Synopsis:
Four women captured King Solomon’s heart in different ways, and he indulges his desires despite warnings. For all his wisdom, did Solomon or the women he loved ever find what they were searching for?
Rating: 4-stars
Review:
The Heart of a King by Jill Eileen Smith is an interesting tale on King Solomon from the Bibical times. It was a pass into revisiting and reliving that part of history. The writer made it feel very real. This book was more character driven than by action. I did enjoy the cast of characters. Each woman in Solomon’s life added a spice to the Biblical story. Some were more likable than others. The cast were well-developed. I gave this a star less than a 5 because parts of the story felt flat or too slow for me. But the majority of it was great. However, I still recommend this to all Christians and history buffs like myself. It was a very enjoyable recount into King Solomon’s life.
Author Interview with Jill Eileen Smith
Q: You have been included on Booklist’s Top 10 Inspirational Fiction list and have been named a finalist for Christian Retailing’s Best Awards in the Biblical Fiction category. You clearly have a passion for this genre. When did you begin writing biblical fiction, and what ignited your love for it?
My love of biblical fiction began when I read Two from Galilee by Marjorie Holmes when I was sixteen. I began writing my first “novel” on King David, which was really a learning experience, in my twenties.
I’ve written in other genres, though they are not in print, but my first love has always been the Bible and writing about the people there. Two from Galilee helped me to see that those people were real, and I hope my stories give readers that same experience. Ultimately, I hope readers will find that my books ignite in them a love of Scripture and that through the Scriptures they come to love the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q:Can you provide a brief description of your newest novel, The Heart of a King?
The Heart of a King is King Solomon’s story. It was originally supposed to be a compilation of four ebooks of women he possibly married or loved. But to know those women, I had to understand Solomon, and there is little in Scripture on any of them. The more I began to understand Solomon, the more I wanted to show his point of view when the final volume came together. So I switched the point of view from first to third person and included much of Solomon’s thoughts and actions.
If you read Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes, you begin to get a glimpse of the wisest man who ever lived (apart from Christ, of course). And you see what wisdom brought him. I used Ecclesiastes to understand the older Solomon and tried to weave the Song of Solomon throughout each woman’s tale. In the end, I hope the story shows what it is like to be given such a gift from God and how great gifts can come at great cost if we do not remember who they came from.
Q: The Heart of a King is the story of Solomon and four of the women he loved. Why did you select this story?
The story started out being selected for me. I wanted to add on to one or two of my previous series, and Solomon’s name came up in discussing the project with Revell. They suggested I write four novellas about four of the women in Solomon’s life and then compile them all in one volume. I think my vision for the final volume was different than we first thought, but they let me run with it, and we ended up with this stand-alone of Solomon’s loves.
Q: Can you introduce us to the four women and provide a little information on their background?
Naamah is an Ammonite and the mother of Solomon’s historical heir, Rehoboam. Little else is told of her in Scripture. It is my imagination that she embraced Israel’s God and that her father was acting king of Ammon after its capture by King David. Shobi (my choice for her father) is also a Scriptural character from Ammon who helped King David during his escape from Absalom.
Abishag holds the most page time of the four women in Scripture. She was King David’s virgin wife and nurse in his old age. She passed into Solomon’s court, and his brother Adonijah requested her hand in marriage through Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba. That request cost him his life. The rest of the story is my imagination because we don’t know for sure whether Solomon actually married her.
Siti is my name for Solomon’s Egyptian wife. He did marry an Egyptian and she did have her own palace, but not much else is told of her in Scripture. I have done previous research into ancient Egypt, so writing her character was fun. We don’t know whether she remained faithful to her Egyptian gods or embraced Israel’s God, but I tried to imagine her as the Egyptians might have been, since Scripture does not show
them as overly friendly to Israel except during Joseph’s lifetime.
The queen of Sheba is a historical figure. There are tales of her story from Arabia and Ethiopia, both claiming her as their own. She is mentioned in both Old and New Testaments, but not much is given about her character or her story. I chose to take her historical tales and mingle them into my own imagined tale. Some say she and Solomon had a child together. Since no one knows for sure, I chose to devise a different scenario that I hope readers can appreciate.
Q: Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but his wisdom did not steer him away from some very poor choices. What can we learn from his life?
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from Solomon is to love the Giver more than the gift. God gives gifts to all of us, and many different things can be considered gifts or blessings. Wisdom was Solomon’s gift. Children are a gift from the Lord. Life is a gift. Health is a gift. Most of all, salvation is “the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9 NKJV). Every good and perfect gift is from above, not from us. Solomon received a wonderful gift when he asked for wisdom. But in the constant testing of
it, and in the many other gifts God gave him—wealth, peace, royal splendor—Solomon seemed to forget the Giver. He broke God’s law to kings, and his heart turned to the foreign gods of his many wives.
In the end, as Ecclesiastes shows us, I think Solomon realized his error and returned to the Lord, but he wasted much of his life misusing the gift instead of glorifying the Giver.
Q: What type of research was required for your book?
I needed to understand Solomon, so I read all of the biblical books that he wrote and commentaries about him. I had already studied the life of his father, King David, extensively, so the setting wasn’t a problem as much as trying to figure out the man who didn’t stay true to the Lord as his father had. Because I had already done the historical, cultural, and geographical study of this era, most of the research was about the
person of Solomon.
Q: What will you be working on next?
I am finishing up work on Esther’s story; getting ready to release my first nonfiction book, When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams; and will begin study on Miriam’s story along with a second nonfiction book.
Q: How can readers connect with you?
https://www.jilleileensmith.com
https://twitter.com/jilleileensmith
https://www.facebook.com/jilleileensmith
https://www.instagram.com/JillEileenSmith
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