Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith - REVIEWED

About the Book: (from the publisher)

Can love triumph over treachery?

Bathsheba is a woman who longs for love. With her husband away fighting the king's wars, she battles encroaching loneliness--which makes it all too easy to succumb to the advances of King David. Will one night of unbridled passion destroy everything she holds dear? Can she find forgiveness at the feet of the Almighty? Or has her sin separated her from God forever?

With a historian's sharp eye for detail and a novelist's creative spirit, Jill Eileen Smith brings to life the passionate and emotional story of David's most famous--and infamous--wife. You will never read the story of David and Bathsheba the same way again.

My Thoughts:

Bathsheba and David have always been held up to me as the ultimate example of adultery. Their affair was made more heinous by David’s choice to have Uriah murdered. Jill Eileen Smith’s third book in the Wives of King David series allowed me to consider both David and Bathsheba in all of their human emotional and spiritual frailty. The traits that Smith brought to light served only to magnify the grace and mercy that God shed upon them later in their lives.

Sin is never without consequence, and Smith portrays the spiritual and emotional agony experienced by each character with painful clarity. The story includes the revealed facts contained in Scripture naturally and realistically, and I was able to realize anew the humanness of these lager-than-life characters. Smith carries the reader into many more familiar scriptural stories such as Tamar and Absalom, and uses the character of Bathsheba as a sort of emotional and spiritual sounding board for King David. Again, the way Smith conveys these familiar stories gives the reader insight into spiritual and emotional struggles that are common to all of God’s children.

For me, the greatest take-away value of this story is the awesome way God works in our lives in spite of our poor choices and willful sinfulness. God redeemed and used David and Bathsheba’s story in a mighty way throughout time, and He will redeem our lives today and use us for His glory. That, dear reader, is the ultimate truth and hope contained in all of Scripture. Smith’s story of Bathsheba is an excellent reminder the mercy and grace that God still offers and uses to transform the lives of everyone who calls on Him.

Bathsheba is an excellent story, and one that I am happy to recommend to you!

About the Author:

Jill Eileen Smith has more than twenty years of writing experience, and her writing has garnered acclaim in several contests. Her research into the lives of David's wives has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill is the author of the bestselling Michal and Abigail and lives with her family in southeast Michigan.