Book Review: Wives of the Bible with a GIVEAWAY

I’ve been following Jolene’s blog, The Alabaster Jar,  for some time now. She has blessed me often with her talent for blending unabashed truth with grace and kindness. Her primary audience is Christian (usually married) women. Just as each of us have been given different gifts from the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), Jolene’s gift is reaching out to women with the explicit purpose of helping them with (mostly) relational trials by encouraging them toward God and closer to their husband. When she offered the opportunity to review her new book, Wives of the Bible, I leapt at the opportunity, anticipating pages filled with wise insights and applications. I was not disappointed.

Each chapter of Wives of the Bible present a story about a different wife found in scripture: naturally starting with the first wife, Eve, and ending with the 7 churches (aka Brides of Christ) addressed in Revelations.  In each chapter, Jolene recounts the story as it is told and then brings attention to the individual attributes, both good and evil, of each wife. She concludes each lesson with practical applications gleaned from the study. For example, chapter 11 is about the wife of Elimelech, Naomi. Some of the applications that are offered from include,  “Keep walking The Narrow Path no matter how grueling life gets. You never know who’s watching you and the impact your witness may have on the lives around you.”  and “Don’t let your trials become idols within your marriage. When you’re constantly focusing on them, it can suck the life right out of your love and passion for one another.” (pg 48)

As I read, I did find one or two instances wherein my interpretation of the stories were not the same as hers (ex: when Rebekah deceives Issac, Jolene argues that is an example of something not to do, but I tend to see Rebekah’s deception as an excercise in wisdom that is part of a much bigger story), however Jolene’s advice is consistently Biblical and it would have been foolish of me to throw aside Wives of the Bible over such differences. I did heave a sigh of relief when she addressed the Proverbs 31 woman.  Jolene acknowledges how most of us are already familiar with this woman, and that it is likely we have approached emulating her through making checklists of all she does: Industry…check. Finances…check. Beauty…check. Jolene knows this is a common interpretation of Proverbs 31 because she initially saw it that way, too.  Instead of making all the women who are in the trenches of young motherhood feel like complete failures, she point us towards the moral of the Proverbs 31 story, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all because you fear the LORD.” (Proverbs 31:29) She explains that, “The noble things didn’t make this wife Godly. What made her Godly was she feared the Lord, not her to-do list.” Instead of instructing us to take sewing lessons, Jolene reminds us of Mary and Martha. Nothing is wrong with being good housekeeper, quite to the contrary, good housekeeping is a noble way to praise God, but housekeeping is not the end goal. The exhortation is to learn God and stay in His Word, “The only way to be a wife after God’s own heart is if you get to know God’s heart.” (pg 89)

These are a mere sampling of the helpful insights contained within Wives of the Bible. If you’d like to pick up a copy for yourself, the book is available today in paperback, kindle and ebook which you can purchase through this website.