Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Journey: Searching for the Promised Land

We’ve all heard the story of the Exodus journey. It is one of the most often-told stories from the Bible. We can practically recite it word for word. But, do we really know what the Exodus story is about?

"The Journey" is a novel which paints a vivid picture of the Exodus Journey from a vantage point not often visualized. Most discussions of the Exodus story are based on Moses’ perspective, what Moses did, and what Moses thought about the unruly and unbelieving Hebrew people he was asked to guide to the Promised Land.

This book is focused on one Hebrew family out of several million people who actually followed Moses out of Egypt and on to the Promised Land. The reader is drawn into the mindset of the common Hebrew, as the basis for the people’s lack of faith and their resulting rebellion unfolds before your eyes.

One day, an un-adored and distrusted man named Moses appeared in the land of Goshen. He announced that he had great plans for the Hebrew nation. On the surface, his plans sounded great, but in practice the people felt that Moses caused more and more hardships as he brought down plague upon plague on the land of Egypt. Finally allowed to leave Egypt behind, the Hebrews encountered difficulties and conflicts at every turn. What should have been a ten-day journey turned into forty years of meager existence in a barren wilderness.

Who was this man named Moses who managed to convince an entire nation to follow him? This is the story of a Hebrew family that journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land. Without the advantage of radio, TV or newspapers, the typical Hebrew person probably never had a chance to hear Moses speak. Many of the millions of Hebrew people may not have even had the opportunity to see Moses as they made their way across the vast wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. Most everyone had to rely on messengers, hearsay and rumors for news and information regarding their seemingly unending journey.

Hunger, thirst, discouragement, doubt and fear permeated the weary traveling Hebrew nation like an uncontrollable plague. Shai was a confused Hebrew boy who was subjected to a host of unending grumbling and complaining from his father, his uncle and most everyone else he knew.

On the other hand, his grandmother was a beacon of light, teaching faith, hope and responsibility to her confused grandson. What could she possibly tell her grandson that would counteract the overwhelming and unending series of negative events that rolled over the Hebrews like a hurricane? What did she tell him that propelled him to the right hand of Joshua, the future leader of Israel? What did his grandmother know, that cultivated Shai’s life into that of an overcomer? Shai’s grandmother knew something profound. She imparted knowledge and wisdom that many of today’s Christians may have forgotten.

The reader soon realizes that The Journey is not a story about a people’s journey to another land; and it is not a story about a great man of God named Moses. It is a story about you and me. It is a story about our journey to the realization of the many gifts that God has promised us. Read The Journey and understand it in the way God wanted you to know it: a story about you; and the problems you face every day. The Journey is about your unpaid bills. It is about your struggling business. It’s about that elusive pay raise you’ve been wanting. It is about the difficulties you’ve been having with your family. After reading The Journey, you may find yourself with a vastly different viewpoint on life, and the many obstacles you face every day. Any study of exodus or study on exodus should include this insightful view of the wilderness journey.
Order at http://www.tatebook.com/. This book is also offered at http://www.amazon.com/.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This book gives a close up and personal look at the Hebrews from the time of enslavement in Egypt to the bewildering trek to the Promised Land.

The reader shares the emotions of a family caught up in the fears of a tyrant Pharaoh and the joys of seeing God’s deliverance through miraculous means.

This is not a story of Moses per se, rather you see the events through the eyes of a gifted youth whose faith is tested by naysayers, yet kept on track by his grandmother’s wise counseling.

The story carefully follows the book of Exodus account through deliverance from the plagues to parting the Red Sea, to feeding millions in the wilderness with manna from heaven; supplying water from rocks, and keeping them from cold nights by pillars of fire and from scorching hot days by clouds overhead.

You will never again view the Book of Exodus the same after reading this fast moving story that holds your interest from the first page to the last.

James E. Tate, author of Tale of Tails with a Thirst for Verse.