Customer Reviews

The Priest: Aaron (Sons of Encouragement Series #1)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At three years of age a jealous Aaron misses his mama who seems to spend all her time with one year old brother Moses. His older sister Miriam tries to provide solace, but that fails to ease the ache in the little boy's heart perhaps because she too misses her mama. Three years later, a heartbroken mama tells her two oldest children that the daughter of the Pharaoh loves Moses and he will live with her as his mother.

Years later, God speaks to Aaron to go to the wilderness and help Moses lead the enslaved Israelites to the Promised Land. Putting aside his jealousy, Aaron becomes Moses' right hand man as they seek freedom. Over time he becomes the First High priest only to watch his flock fail God. Though feeling undeserving of his role and a failure, Aaron in his low key manner encourages his people to properly worship the Lord. While performing the seemingly impossible but critical tasks without acclaim, he also finds a brotherly love to his charismatic younger brother, leader of the wandering Hebrews.

Starting with Aaron, Francine Rivers, in her Sons of Encouragement series, is telling the tales of five influential individuals who in the background of a charismatic superstar shaped religion. The first novel, THE PRIEST, is a biblical fiction work fans will enjoy though the book starts off a bit slowly as readers are introduced to the key players as described in the Torah. This historical fiction novel turns into a deep character study in the second half of the novel as the audience feels the emotions especially self doubts, disbeliefs and concerns during forty years of wandering.

Harriet Klausner

In "The Priest," author Francine Rivers brings together an oft quoted/written about story (the Exodus story and subsequent events) and brings new life to them. First, I note that she does, indeed, rely heavily on Scripture (I state this to nullify the Publisher's Weekly review and criticism about this). Moreover, this actually adds to the story's authenticity. Rivers also sheds light on the Exodus events that few if any other writers have done before. Namely, she tells them through the eyes, not of Moses, but of his younger brother Aaron. In doing so she does a service to people who enjoy reading fiction and those who are serious students of Scripture.

For those interested in applying the life lessons from Aaron, she includes a study guide in the back of the book.

In all, it is an enjoyable read, and often an inspiring one also. Well worth, the price of admission.

This is the first of this series by Francine Rivers that I have read, and though it was a good read, I felt it fell a little short of the high standard she has set for herself. I guess the adage that you cant hit a homerun every time holds true. Perhaps my disappointment comes form the subject itself. The subject being Aaron, who, in many ways could be considered a poster child of Biblical failure. They Bible presents Aaron as somewhat of a "side kick". He was Moses' Tonto, if you will. And certainly one of the countless perplexing questions I intend to ask God when I stand before the throne is, "Why Aaron?" Why was he chosen to be the High Priest of the Jews? He was certainly not a mature believer and seemed a rather bad choice for the position. Was he the most prepared candidate? Surely Caleb, or even on good days, Joshua, was more qualified.

At any rate, I digress. The book is meticulously accurate, as with all of River's works, but failed to have that page turning passion that her books normally provide. It follows the life of Aaron from childhood to death and Rivers clearly illustrates Aaron's many failures and weaknesses along the way.

I'll certainly read the other books in this series. I just hope to see a return of the type narrative I've come to expect from the very gifted writer.

this book was definitely a work of art by francine rivers. her writings continue to amaze me as I read her books. the priest was an amazing depiction of the story of Aaron, brother of Moses. It gave a new perspective on looking at the characters from a "real" standpoint rather than just historical figures. She gave them personality. I loved this book, and I definitely suggest it as a must-read!

Rivers is a wonderful author and I expected these books to be as good as her Lineage of Grace series. They were not quite there...

I loved this book, and the series Francine Rivers wrote before it. She gives such insite to the old testement. She has a way of making it come alive.

Rivers does an outstanding job retelling the story of Moses through a person some may see as a supporting cast member, behind the scenes: Aaron. Pulling in vast and accurate Biblical detail, she extrapolates plausible dialog and situations that follow the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, through the 10 plagues, and to the shores of the Jordan River. A main emphasis of the story is on Aaron's learning to support rather than envy the leadership of his younger brother, and how the temptations of pride and anger lead them both into sin. A key to leadership lies in the oft repeated phrase, "And the people followed his example." This was true for Aaron both in good and bad choices. All the descriptions of the endless sacrifices, a life full of the stench of blood and incense, reminds one of the hymn, "Not all the blood of beasts/ On Jewish altars slain/ Could give the guilty conscience peace/ Nor wash away the stain." Aaron's longing for a lasting peace and finally being cleansed from sin not just without, but within, does accurately focus the reader on the Savior. I look forward to reading more from this series! **An added plus, my son also enjoyed listening to the audiobook and immediately recognized it as a story about God. Nice reinforcement of the familiar Sunday School stories. Only one question I would ask the author... Why did you leave out the story of the bronze serpent on the pole?

This novella, by Francine Rivers is the best account (other than the Bible!) of the Exodus of Egypt. She brings to life the trials and tribulations, squawking and squalling people that made up the Hebrew Nation at a time when their lives where in utter turmoil. Aaron at first comes across as the little brother who never got his way, and ends up as the encourager to Moses and the Hebrew people. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not put it down. The Bible study that accompanies this is also an excellent tool to use for groups.

Love Francine Rivers books - bought this one as a gift - can't decide which of her books are my absolute favorite.

In The Priest by Francine Rivers, she paints a great picture of the life of Aaron. The obvious background information for this comes from the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and also from archeological research of Egypt. Aaron is often overlooked in the Bible because of Moses, but Rivers does a great job of filling in the gaps and showing his role in leading the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land.

Trying to write a novel about a Biblical character is difficult because the Bible only provides so much detail so Rivers had to fill in a lot of missing details with how things might have occurred and this is one part I had an issue with, she describes Aaron as jealous and envious of Moses, which might very well be true but I have never found indications of that from reading the Bible. This same flaw does also reveal some of the books major upside, and that is it makes you want to read the Biblical account closer and try to fill in the gaps yourself which was her ultimate goal.

Overall, I thought the book was very good and really makes you think about the Biblical story as well as the emotions Aaron and the other individuals would have been going through and the amount of faith it took to persevere. Definitely worth a read, especially if you are studying the first 5 books of the Bible.