Ezekiel’s Song – a Review

Why I’m writing this

One of the great privileges of becoming a fully-fledged ‘writer/author’ has been entry into the writing community. This wonderful world of scribes support each other and understand each other, and I have met so many people in the last few months that I feel privileged to call my friends. There has been no judgement of my newbie status, but encouragement every step of the way from these folk who have all been where I am once upon a time.

As you will have seen if you followed any of my blog tour for ‘The Wanderer Scorned’ during July and August 2022, many writers are pleased to critique and review each other’s work. It makes us better writers and it supports those seeking to do as we do – glorify God through this writerly gift he has given us.

I haven’t blogged about somebody else’s “Write” before, but I have written lots of reviews in the last few months and blogging them is something I’ve been considering.

What better place to start than with “Ezekiel’s Song” by Naomi Craig? Naomi is a great advocate for Biblical fiction, a genre I barely knew existed when I started accidentally writing it myself. She administrates the Biblical Fiction Aficionados Facebook group, which, alongside the Association of Christian Writers, has been an important part of my writing journey thus far.

I feel like Naomi is a soul sister even though she lives on the other side of the world and we’ve never met. Her two books “Rahab’s courage” and “Ezekiel’s song” approach biblical fiction boldly, taking important characters in scripture and basing a story on their story. Doing this presents a challenge:

If you know your Bible at all, you will already know how the story ends.

I know what it’s like to face this challenge: I have been writing such a story myself! 

Most people know that Cain killed Abel, but no one really knows or understands how he got there! Most people know that Rahab was a prostitute that let Israelite spies down through Jericho’s wall and went on to father Boaz. But what was her backstory? Why would she do this? And what happened to this former prostitute living amongst the Israelite people after she rescued the spies? Such questions give free rein to our imaginations.

I find it incredibly beneficial to “put the meat on the bones” of Bible stories (as another of my writing friends, Bobbie Cole, puts it). Some may think it endangers the sacredness of scripture. Yet, as Bobbie also said in a recent interview, it is little different to someone preaching a long sermon on a short passage, and it is a discipline that Jewish scribes have been practising for millennia (called Midrash). We are not claiming any scriptural authority; we are just performing exegesis through fiction instead of non-fiction.

So, onto the review of ‘Ezekiel’s Song’.

The story follows events from immediately before the first deportation to Babylon until some time after the siege of Jerusalem. The author vividly paints a picture of the stubborn naivety of the people of Judah before the deportation, who believed they could carry on living however they pleased with no consequences. 

This was despite the fact that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon breathed down their neck, and King Johoakim refused to pay him the promised tribute. Even though the prophets had foretold that the throne would be lost to Babylon (the author focuses on Jeremiah’s prophecies), the people stubbornly refused to believe it.

Ezekiel

Enter Ezekiel, a young, zealous disciple of Jeremiah. Naomi’s characterisation of Ezekiel is brilliant. He is simultaneously admirable and annoyingly pious – on the one hand making impulsive decisions and, on the other, being ideally suited to the task laid before him. The author imagines the circumstances surrounding Ezekiel’s marriage, exile, work for the Babylonian enemy and finally, his extraordinary prophetic call.

I say extraordinary because Ezekiel received magnificent visions but was also called to endure extremely difficult visual representations of Yahweh’s judgement on Jerusalem and, tragically for Ezekiel, the embodiment of Yahweh’s broken-heartedness over the loss of his people. The characterisation remains starkly realistic at all times, and at no time does he slip into any sweet perfection – for which of us achieve that in this life?

 I loved experiencing emotionally the challenge of the prophetic life: the juxtaposition of privilege and hardship in being the Lord’s spokesperson.

Shiriel

The challenge also applied to his wife. We know from the scripture that Ezekiel had a wife, but we know nothing about her. Naomi’s imagination fills in the gaps, imagining Shiriel as a musician with a wonderful gift for praising the Lord through her flute and her voice. The Psalms are Shiriel’s constant companion throughout her story, and we can imagine ourselves there worshipping with her. 

Any caregivers or ministry support workers will resonate with Shiriel’s struggles as Ezekiel’s ministry gets increasingly more challenging. The cover image of this book, whilst a realistic depiction of the character, doesn’t accurately portray the book’s spiritual depth and challenging subject matter. 

Other secondary characters each have their own story to tell (and spiritual journey) as well. I would particularly love to see a spin-off about Gilead – we never get to find out what happened to his son!

And Us

In writing this book about Ezekiel, the author allows us into a world where we have to ask hard questions about our own faithfulness and God’s character. If you have read the book of Ezekiel in the Bible that will come as no surprise to you – it is a hard one! Naomi’s novel really helps bring the story, and those challenges, to life. 

We are guided into self-examination as we read it. How would I have acted and felt in this situation? Is my faith really as strong as I like to believe? Do I know God as he truly is, or do I put him into a box? This book had me reaching for my Bible, not in curiosity as such, but to get to know my God better. And that, I believe, is the mark of first-rate Biblical fiction. 

Where to preview/buy:

Alternatively, you can find out more at Naomi’s website: https://naomicraig.com/ezekiels-song 

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Photo of Bible by D0N MIL04K on Pexels.com