Slender Reeds: Jochebed's Hope
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Four hundred years in slavery, the Hebrew people await deliverance. . . .
And while it is still dark, God is at work.
Jochebed’s entire life has been a faith journey as she seeks her mother’s God. The daughter of a Hebrew slave and master basket weaver, Jochebed knows the stories of her ancestors but wonders if the Lord cares how they suffer under the hand of Pharaoh Ramses. . .and if the promised deliverance will ever really come.
Ramses, warned of Egypt’s destruction, vows to do whatever is necessary to protect his two great loves, Egypt and Nefertari, unaware that satisfying one will sacrifice the other.
Shiphrah, the half-Egyptian midwife tasked to kill Hebrew male infants, yearns for a place to belong and remembers childhood stories of a merciful God.
Doubts are a constant companion to Jochebed, but her foundation of faith leads her to defy the most powerful man in the world in a deadly race to save her son and, ultimately, God’s chosen people. Two women, each following the dangerous path God has set before them—this is their story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gregory vividly paints a picture of the many perspectives that surround the story of Moses being drawn from the bulrushes. Jochabed is a Hebrew in ancient Egypt, suffering daily from Pharaoh's oppression. Marked among her own people for her father's actions, she feels the need to prove her worth as a woman. She finds a friend in Shiphrah, who bears the secrets and scars of her former Egyptian life. Shiphrah adopts the Hebrew ways, making them her people but she's unaware she has a deeper connection to Hebrew heritage. Her job as a midwife keeps her established among the women. However, her faith is shaken when the evil Pharaoh, Ramses, starts to fear the Hebrews' growing numbers and orders Shiphrah to oversee the deaths of the newborn baby boys. She is horrified by the command to destroy a life she brought into the world just moments before. Now she must weigh the values of two lives hers and a helpless baby's. When Jochabed's baby is born, their worst fears are realized when they discover the child is a boy. Knowing she cannot keep him hidden for long, Jochabed forms a basket and sets him afloat the Nile, trusting her God with her baby's life. Gregory's novel is a fine introduction to two lesser known, though extremely important, female characters in the Hebrew Bible.
