To Cleave

Patricia Hetticher

Description

This religious fiction novel shares a story of shifting allegiances, betrayal, romance, and redemption as two refugee sisters escape death and slavery to find true freedom in their unexpected destinies.
In the eleventh-century BC, during the final days of King Saul’s reign and the early days of King David’s reign, it’s a time of shifting borders, blending cultures, and changing allegiances. It’s harder and harder to discern who is friend and who is enemy. It’s a time of turmoil for soldiers and civilians of Israel and Philistia.
Without warning, Belah and Junia, two teen-aged sisters, are forced from their home in Azekah by Amalekite raiders. The girls must flee to the land of Israel, their enemy. Clinging to nothing but each other, they are captured by King Saul’s army, and their fate is in the hands of the highest-ranking officers. Belah is chosen to be the bride of Simeon, the cruelest of them all, while Junia will be a servant until she is old enough to marry.
With their heads shaved, their clothing burned and replaced with awful, coarse tunics, the terrified girls await the morning’s light. In their tiny tent, Belah’s only thought is to protect her sister, whose innocence cannot conceive what the future holds for them. How will they escape? And who was the soldier who caught Belah’s gaze and wouldn’t let go?

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Historical
• Israel
• 11th century BC
• Philistines
• Christian
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 26 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798385003358
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

To Cleave
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PATRICIA HETTICHER
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Patricia Hetticher.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
ISBN: 979-8-3850-0334-1 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-3850-0336-5 (hc)
ISBN: 979-8-3850-0335-8 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913437
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date:07/25/2023
Contents
Part 1
Introduction
The Main Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
 
Part 2
 
List of New Characters in Part 2
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
A Note from the Author
Endnotes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
To Cleave
Patricia Hetticher
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dedicated to my friend Lynda, who initiated the dialogue that birthed this adventure.
Special thanks to Kay Page, Marion Claus, and Sara Lapointe for their individual strengths of critique and visionary superpowers. Kay reminded me of the reader’s perspective. Marion shared her knowledge of horticulture and her love for detail. Sara fixed my misplaced punctuation and my grammar mistakes. They all played a crucial role in the writing of this work.
Part 1
Cleave: become very strongly involved with or emotionally attached to (someone).
 
Map of the kingdom of King Saul and the territory of the Philistines.
Introduction
Imagine for a moment you have traveled back in time to the days when King Saul reigned over the people of Israel. Their hearts were divided between their king and a warrior named David, whom the prophet Samuel had anointed to succeed the king instead of the king’s own son. David grew in favor with God and men when he stood up to the giant Goliath. The intimidating foe was vanquished with one smooth stone and David’s faith in the hand of the Lord to give him victory. The more David succeeded in battle, the more King Saul’s fury against him grew.
Though the fighting had gone on for decades, the Israelites had failed to take all of the lands their God had promised to them after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Now there were wars and rumors of wars between the Israelites and their Philistine neighbors. Animosity brewed between them from generation to generation. King Saul’s army fought against the Philistine armies while David dwelt among them unharmed because of Adonai’s protective hand and David’s own wit. When he slipped back into Israel with his small company of men from time to time, King Saul hunted him down like an animal. But David managed to elude capture.
For the people of Israel and Philistia, it was a time of shifting borders, blending cultures, and changing allegiances. It became harder and harder to discern who was friend and who was enemy. This is an unusual love story from that tumultuous time. It was a time not so different from our world today.
The Main Characters
Philistine Family from Az ekah
Gebar , the grandfather, is a weaver of blankets and baskets.
Elizur , the son, is married to Sarah , the daughter-in-law.
Belah is the sixteen-year-old granddaughter.
Junia is the thirteen-year-old granddaughter.
Israeli Family from the Tribe of Dan in Z orah
Darius , the father, is a carpenter. His wife died in childbirth.
Rebekah , his daughter, is married to Felix , who is a bodyguard of King Saul.
Kenan , his son, is a foot soldier in King Saul’s army.
Nathaniel , the father, is a shepherd and a brother of Da rius .
Leah is his wife and mother of their three children.
Milcah is their sixteen-year-old daughter, who is betrothed to J acob .
Hannah is their fourteen-year-old daughter.
Jesse is their thirteen-year-old son.
 
Simeon is an officer in King Saul’s army.
 
 
 
 
 
The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
—Deuteronomy 28:7–9 (ESV)
Chapter 1
Rebekah handed a worn cloth pouch filled with unleavened bread, a block of goat cheese, and sweet dates to her youngest brother, Kenan, as she had for each of her brothers over the years as they set out for battle with King Saul’s army. She was only ten years old when their mother died giving birth to Kenan. At that tender age, she was thrust into a motherly role to the three boys. Rebekah didn’t mind. It was a position that came naturally to her. Kenan’s two older brothers had both fallen in battle, a loss that took the little light remaining after the death of his beloved wife from their father’s eyes. Darius’s bent frame rested in his weatherworn wooden chair at the entrance to their dwelling.
Kenan kissed him on both cheeks and bid him farewell. “The Lord bless and keep you both in my absence.”
Rebekah gave him a second pouch, saying, “Please tell Felix I love and miss him. May the Lord be his high tower.”
“I will. He misses you too. Take care of his child you are carrying.”
She caressed her swollen belly, praying for strength to push aside the fear that often gripped her. The memory of her mother breathing her last as Kenan took his first gasp before letting out a healthy wail still haunted her all these years later. That moment from her past swirled in her head with certain verses of the law recited by the priests each year. Those words joined in an unholy conception to birth doubt about Adonai’s love for her family in Rebekah’s thoughts. Could it be we are cursed to the third and fourth generation for some great sin in the past?
Rebekah shook the idea from her mind. She tucked an escaped strand of raven hair under her plain brown veil as she waved farewell to Kenan. Maybe it was fear that had closed her womb until now. Year after year, she and Felix had waited for the blessing of a child. She had often thought he would give up on her and take another wife who could give him sons and daughters. But he had remained faithful, ever patient the Lord would hear their pleas.
There was a familiar ache in her heart as she thought of Felix, so far away and surrounded by danger. And now Kenan was returning to the army as well. She gave thanks he had been chosen as messenger to come back from the soldiers’ camps to enlist more young men from the villages near his home in Zorah. They were only boys who would be trained soldiers in a matter of weeks. Boys fighting against the giants of Gath. Their women sent them off with pride and broken hearts, mixed emotions entwined together. Love and pain were inseparable.
Rebekah turned slowly, the speed of all her actions these days. She touched her father’s shoulder to get his attention.
“Abba, come inside out of the sun. I’ll make you some lemon water.”
With great effort, the old man rose and followed her without comment. He was not yet sixty but appeared much older. Rebekah hoped the impending birth of her child would draw him out of himself and bring him joy.
As she poured his drink, there was a familiar greeting from the courtyard. “Rebekah, it is me, Adah. How are the mother and baby today?” asked the middle-aged midwife.
“Come in. Come in. I am well, praise the Lord. Have a seat. I will pour you a refreshing drink.” Rebekah placed a wooden bowl filled with dates and bread on the table.
“Such a big deal you make. You should not have bothered,” Adah said, washing her hands in the bowl of water Rebekah provided and drying them before reaching for a date.
Adah began updating them on the town gossip as she examined Rebekah behind a curtain. Her booming voice easily carried to Darius at his workbench in the little shop attached to the house. Whether he registered all she said, only the Lord knew.