Faith of My Fathers: Biblical Fiction
about King Manasseh's Reign
Reviewed
by Lynda Ochsner
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.”
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