"Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none." With those seven words, the Bible sums up Hannah's greatest struggle and the definition of her journey as a woman in ancient Israel. Jill Eileen Smith takes those words, plus the information the Bible provides on Hannah's time period, and fleshes out her final book in the Daughters of the Promised Land series. What results is, in my humble opinion, her most beautiful and touching story to date.
Hannah leaps off the page, as do her fellow characters. She lives in a time when women without children were considered sinful or cursed, and struggles mightily against that at times. Yet at her core, Hannah is a devout, compassionate, and tenacious woman worth rooting for from cover to cover. Her husband Elkanah is likewise a multifaceted character, devoted to Adonai yet constantly oppressed with the pressures of his culture and the knowledge that the priesthood is disgustingly corrupt. Other characters, from Hannah's rival sister wife Penninah to her mother-in-law Galiah and sister-in-law Dana, add flavor and depth to the story.
Once again, Jill remains faithful to Scripture, making the setting of ancient Israel feel real on the pages. Hannah and her family live in the time of the judges, a period where "everyone did what was right in his own eyes," and it shows. The ever-worsening priesthood touches the family on more than one occasion, leading to deep frustration and grief. In one scene, Hannah's sincere sacrifice is rejected primarily out of spite, leading to some heart-wrenching reactions. Despite this, Hannah remains strong, not only in her hope for a child, but her hope for a deliverer of Israel. As always, Jill uses Old Testament events to weave in hints of the coming Christ.
I think, however, that my favorite part of A Passionate Hope is how deeply Jill delves into humans' relationships with God. In the course of the novel, she tackles common questions like, why aren't the prayers of the most devoted answered? Why do bad things happen to good people, while the wicked seem to get whatever they want? What constitutes God's blessing and who is worthy of it?
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Hannah's relationship with Penninah. Her sister wife is spoiled, selfish, and vindictive, constantly spiritualizing Hannah's barrenness to make it seem as though God does not love her. At a crucial point, Penninah's attitude nearly drives Hannah to suicide (not mentioned in Scripture, but not at all a stretch considering the culture). But beyond the realm of human understanding, Hannah continues living, and continues to try to reach Penninah. Even centuries before Christ, she embodies what it means to love an enemy, and she reaps what she sows. It definitely helps that Jill gives Penninah a lot of shading and sympathy; she's not a one-note antagonist. Here, she's definitely immature and nasty, but doesn't come to her conclusions on her own. Actually, Penninah's conniving mother drives a lot of her actions, gaining her some understanding.
Hannah's final, wrenching vow, and her eventual relationship with little Samuel, put the cap on one of the best books I've read so far this year. I highly recommend reading this as a prologue to The Wives of King David series, and I hope Jill writes much more like this.
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About the author
Compelling Faith
An anxious heart would be an accurate description of my feelings if I chose to dedicate my son to God and leave him with Eli whose sons were wicked. Jill Eileen Smith took the details of the Bible and gave them life in A Passionate Hope. The realization that Hannah eventually would be given a son and would make the decision to offer him to God knowing of the wickedness of the priests made this mama uneasy. I have a renewed picture of Hannah thanks to reading this book.
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- DHReviewed in Canada on May 5, 2018
a beautiful account of a woman who prayed for her nation ...
