Book Review: Bathsheba

What was I thinking in requesting this book to review? It's the story of BATHSHEBA after all.

Bathsheba's story in the Bible is graphic, and Angela Hunt communicates the reality of it. Tamar has her side-story as well. The first half or so of the book I was thinking, "No, I'm not going to recommend this."

But Angela Hunt does what she does so well, she brought all the story of Bathsheba, all the events happening around Bathsheba, into one coherent story about one woman's unexpected life. I never realized how much God disciplined David for his sin against Bathsheba. I never thought how Absalom's rebellion might have affected Bathsheba, whose son was the promised next king. I didn't realize that when David allowed Saul's grandchildren to be executed to satisfy the Gibeonites, that those were Michal's nephews and she would mourn for them. It never crossed my mind that in helping Absalom, Ahithophel was unknowingly fighting the right of his own grandson to be king.

If you want Bathsheba's story to come to life for you, this is a great book! But beware that Bathsheba's story will be brought to life, and her story did not have a pleasant start.

In comparison with my review on Esther, this book did not take a long time to start and did not wrap up too quickly. We know a lot about Bathsheba's life because David's life is well-chronicled. I loved that about this book--the thoroughness of covering her life.

I received this book for free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

P.S. I have not read the similar fictional biographies by Francine Rivers and Jill Eileen Smith, so I cannot compare them, though I have been told that Hunt's version is much less graphic than Smith's, if memory serves that reader correctly.