29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting and gritty look at the Old Testament, May 2, 2005
The Old Testament heroes have often been overly sanitized in Christian circles, but author Francine Rivers reminds us in her gritty novella, THE WARRIOR --- her second installment in the planned five-book "Sons of Encouragement" series --- that the lives of Old Testament men were full of violence, heroism, sexual encounters, and passion for God.
Drawing from the books of Numbers, Joshua, and the beginning of Judges, Rivers takes us through scriptural events through the eyes of Caleb. The story opens as Caleb, or "Kelubai" as he is known, is convinced that the God of the Hebrews who is smiting Egypt and Pharaoh with plagues is the true God. Convincing his family to join forces with the Hebrew slaves, they become part of the exodus to the wilderness. There, they wandered for more than 40 years, waiting for God to deliver them to the promised land.
Through Rivers's vivid imagination, we glean new insights into the person of Caleb. He was not fully Hebrew, descended from the line of Esau, she writes. He was a farmer, a slave, who had been born in a mud hut and lived on one small plot of land. She chronicles Caleb's emancipation and the unfolding of his life as a nomad, traveling great distances and assuming the role of soldier. "Freedom was not the simple matter he had dreamed," writes Rivers. "As a slave, he knew what the day would hold and how to get through it. Now, he didn't know what the next morning would bring."
He was courageous, yet Rivers ably portrays Caleb's conflicting emotions as he pleads with God: "I am as afraid as any man to go into Canaan and walk among the giants who live there. But I fear more not being counted among Your people. Do not allow them to set me aside. Please don't reject me, Lord. Purify my blood. Make me a son of Israel!"
Children's Sunday school flannelgraph stories tend to gloss over a lot of Old Testament scripture, and Rivers bravely tackles some disturbing aspects of Caleb's story. However, even mature Christians will find themselves uneasy --- not with Rivers's depiction of Caleb's life, but with the Biblical violence. In the name of the Lord, thousands of men are killed in battle. Endless gore is spilled. Captured kings are tortured to death. Rivers depicts in one scene how every person and animal in a conquered city is put to the sword, including women, children, and babies. Cities are left in ruins. When lives are spared, young virgin girls are given to men as spoils of war. Caleb, in his eighties, is the recipient of two such young girls.
The Israelites' enemies are not the only ones who meet violent ends. In one chapter, 24,000 Israelites are killed in a plague by God after sinning against him with the Midianite women. In another story, an Israelite sins, and he, his wives, his children, and his livestock are all stoned to death. In yet another scene, God opens the earth and two hundred and fifty Levites are francine struck by fire, then swallowed into a precipice when they rebel. And so on, and so on. As a movie, Caleb's story would be lucky to squeak by with an "R" rating.
Rivers handles the gore and sexual situations with sensitivity, but they will shock the reader nonetheless. However, as C. S. Lewis once admonished Christians, "...we must never avert our eyes from those elements in (our religion) which seem puzzling or repellent, for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellent which conceals what we do not yet know and need to know."
Rivers is a good storyteller, but the reader may find that, because of the short length of this novella, characters are not as developed as might be desired. Transitions are sometimes missing, and the passion that characterized her series "Lineage of Grace" is notably absent. Perhaps most disappointing is that the brief study section at the end of the novella fails to address the more disturbing questions raised in a reader's mind: Why would God order so much bloodshed? What was the place of women in this Eastern time period? How does Christ's sacrifice in the New Testament change any of this? Readers may discover that this plunge into an Old Testament story is less entertainment than it is theologically challenging.
--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. (...)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Caleb, the greatest of the Jews., October 26, 2006
THE WARRIOR by Francine Rivers is the second of a five part series. I was a little disappointed with the first book in the series, The Priest, but volumes 2 and 3 (yes, I read them out of order) have been extraordinary and a welcome return to what I've come to expect from this very gifted writer. This one follows the story of Caleb, the half-breed from the tribe of Judah who, after the death of Moses, would become not only the greatest warrior of the twelve tribes of Israel, but I believe also God's most dedicated servant of a generation.
Caleb undoubtedly possessed the most unwavering faith among the Jews and this book closely chronicles his struggle, not just with his own sin, but with his inability to sway the people who, over and over, so quickly turned away from their Almighty deliverer. Caleb spent his life, when not destroying the idol-worshippers which infested the promised land, desperately reminding the people of God's grace upon them. Caleb's was a life surely mired in frustration as he watched not one, not even two, but three generations turn away from the Lord God.
Though Joshua is so often the one remembered of the generation of Jews delivered into the land, it was Caleb who was the strength of the people, often standing alone on the side of God. And though even his twelve sons would disappoint Caleb, near the end of his life it would be his one daughter who would give him hope for the future of the Jews.
Once again, Francine Rivers takes the reader through the stories of the Bible in intricate detail, adding narrative, but never venturing from the details.
Pastor Monty Rainey
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great insight on a man not often well taught about, August 12, 2005
Another wonderful illustrative book by Francine on the life of a biblical character and the conditions in which he lived. I always appreciate her research into the culture and personal climate of the subject she is writing about.
While the book seemed a little slow in the beginning, I was rewarded with a stunning reminder of how easy it was for the Jews of that era (as well as us today) to loose faith. God often uses the experiences of the Jewish people of the bible to illustrate the tendancies of humanity in general...our lack or loss of faith despite amazing miracles, the febleness of our minds in rembering what God has done for us, etc. (FYI, I am very pro-Jew as they are God's chosen people).
I loved this book because it was a great reminder that God is bigger than ANYTHING and that great faith and obedience is rewarded by God's unfailing faithfulness. It is also inspiring to read about people who, because of others' lack of obedience to God, face major bummers and still perservere.
Lastly, I would like to respectfully beg to differ on a point brought up by another reviewer. God tells the Jewish people to completely wipe out all of the inhabitants of the promised land. This is because they are riddled with ungodliness in their idol worship, sexual practices (which I thought Francine gracefully tiptoed through), and other wicked and vile traditions and God didn't want them infiltrating the Jewish camps and cities and corrupting them. God also reveals that disobeying His command to annihilate these peoples completely would result in their being a thorn in the Jew's side for generations. This is mentioned several times.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is old enough to understand it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
