Return to Me

Title: Return to Me
Author: Lynn Austin
Series: The Restoration Chronicles, book 1
Major Themes: Babylon, Jerusalem, Zechariah, Jewish Captivity, Jewish History
Synopsis: Not only was the journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple difficult, relationships with the local Samaritans were tense, and the idolatry that some people brought with them from Babylon distressed Iddo and Zechariah, as well.

This year, I have been enjoying completing a reading challenge that gives one prompt each month. Because the name of the challenge is “Read Your Bookshelf,” I have limited my choices to books that we actually have on our shelves, rather than ebooks. We have a lot of books that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet, so this is a good motivation to pick them up. Ebooks are often easier to read, since my Kindle is small and lightweight, but there are so many good books on the shelf! This month’s prompt was a book in the same genre as last month’s book. The book I chose for last month’s challenge was the final book in the Chronicles of the Kings series, so this month I selected Return to Me, the first book in the series that follows. It was worth reading.

The Jews have been living in Babylon for nearly 70 years now. Immediately after the city falls in one night to the Persians, prophecies begin to be fulfilled, and the new emperor, Cyrus, gives an order for the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Iddo, a priest, is overjoyed that their captivity is ending, and immediately begins preparations to return to the homeland he was taken from as a young boy. Not all of his family sees things the same way, however, and only his wife is willing to go with him—because she has no choice. Zechariah, his oldest grandson, can’t make up his mind whether to go with his grandfather or to stay with his parents. Then, he has an encounter with the Holy One that changes his life forever.

Only around 42,000 of the people decided to make the long, hard journey back to the Promised Land. When they reach their homeland, they find the Samaritans living there, and those people are not happy to see other people coming in to claim the land they have been living on and farming for decades. Work is begun on the Temple, but it is so hard that the people soon become discouraged. Between the constant temptation to join the Samaritans in their festivals, the threats of the Samaritans if they continue building, and the very real need to grow food for their families, the work on God’s house suffers. What will it take to get the building started again, and to turn the Jews away from the worship of the stars that some brought from Babylon?

As with the five Chronicles of the Kings books, Return to Me pointed to God’s desire to have a loving, personal relationship with his people, not just obedience from fear or because we want something from Him. I found myself quite engrossed in the story, and grabbing the Bible to compare what I was reading with what the Bible has to say about Zechariah and his times. As far as I can tell, Lynn Austin has remained true to the Bible’s account, while bringing the return from captivity to life for us today—and she has managed to show how people today do the same things as the people then. And, the solution is the same. Return to God.

WARNING: Throughout the book: Sorcery, reading fortunes in a teacup, or consulting the stars. Chapter 6: Immoral worship in Babylon’s temples. Chapter 11: Mention of sacrificing children to Molech. Chapter 13: Description of how a family had been killed during the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Chapter 17: Sensuous dancing, young couples in the shadows. Chapter 18: Boys beat up another boy. Chapter 24: Woman killed by a stone hitting her head. Chapter 26: Difficult birth, handicapped newborn put out to die. Chapter 29: Young priests learning to kill animals. Chapter 32: Mention of a man taking a concubine, a threat that a girl may become a prostitute, a woman dies of a miscarriage, man and woman kiss. Chapter 34: Wedding night, a man tries to kill a woman, fight between men, one man killed, another badly wounded.

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