Review of "God and Kings" - A Book By Lynn Austin

I downloaded God and Kings to my Kindle because it was a free book advertised on a free Kindle Books and Tips App.  I also downloaded it because I love to read historical fiction, and I especially like reading biblical fiction.

I wasn't sure I would really read the book, but since it was free, I thought it was worth having on my Kindle Fire to read when I needed something new to read.

I had no idea when I downloaded the book, that I'd find it to be so good and also, that the book would almost seem to "speak directly to me."   There is definitely a message in Lynn Austin's novel.

God and Kings is the first book in a series about the kings in the bible from the book of Chronicles.  This book is about the life of young Hezekiah, whose father was Ahaz, one of the wicked kings of Judah.  Ahaz does horrible things.  Hezekiah learns about Yahweh (God) through his grandfather, Zechariah, when he is a little boy.  He forgets about God as he grows up since Zechariah is taken away and hidden from him.  When Hezekiah becomes King of Judah, he is reunited with Zechariah and remembers God.

I realized, as I read the book, that I really didn't know much about any of the kings described in the Tanach.  I also didn't know much about the sacrifices that once took place in the Temple or how God's people had turned away from God.

Even though this story was about a past that seems fictional, there was some present day reality brought to the story.  The overwhelming theme is that believing and following God may seem ridiculous and outdated to people that don't believe or don't want to believe in God.

The people in the time of the kings had walked away from God, yet there still were some who did or remembered what their life had once been like when they did follow God.  Success and greed may have changed them, but in the back of their minds, they knew what God had done in their lives.  They had to decide if they would stay comfortably in the lives they had chosen without God or return to God.  It was a hard choice.  They also had to decide if they would publicly take a stand for God.

The point of this book is to show that God may be forgotten, but when one returns to God and takes a stand, goodness returns to one's soul and also good things may happen.  The book seems to make it clear that a life that is without God is a life that leads to bad things and destruction.  Thinking about all of this is scary.