Reviewing: The Prophetess Deborah's Story

"New gods were chosen, then war was in the gates." -  Judges 5:8.   Jill Eileen Smith retells Deborah's story in The Prophetess, book, number two in her Daughters of the Promised Land Series. Deborah is a beautiful, outspoken  woman of Israel chosen by God to hear His voice through prophesy. She lives in a time when the people of Israel are living in fear of a mighty warrior, Sisera, commander of Canaan's King Jabin.   Women and children are stolen and enslaved. Men are murdered. The spoils of war are made worse by the sheer unspeakable acts of a tyrant.  Deborah knows from her visions that false gods have been worshiped and beseeches her people to turn away from these gods who are destroying Israel from the inside.

This story brings Deborah to life as the woman of courage she was in 1126 BC. She is wife to Lappidoth, and mother of his children. She is a judge who daily sits under Deborah's Palm Tree on the knoll to hear case after case brought forth by her people for her to decide fairly.  She has the cares of a woman yet the responsibility beyond the scope of any woman in her village.

Moving forward fifteen years, she encounters Barak, a young warrior from Kedesh in Naphtali, who seeks to destroy Sisera, whose band of destroyers killed his young wife.  He and his group of soldiers travel to the villages warning of the dangers Sisera has wrought on the villages. Deborah also meets Jael, wife of Heber who has traveled far with his family from his home searching for a place to settle. These people are integral to the story as it unfolds and are fascinating in their own right.

Can peace come to the lands at last?  Is the word of the prophetess enough to build an army for Barak to destroy Sisera, and in turn King Jabin?  Can the people turn from false idols and believe in the One true God?  Deborah's story compelled me to do some research into the times and of course to read Judges 4 & 5 from which this story hails. If you love a good book that brings biblical accounts alive you will enjoy the Prophetess. It is a story of love, war and redemption written as we have come to expect of all Jill Eileen Smith's books.  

In the Shadow of Jezebel...A Plot of Biblical Proportions!

What lies In the Shadow of Jezebel by Mesu Andrews for me is a memory of Lady Macbeth and all her treacherous plots to move her husband to the to the top of the game of leadership. A woman so cunning she would risk everyone she purports to love.  Queen Athalia is the daughter of Jezebel and a high priestess of Baal. Her husband becomes king by her hand in plots of murder and formidable use of dark arts.

Athalia favors her Stepdaughter Jehosheba and wishes for her to become a great high priestess. Her rigorous training to live the celibate life as priestess to Baal is an honor to Sheba and perhaps the way to win the queen's love. The skills she has learned are the one thing she is certain of in her life. The queen's mother love is mixed with abuse enough to scare the young princess and cause her to doubt any true love or to trust that she can be loved.


Bargained off in marriage to the High Priest of Judah, Sheba feels abandonment from her father. She is separated also from her beloved brother Ahazia. She is stripped of her right to succeed the queen into the role of a pagan high priest. She learns to see her world from a very different perspective, however, as she keeps her husband's marital conditions to serve the one true God of Judah and no other.

She is unprepared for marriage and for living in the temple of Judah where she must give up servants and luxuries that she is used to. Her husband, Jehoida is far different than anyone she has met in her life. He is kind, protective and he is true to his word. His faith in Yahweh is unshakeable no matter the events in an evil world that surrounded his temple and the life he and Sheba lived.

The story has all the elements of a thrilling tale of modern fantasy yet it occurs in the Old Testament of the Bible about people who descend from David's line. Mesu Andrews has brought this story to life for me. There are so many things I could speak to yet the story is not one I wish to spoil. I haven't read this author's work before but plan to look for more in the future.