Disclosure: I received this book to review.
The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

The name “Jezebel” always sounded like an insult to my ears; for some reason, it makes me think of a hissing cat.  Sadly though, I never really knew or fully understood her story.  At Christmas, I gave my husband an art book full of Bible stories and art that corresponds with it.  A few days ago he left it open to the page about Naboth’s Vineyard.  Jezebel conspired against Naboth to obtain his beautiful vineyard for her husband.  As I read that page, I thought, “Oh yeah, I remember that.”  That was the extent of my knowledge of Jezebel.  That’s why The Shadow of Jezebel caught me off guard.  Before reading this book, I had no idea how deep Jezebel’s schemes went.  Although the book is a fictional tale, the historical strands of the story are true and it fascinated me to the very last page.

In this book, Princess Sheba was used as a bargaining chip between her parents and for her kingdom.  I felt sorry for her from the beginning.  She seemed so young and innocent, yet she was taught to manipulate men for personal gain.  Her family was doomed as soon as they turned away from Yahweh; the only saving grace Sheba could count on was her husband.  The story was a beautiful way to explain the love between a man and his wife.  Jehoida’s love for Sheba was not unlike God’s love for his children–full of grace, forgiveness, and gentleness.  The hardest part of reading this book was trying to navigate through the stormy waters of Old Testament names.  Thank goodness the author included a character list and family tree at the beginning of the novel!!

Many times I’ve been thankful that I wasn’t born during the tumultuous times of the Old Testament. Women were considered little more than property in most civilizations.  The Shadow of Jezebel reminded me that God can use anyone (often the one we least expect!) to work his miracles.  Although I studied 1 and 2 Kings during my Bible Bowl years, it wasn’t until I read this book that the story completely made sense to me.  The desperate times that God’s people endured, mingled with the personal sacrifices they chose to make, really came to life in this book.

I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.