It
was a time of change for the Hebrews. Alexander the Great had
conquered much of the known world. After his death in 331 B.C.
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, took control of Palestine,
other generals taking other lands. It was a time of Greek domination
with the Greek culture influencing the conquered peoples.
Some
Jews tried to better their status by working with the Greeks. In this
novel, we see that in the person of Yeshua, younger brother of the
High Priest Honiah. Preferring to use his Greek name, Jason, he
wanted to incorporate Greek culture into Jerusalem. He was conniving
to build a lyceum and gymnasium so that the Greeks and Syrians would
feel at home in the holy city. He did not anticipate the many
cultural and governmental changes that would soon occur.
But
Honiah was all about serving God and preserving faith in and the
proper worship of God Jehovah. He saw the Greek culture as a danger
to their faithful ways.
This
is not a page turner. It took me a long while to get into it. There
are descriptions of architecture, priest duties, sacrifices, Sabbath
observation, foods served at meals, etc. The narrative encompasses a
large segment of time so there are many characters. A list of
them is included at the back of the book and the ones who were
historical figures are identified. I felt the characters were rather
flat and not well developed.
One
strength of this novel lies in the amount of information it contains
concerning the tumultuous time between the Old and New Testaments,
leading up to the Maccabean Revolt. There were family rivalries and
feuds as individuals connived for the powerful office of High Priest.
Other families struggled to remain faithful to Jehovah during the
time of the encroaching pagan culture. Readers will gather much about
the historical events of the time.
The
other strength is in revealing the disturbing issue of one culture
influencing another. The situation is not unlike what some Christians
are experiencing today. An example from the novel is a family of
Hebrew silversmiths who were asked to make a pagan charm. They
declined the opportunity, knowing it would be wrong but bemoaned the
lack of income. Another example concerns civil laws. The Greeks
wanted a well functioning city, not some backward community governed
by the idiosyncratic laws of a local religion. Imposing Greek law
meant doing away with Jewish religious freedoms.
While
there is not a discussion guide included, there is certainly much to
to discuss. There are so many questions that arise when devotion to
the old ways crashes into the introduction of a new culture. Many
cried out, asking where God was as their world transitioned to
something terribly ungodly. Many wanted to know what to do when the
government transgressed their laws and polluted their very place of
worship. Others wondered if it was the time for violence. As the
cultural invasion progressed, many realized that what they thought
was good for Jerusalem had turned out to be very bad. Character
ruminations like that ensure that this novel will certainly provide
many topics for a lively discussion. (Note: the way the Greeks treat
rebellious Jews is savage and may disturb sensitive readers.)
A
short historical note is included at the beginning but it was
insufficient for my tastes. In addition to knowing who were real
historical characters (indicated in the character list at the back of
the book), I would have liked to know which scenes in the book were
based on historical events. Having that information in an appendix
would have increased the novel's impact.
David A. deSilva became fascinated by the Apocrypha growing up in the
Episcopal Church. He is ordained an elder in the Florida Conference
of the United Methodist Church and serves as Trustees' Distinguished
Professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary
in Ashland, Ohio. He is the author of several nonfiction books. He
and his family live in Punta Gorda, Florida.
Kregel
Publications, 320 pages.
I
received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the
purpose of an independent and honest review.
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