Title: A great read!
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early Judaism and Christianity. Although many of the characters in the book are fictitious, the stories allow one to understand how real people at the time might have reacted to the events occurring in their lives. As an example, to read the biblical passages about Ezra requiring the Jews to divorce their foreign wives is one thing. But, to experience this from the perspective of a Jewish family actually having to separate yields a very meaningful understanding.Not only is the book pleasurable reading, but it is based on solid scholarship with numerous reference and explanatory notes. One can appreciate the book as well written stories getting the scholarship as a bonus, or one can read it for the information, but in a painless format. Professor Sandgren gets an A+ on this assignment.
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