The Priest (Rivers, Francine)

Rating:
Summary: fine biographical biblical fiction
Review: 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