A review of The Promise, Naomi Reed, & Lineage of Grace, Francine Rivers
The story of women in the Bible has largely not received as much attention as the men of the Bible. Frequently they are reduced to cardboard cut-out stereotypes of the model of the Christian woman: meek and mild like Mary, faithful and obedient like Ruth…
Two books provide more depth and heart to the stories of critical women in the Bible.
The first is written by Naomi Reed, who won the Australian Christian Book of the Year in 2009, and was runner-up in 2008. Both those books were about her experiences as a missionary in Nepal; whereas The Promise is biblically-informed fiction.
There is a lot to admire and enjoy about this book: it is well-researched, and Reed stays true to conservative evangelical scholarship in those areas where she has to manufacture thoughts, feelings or motivation.
It is also Christ-centred. She has a meta-narrative in the hours following Jesus' death: Joanne, Mary's sister, turns to the women of Scripture for wisdom and comfort as she tries to understand why Jesus had to die. This literary device allows Reed to focus on Jesus, providing context for the Old Testament narratives.
The essential message is that God keeps his promises, and that all that happens to us makes sense when it is seen as being part of a much bigger story.
While there is much to like, there are also some issues: I found the literary device a little too forced and artificial. These women were limited by time, place and context, and our rewriting of their story in the light of Christ's intervention in history needs to be treated with great care.
To tell the story in a Christ context, Reed is forced to use the word "apparently" to allow the women to convey information they cannot have witnessed. For example, when Moses' sister Miriam says: "Apparently Yahweh had hardened the hearts of the Egyptians so they would go after us."
This is much more about the Gospel story, than these women's stories; and is sanitised, for example Rahab's occupation is only hinted at, and the rather bizarre circumstances of Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz on the threshing room floor is dealt with "It came about that Ruth and Boaz were betrothed to be married."
In contrast, Francine Rivers' Lineage of Grace is positively racey! She attempts to portray these women in all their weaknesses as well as their glory. She uses much imagination to fill in the blanks in motivation, desire and will.
This makes her women colourful and lively; but the danger is that people might be unable to discern what is Bible and what is fiction. On the other hand, Rivers has researched much of the detail, and she laces her characters in their historical, cultural and theological context. Further, at the end of each story is a detailed study written to examine the biblical narrative.
While Reed's material is designed to be read out in church, Rivers' book is for older readers. She portrays the wild side of these Bible women, but not exploitatively.
While Reed covers a wide selection of women, Rivers focuses on the five women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus:
"¢ Tamar, promised to Judah's sons, a woman of hope
"¢ Rahab, helped Israel overcome Jericho, a woman of faith
"¢ Ruth, fled a drought with her mother-in-law Naomi, a woman of love
"¢ Bathsheba, ensnared by king David, a woman who eventually received unlimited grace
"¢ Mary, the mother of Jesus, a woman of obedience.
What both books achieve, is allowing the women of the bible to have their story told with more colour, passion, movement and spirit than we have previously seen.
I do wish there was the possibility of producing a book midway between the two approaches: with the story-telling colour of Rivers, but the contextual accuracy of Reed. Reed achieves the blend occasionally, as when telling the story of the Singer, chronicling the story of the return of the Israelites from exile:
I sang, not because I could see the sunshine, but because Yahweh had promised it. And then when I reached our house, I told everyone who would listen to me "I began the work with weeping, but I finished it with singing."
