Building Benjamin: Naomi's Journey (audiobook)
[aud-h12211]

5 of 5 Stars Good job for a challenging story!
Mrs Sammie Porter

(Review)
The heinous actions that began a war and near genocide of an entire tribe of IsraEl in Judges ch19-21 is finally given a refreshing new retelling in this story by Barbara Britton. This had to be a challenging topic, but handled extremely well, so much so that I'd highly recommend the reading! It opens with the taking of daughters of Ephraim during a regularly scheduled dance festival held to honor YHWH. Naomi is taken by Eliab. In the beginning she does whatever she can, hoping to get away. But her strength, generosity and honesty brings admiration from this particularly honorable man. The questions I hear few ask when speaking of these actions in Judges, get asked. #1 Why was the Levite who brought his concubine to Gibeah never questioned regarding his actions or punished? #2 What would a small community that has several fierce warriors, comparable to our special forces trained military, do when a huge force of hundreds of thousands of men show up, armed and ready to fight without having even bothered to send a delegation to make respectful inquiries about the situation? Answer: they'd fight!! #3 Like historical events started by the foul sins of any small group (think Helen of Troy or the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria that started WW1), how do you bring peace to a situation that has blown up out of proportion? Clearly it was a group that lived within Gibeah's town limits, not the entire tribe of Benjamin, that participated in the original action that lit this fire. #4 Is the tribe of Benjamin the only tribe of IsraEl that ever sinned? If not, why this Huge reaction? #5 Would Rachel want the descendants of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) to wipe out the descendants of his only little brother Benjamin?

All of the above questions are brought up, and a few even answered in this thought provoking take on this biblical story. Even the fact that many romances came of these at first "forced" joinings came from this story. If that seemed far-fetched, watch the old TV musical "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" which was a fun take-off of this story.

Two questions that weren't voiced were: #1 Just how important is it that Judah as a tribe protected and helped Benjamin just like the original Judah, who stood up for the original Benjamin to Joseph in Gen ch44? And #2 If Benjamin was so horrible, why was the opening line in Judges19:1 and the closing in Judges21:25 which repeat that "there was no King in IsraEl" answered by YHWH choosing IsraEl's first king, Saul from the house of Benjamin who lived in Gibeah (1Sam9), but perhaps that will be addressed in a later book. For all Saul's faults, he was a warrior that YHWH used to fight the enemies of IsraEl and bring law and order to HIS people.

Did I enjoy this book? Absolutely! The references to Benjamite warriors being skilled left-handed slingers, Naomi being so strong and intelligent. Eliab's noble character, the miracles and humor were phenomenal. Except for the narrator needing to take a breathe, that was well done too.