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King Hezekiah is caught
between two equally unpalatable choices: continue paying
tribute to the Assyrians and watch his people suffer the
resulting poverty, or make an alliance with other nations in
similar circumstances and rebel against the enemy. When
his grandfather, Zechariah, tells him that none of his
ancestors succeeded by making either of those choices,
and reminds him that the Torah promises prosperity to kings
who follow God's rule, Hezekiah realizes that he must abide by
the will of Yahweh. Hezekiah's fledgling faith is tested
on every front. His advisors question his sanity for
following this course, his wife continues to be barren, and
his trust in his closest associates seems to be leading to
disaster. Hezekiah nevertheless remains adamant on his
chosen course, and soon his kingdom is flourishing with an
unprecedented abundance.
Meanwhile, Jerusha, the
beloved elder daughter of an Israeli farmer, is one of the few
survivors of an Assyrian raid during her cousin's wedding.
Hauled off by Iddina, the Assyrian leader, Jerusha resolves to
do whatever she must to survive, enduring abuse of every kind.
When her newborn daughter is torn from her arms, never to be
seen again, Jerusha decides to kill herself, because no one
has ever escaped the Assyrians and lived to tell the tale.
When Iddina makes Jerusha a promise that seems too good to be
true, the young woman's hope is reawakened.
SONG OF REDEMPTION is second
in a series that tells the story of three of the Old
Testament's most intriguing characters. Lynn Austin does
a remarkable job of taking two stories that seem to have no
connection and lead them toward each other in much the same
way that Eliakim, Hezekiah's chief architect, pushes
forward a project that the king's other advisors deem
impossible. Austin cuts back and forth between several
storylines with the skill of a Hollywood scriptwriter, with
scenes that escalate the tension and urgency of a nation
teetering on the brink between prosperity and annihilation.
Readers will sympathize with Jerusha's feelings of
unworthiness after the debasement of her captivity, with
Hephzibah's desperation to bear her husband an heir to his
throne, with Jerimoth's unflagging faith in the miracle he
awaits, and most of all, with Hezekiah's struggle to trust in
the Lord in the face of logic and reason.
While the writing is taut
and compelling, creating a convincing picture of Middle
Eastern life eight centuries before the birth of Christ, the
dialogue is quite anachronistic in places. Ms. Austin's
narrative captures the era well, and when her characters
discuss biblical issues, their words sound authentic.
However, when discussion strays to more personal issues, the
characters' words and sensibilities seem distinctly
twenty-first century. When Hezekiah tells his wife,
"Why don't you stop feeling sorry for yourself and start
trusting in God?" or Eliakim tells his father, "I'll
have to skip the sacrifice this morning," or any one of
numerous characters says "Okay," SONG OF REDEMPTION
begins to sound like a television movie of the week.
Perhaps in her efforts to avoid the rather stilted dialogue of
earlier biblical classics, Ms. Austin errs too much on the
side of modernity. This is the only flaw in an otherwise
realistic, beautifully written story, and eminently
forgivable.
Readers new to the
Chronicles of the Kings will certainly want to read the first
book in the series, GODS AND KINGS, to see how Hezekiah
discovered his faith, and will be looking forward to THE
STRENGTH OF HIS HAND, due at the end of September. Those
who would like to find Ms. Austin's previous book should be
aware that Chronicles of the Kings was originally published as
a five-book series for Beacon Press and has been rewritten and
repackaged for Bethany House. This compelling Old
Testament epic is highly deserving of being reissued, and
Bethany House's elegant new covers are evocative of the
golden age of biblical blockbusters.
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