Isaiah's Legacy by Mesu Andrews Series: Prophets and Kings #3
Publisher: WaterBrook Press (2020)
eARC (400 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Also by this author: The Pharaoh's Daughter, Miriam, Isaiah's Daughter
Also in this series: Isaiah's Daughter
Reading Challenges: Read 2020
Synopsis
The drama of the Old Testament comes to life as Judah's most notorious king ascends to the throne in this gripping novel from the award-winning author of Isaiah's Daughter.
At eight years old, Shulle has known only life in a small village with her loving but peculiar father. When Uncle Shebna offers shelter in Jerusalem in exchange for Shulle's help tutoring King Manasseh, Judah's five-year-old co-regent who displays the same peculiarities as her father, she's eager to experience the royal court. But Shulle soon realizes the limits of her father's strict adherence to Yahweh's Law when Uncle Shebna teaches her of the starry hosts and their power.
Convinced Judah must be freed from Yahweh's chains, she begins the subtle swaying of young Manasseh, using her charm and skills on the boy no one else understands. When King Hezekiah dies, twelve-year-old Manasseh is thrust onto Judah's throne, bitter at Yahweh and eager to marry the girl he adores. Assyria's crown prince favors Manasseh and twists his brilliant mind toward cruelty, beginning Shulle's long and harrowing journey to discover the Yahweh she'd never known, guided with loving wisdom by Manasseh's mother: Isaiah's daughter, the heartbroken Hephzibah. Amid Judah's dark days, a desperate remnant emerges, claiming the Lord's promise, "Though we're helpless now, we're never hopeless--because we serve El Shaddai." Shulle is among them, a girl who becomes a queen through Isaiah's legacy.
Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon
My Review
I have a lot of thoughts about this book. First of all, it is based on the story of King Manasseh or Judah which can be found twice in the Bible: 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33. It is helpful to take a bit of time to refresh your memory on what Scripture actually says about King Manasseh and his wife Meshullemeth before we get too far into this review. Kings records Manasseh as doing all kinds of evil and only mentions Meshullemeth as the mother of his son Amon who reigned after him. Chronicles recounts the same about Manasseh and Meshullemeth but also adds that Manasseh repented before the end of his life and returned to God. So this is basically all that we know historically and biblically.
Now, Mesu Andrews’s story is that of Meshullemeth. Remember, from Scripture we only know her name as the wife of Manasseh and the mother of Amon. Andrews’s story takes the little we know and turns Shulle into a character that we can care about.
We meet Shulle as a child who is devoted to Yahweh until her evil uncle brings her to Jerusalem to help teach the young King Manasseh. Her uncle manages to convince her to believe in the gods of the other nations and also forces her to do so by using her father as collateral.
The theme of the book is that Shulle must make decisions between the pagan gods and the God of Israel. She is brought up by her uncle to see the God of Israel demanding rules and sacrifices whereas the gods of the pagans are presented to her as offering choices and power. This is an interesting theme as today we see so many people making the choice between God and whatever they have made their idols.
Shulle is torn so much in this book. She is seeing her only option to keep her father safe is to lead her young king away from the God of Israel. She doesn’t feel that she has much of a choice in the matter at all. She knows she is doing something wrong at first, but she is trying to protect the people she loves. This is so analogous to today as so many people make choices they don’t fully believe in because they want to help or protect someone else.
As Shulle begins to see that maybe she made the wrong choice, she is constantly reminded that people will suffer if she reveals the truth. This is using coercion to keep her on the path that her uncle wants, a path to corrupt Judah with pagan gods.
Into this story of Shulle, we see Manasseh. Manasseh is portrayed as a very young king who wants to be greater than his father. In this quest, he is more that ready to turn to others who offer him that possibility of power. Remember, he is YOUNG, only 12 when he becomes the sole king of Judah. He is being led by advisors who want to bring back worship of the pagan gods and he has Shulle who is trying to protect her father by leading Manasseh away from the God of Judah.
This really is a story that brings up so many themes of good versus evil and the ways in which we can be manipulated. Shulle and Manasseh are both too young to truly make their own decisions when they become manipulated and instruments of others. We don’t know if this is what really happened as Scripture is relatively silent about why Manasseh makes the choices he makes, but Andrews’s presents an idea and a story.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story and the theme of choice that was recurring.
When forced to choose between what is right and protecting someone you love, what would you choose?
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley for
review consideration. This in no way affects my opinion of the title
nor the content of this review.
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