What do You think about The Prince: Jonathan (2005)?
This is the second book I have read in the Sons of Encouragement series and it is the one I was most interested in. I appreciated the author showing Jonathan's desire to be obedient to God and His law and revelations through His prophet Samuel and how that created a conflict for him because of the command to honor his father and his wish and need to be a faithful friend to David, who God had chosen to be the next king. My favorite part was the end showing Jonathan with his son and Jonathan's last battle and death.I guess that since Jonathan is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, I had already thought a lot about him and his situation and so didn't get the sort of insight I have gotten from her other books about persons in the Bible.Also,I did not understand the part about being required to marry within your tribe. Is that because of the incident at the end of Judges when the tribe of Benjamin is almost destroyed? Or, if it was a general rule for all of Israel, why was the it brought up as a possibility with the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 36:1-10)? And why wasn't Moses answer that no one was allowed to marry outside of their tribe? The author mentioned this issue several times, but did not explain it and bothered me.Francine Rivers is still one of the best authors I have ever read, for me though, this just wasn't her best book.
—JoAnn
The Prince is another great installment in Francine Rivers' Sons of Encouragement series. In this book, Jonathan lives out his role supportingly faithful to his father King Saul, even after his forsaking the Lord, and equally faithful to his brother-in-the-Spirit, David. One of the strongest messages that I got from this book that I had somehow missed from the Biblical account is how incrementally Saul walks away from the Lord. I never knew that he was told to copy the Law for himself *in his own hand*. The symbolism behind that has powerful implications for us today, staying in the Word, keeping it near to our hearts, personal, part of our lives. The best part of listening to this audiobook series though - listening to my son recognize the account of David and Goliath and commenting on it from the back seat of my car. We truly enjoy these Francine Rivers books!
—Ellen
The BookThe story of Johnathon, the friend of King David.My ThoughtsI saw the rise and fall of King Saul through the eyes of his son, Johnathon. The tragedy of this story is that fact that Johnathon was a great person. He would of been destined to be the next King of Israel, but his father heart was not right with God. Johnathon died before his time.I enjoyed this book immensely. I know this character even greater because of the words Francine penned. I look forward to meeting Jonathon one day, learning even more.
—Randy Tramp
