oil as needed. A full year's work includes taking produce to market to get the best price, as well as various stages of harvest (first the cherries, later the peaches, pears and apples) for which temporary workers are hired; followed by canning the many fruits and vegetables for the winter ahead. Many conversations take place in the midst of work, as the characters get to know each other better, each becoming part of a smooth-running team operating in perfect symmetry.

Through the unfolding story, the Wyatt characters come alive to the reader, taking on their own identity as we relate to their problems, their hopes and dreams. Eliza and her family and friends remind us again of the importance of family and a place to call home.

For further information. see Lynn Austin's website