Faith of My Fathers (43 page)
Jerusha cried out as Dinah raced across the yard. They fell into each other’s arms, weeping.
“Dinah! It can’t be! Is it really you?”
“I never thought I would see you again, Mama.”
“Oh, my precious daughter!”
Joshua’s voice was hoarse with emotion when he finally spoke. “And don’t worry about Jerimoth either, Mama. He’s in Egypt, probably buying and selling the pyramids by now.”
“But he’ll be home soon?”
“Well, I hate to spring too much on you at once, but he’s not coming back to Moab—we’re moving to Egypt.”
“What?” Jerusha was laughing and weeping at the same time as she stroked Dinah’s face and hair.
“We’re going to build a community of believers there, and an altar for Yahweh,” Joshua told her. “Prince Amariah will serve as our leader, and I’ll be his second in command. The priests and Levites are already in Egypt, too, with their families.”
“I can’t comprehend this, Joshua! It’s enough for me to have my children back. I don’t care where we live as long as we’re all together.”
She hugged Dinah close and Joshua surrounded both of them with his arms. His mother sighed. “Now if only . . .”
“What, Mama?”
“I’m still missing my other daughter . . . Miriam.”
Joshua stared at her in astonishment. “Miriam?”
“I’ve missed her so much.”
“But . . . she’s here, Mama. She came back with us. I’ll get her.” He hurried inside and found Miriam watching them through the window like an outsider. “You’re part of this family, too,” he said gently. “Come on, Mama’s asking for you.”
“She . . . she is?”
Jerusha’s eyes lit with joy when she saw Miriam. She drew her into her arms. “Miriam . . . my daughter. You’re home!”
“Yes,” she wept. “I’m home.”
People often ask me which portions of my stories are based on fact and which are products of my imagination. While my principal source of factual information is always the Bible, I also supplement it with non-conflicting accounts from other sources such as the Greek historian Herodotus, the Jewish historian Josephus, Jewish oral traditions, Assyrian annals, and archaeological evidence.
The Bible records the depth of Manasseh’s sin and apostasy. According to Jewish tradition, he martyred Isaiah by sawing him in half (Hebrews 11:37 might refer to this). Hezekiah did have a second son, Amariah. Zephaniah 1:1 reveals that Prince Amariah was one of the prophet Zephaniah’s ancestors.
In 1961 archaeologists uncovered the ruins of a temple on the island of Elephantine in Egypt. Aligned to face Jerusalem, it was identical in size and construction to the Jerusalem Temple and had been built by Jewish priests and Levites fleeing the persecution of King Manasseh’s reign. Records unearthed with it revealed that a full schedule of sacrifices and feast days had been celebrated there. Since no other temple was ever built by exiled priests or Jews, some scholars have concluded that the ark of the covenant might have been rescued from Manasseh and housed there, as well.
In his book
Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel,
Professor Menahem Haran says, “I am certain the ark was removed in Manasseh’s time . . . the orthodox priests of Yahweh would under no circumstance have permitted the ark of Yahweh to stay in the same place as the idol of Asherah.”
Faith of My Fathers
and its sequel,
Among the
Gods,
are based on this premise.
If the pagan rituals I’ve described seem contemporary, it’s because the so-called New Age movement is centuries old. Practices such as astrology, channeling, voodoo, crystals, divination, and witchcraft date back to ancient Canaanite and Babylonian beliefs. These pagan beliefs are rooted in the four lies used by Satan in the Garden of Eden and were condemned by God in ancient times, just as they are now. There is truly “nothing new under the sun.”
I expose them in my novel not to glorify them, but to warn readers of their dangers and to reveal some of the lies that lure people into practicing them. One of the marks of a cult is that it twists Scripture or uses it out of context. As believers, we must cling to and protect the purity of the faith entrusted to us while proclaiming the fact that all other religious practices are false. Jesus said it best: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Interested readers are encouraged to research the full accounts of the events in this book in the Bible as they enjoy this fourth book in the C
HRONICLES OF THE KINGS
series.
Scripture references for
Faith of My Fathers:
2 Kings 21:1–18
2 Chronicles 33
See also:
Isaiah 10:22; 19:19; 22:18–25; 26:20; 36; 40:27–31; and 41:9–13
Psalm 22; 35; 37; 90; and 103
Ecclesiastes 1:1–3
C
HRONICLES OF THE
K
INGS
—Book 5
Among the Gods
Book five in this series tells of the continuing conflict between the boyhood friends Manasseh and Joshua, now bitter enemies. Both find themselves separated from the religious environment of their youth and seeking the true God “among the gods” of the surrounding heathen nations.
After the priests and Levites escape to Egypt, King Manasseh becomes deeply involved in pagan Canaanite and Babylonian religions. Meanwhile, Joshua and his followers try to cling to the true worship of God in the midst of a pagan Egyptian culture that threatens to lure their children away from Yahweh.
When Joshua sees an opportunity to free his homeland from Manasseh’s wicked reign, he becomes involved in an assassination plot that risks his own life as well as the lives of the people he loves. Joshua must learn to let go of his anger and bitterness or risk destroying himself and his community.
