Rebekah by Jill Eileen Smith

This series has been so much fun for me to read.  I have been going through Genesis for the past 6 months and really studying it and learning it and committing it to heart.  So when I saw this book about Rebekah, I knew it would be a fun book to read since I had just spent so much time learning about her and being so impressed with her character qualities.  Really....who would water 10 camels at approximately 83 trips WITHOUT complaining or huffing or puffing?!

I think Isaac and Rebekah are so easy to relate to because of how they love each other, but still mess up and argue, and forgive.  Rebekah knew the prophecy about Jacob, as did Isaac, but Isaac still chose to favor Esau.  I think its a beautiful picture of God carrying out His will even when we try to get in the way and manipulate a little to give us our desired outcome. 

They are even more easily to speak to parents because I think we can have a tendency to favor one child over another depending on days, attitudes, circumstances.  This story always reminds me to look at my children and see them each for who they are...children of God....both with positives and negatives, but still the qualities I love.

Jill has such a wonderful way at making Rebekah come to life.  Although it is a biblical story, it is a fictional book and she stays close to the biblical account.  However, she does have her own opinions about conversations and thoughts, as any fictional book does.  I feel she has spent much time pouring over Rebekah and really thinking about her and that's why her writing comes to life so easily for the readers. 

This is the second book her in Wives of the Patriarchs series.  I am looking forward to the third book in this series!

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I received this book free from Revell Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Sarai by Jill Eileen Smith

What a beautiful story of Abraham and Sarai.  Jill did a great job of sticking to the biblical text, but still adding her own thoughts and ideas into how Sarai and Abram might be as a couple.  She added the humanness to them that we so often forget about when we read the biblical account of them.  Do know that this isn't the EXACT story in the Bible, but Jill does try to stay true to the culture and the biblical account.  However, the Bible doesn't tell us EXACTLY what Sarai was thinking in certain instances, such as when Abram wants her to say she is his sister.  This is where Jill takes her own liberties in the story, but she states in the back that she researches the history, tries to stick to the biblical account, portions of the story with not in Scripture allowed her to use her imagination, and that any errors made are hers.  This mae me want to read this book even more.
One thing that I loved was when she wrote about the sacrifices that had to be made.  A choice had to be made to sacrifice Abram's lamb that followed him everywhere or Sarai's rebellious ram.  It had never occurred to me before that of course, as a shepherd, it would be so incredibly hard to give up your best as a sacrifice.  Who would want to give up the obedient ones?  You'd be more than happy to give up those rebellious ones that cause so much work, but the ones that followed your command and stayed with you?  I had never stopped to think about that before.  I just always figured that they didn't have as much love for animals as we typically do today.  But I really don't think that's the case.  I really think that shepherds love their flock and they tend to their flocks and they know them.  Of course they would have a deep love for them.  But God called them to give Him their best sacrifices, one without spots or blemish.

This is the first book in the Wives of the Patriarchs series.  I have never read any of her books before but I've already downloaded another of hers to read in the David series. 

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I received this book free from Revell Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.