Hola, everyone!! School has occupied most of my time lately, and although I enjoy school I have to admit some of my studies are rather dull. In my World History class, we were required to choose a historical fiction novel at the beginning of the semester to write a report on. It could be from any time period on any topic which left the door wide open. Originally, I had planned on reading a selection from one of my favorite eras, the 1940s. For whatever reason, I changed my mind and decided to take a deeper look into the life of an average person during Biblical times -- and I'm sure glad I did.
Meet Daniel bar Jarmin, he's not your average Jew. As a young boy living in a Galilean village, Daniel’s father and uncle are publicly crucified by the Romans. His uncle did not have enough money to pay taxes, and his father had helped him escape - only to be caught later. Too devastated to carry on, his mother passed away a mere three weeks later.
Those events gave birth to a hatred so passionate and so deep, Daniel went away to live in the mountains with a group of Zealots. For five years he was trained to hunt and kill not only animals but people as well. Rosh, the leader of the band, encouraged the men to steal whatever was necessary to make themselves stronger to fight, even if it meant hurting their own people.
One day Simon, an old friend from the village, makes a trip up the mountain to alert Daniel that his grandmother is dying. Returning to the community for the first time in five years, Daniel discovers he must stay and take care of his younger demon-possessed sister, Leah. Simon is kind enough to let Daniel take over his blacksmith shop while he goes to follow Jesus. Later on, Simon becomes one of the twelve disciples and is known as Simon the Zealot.
This was the turning point in the story where I truly became interested because Daniel goes to hear Jesus preach and describes his presence. It continues on to show Daniel’s journey fighting the Romans, learning to love others again and deciding to follow Rosh or Jesus.
As one can imagine, an epic plot like this must be paired with a number of complications along the way. Joel, Daniel’s best friend, is captured by the Romans and must be rescued back. Thacia, Joel’s sister, and Daniel have a romance. Leah secretly becomes friends with a kind Roman soldier. Daniel must give up all that he’s worked for to follow Jesus or suffer fighting in a war he can never win.
Overall, I highly recommend The Bronze Bow to all readers and especially to believers like myself. Speare’s descriptions of Jesus gave me chills as I felt I was actually there in the story looking at him. Based off the first third of the book, I wasn’t quite sure if I would enjoy it but was hooked about halfway through. I believe it is important for me to learn about the history of my religion and fascinating to get an average person’s perspective of Jesus. This book truly impacted my view of what life was like for an average Joe during Christ’s ministry. Between the strictness of the Roman rule, how people dressed, the religious traditions, and countless other details included, I gained a new understanding of the lifestyle people lived during that time period. Even though we can read stories about Jesus’ ministry in the Bible, it was compelling to hear how his teachings affected those around him from a person in the crowd’s point of view.*
*I had a good laugh after rereading/editing this post because I copied and pasted most of my report here for the review, bahahaha!
His Biblical Beauty,
Paige
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