Israel's Hope and Expectation

Israel's Hope and Expectation by Rudolf Van Reest
http://www3.telus.net/public/inhpubl/webip/prod03.htm
****
With a name like Israel's Hope and Expectation I was thinking this book would have to do with Christ, and His people. Instead, it's more of a picture of the times and people in the years before and shortly after His birth. There is fiction, but only as much as needed to illustrate the people, the way they thought, they way they believed (or not) about God, the way they lived, the way the viewed their world. The narrative skips around between groups of people to show current events and what their hope and expectation of the Messiah was. We see Herod and the deadly political intrigue in the palaces; Herod is interested in Messiah only to make sure whoever He is, is not a threat to Herod's kingship. Herod must be the only king of the Jews. There are the Hellenized Jewish people who see the promise of Messiah as an old fable, a part of the outdated Hebrew beliefs. The religious leaders of the day are sure that if the Messiah comes, He will arise from their midst and throw off the hated yoke of Rome. Then there are the few, Anna, Zachariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, the common people, the shepherds, the wise men of the East, the outcast crippled beggars. They watch and wait and hope for a Messiah from the Lord, Who will be a sacrifice for sins, and end the stream of blood from the Temple. I enjoyed the insight into the times, the human heart, and the ways of God.