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Reviews and Endorsements
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[Bookshelf Review]
- Exodus is full of familiar stories—baby Moses in the Nile, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea and the giving of the Ten Commandments, just to name a few. But it also raises some challenging questions: How could a merciful God allow His people to be abused as slaves in Egypt? Why did He send the plagues? How could He kill so many in the desert? Nicole Parker’s seven-book “Tales of the Exodus” series explores many of these stories and questions, highlighting God’s love as a balance of mercy and justice with thoughtful nuance.
Told from the perspective of Asher and Zara, imagined children of Moses’ successor Joshua, the series begins with the Hebrew people as slaves in Egypt and concludes with the Sanctuary in the wilderness. The many conversations the children have with their parents and Moses about the events happening around them show both the depth of Parker’s scholarship and her experience as a biblical counsellor. There are insights about faith and suffering, and about issues we still grapple with today, such as slavery, racism and the imbalance of power between men and women.
But where the books really shine is in their object lessons about the mingled mercy and justice of God. Through daisy roots, woven baskets, bird’s wings, clay pots and, finally, through a beloved pet lamb, children will feel the need for the salvation God offers each one of us through His Son and understand how and why to trust Him.
The last book in the series to be released, Mountain Majesty is actually book six, with the seventh and final book in the series, Sanctuary Light the first book Parker published. Mountain Majesty covers the events at Sinai—the Ten Commandments, the golden calf and the building of the Sanctuary—offering hope that even though our choices might prevent God fulfilling His first plan for our lives, His plan B can still be beautiful.
Parker says that the books are for people aged 9 to 99, and I think that is fair. Read them with your family or read them by yourself—I believe you will appreciate God’s love afresh.
—Lauren Webb, assistant book editor, Signs Publishing
