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

The average rating for The Priest: Aaron (Sons of Encouragement Series #1) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-02-13 00:00:00 Paul Clifford I'm conflicted about this book because I have really enjoyed other books by Francine Rivers. To begin with I couldn't really put my finger on what the problem was. The details I was reading seemed very familiar almost like a deja vu experience, so I was scratching my head and trying to work out whether I was reading something else similar as I usually have several books on the go at one time. Then I realised it was my Bible....doh! My daily readings right now are in Exodus/Leviticus so I have been reading about Moses and Aaron. Those of you who follow my reviews will probably now be surprised because usually I am complaining about the lack of Christian content or the errors in theology. It was almost like this book had too much biblical content--it is basically the biblical narrative of Aaron's life with some creative additions. I think the problem with this approach is because it is so close to the biblical account, the creative additions from the author may become part of the biblical narrative in the mind of the reader, but they are fiction. I am reading another book Agents of Babylon, about the life of Daniel, it gives a fictional story for each chapter then follows it up with the biblical narrative afterwards. This is a much better approach as there is no blending/mixture and there is a clear distinction. The author really hasn't added much to the life of Aaron apart from making him into a bit of a wimp who was always afraid, in awe of Moses and cowering in the background and from God suffering terrible guilt over his many sins. I'm not sure that this is a correct portrayal of Aaron but as it is fiction I guess it doesn't matter. I liked the idea of Aaron beginning as a slave but I'm not sure about all the jealousy of Moses and the complaining that went on. This book is clean and biblical. I didn't see any obvious theological issues. It just wasn't that much of a story. I probably won't bother to read the rest of the series. Maybe some who don't know the biblical account of Aaron would enjoy learning about him through this story but I would suggest reading the biblical account as well to understand what is fiction and what is not! Check out my Francine Rivers shelf!

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-13 00:00:00 Charles Carpenter This was an extremely hard book for me to read. All I could think about was how stupid the Israelites were and how they were squandering the opportunities God had given them. I mean, come on, how could they forgot all of the miracles God worked for them! But, as I read more and more, God started to work in my heart. How many times had I been just like the Israelites, questioning God when things were good and then running to him, begging and pleading, when things were bad. How many times had I rebelled against his plan for my life? This is an extremely powerful, highly moving, account of the story of a secondary character who had a huge impact on the story of Moses and the Israelites. I would recommend this book to everyone.