Women of the Old Testament by Camille Fronk Olson

This book explores the stories of 21 women mentioned in the Old Testament. The selection is surprising. It includes Eve and the well-known wives of the patriarchs as well as relatively obscure women, such as Huldah and the Shunammite, whose stories will be unfamiliar to many.

Instead of a generic, "these women were righteous, you can be, too," approach that many such books take, this book goes into great detail about the lives of these women, pulling from historical, scriptural, and modern-day accounts to flesh out the life of each woman.

Each chapter begins with a painting of the woman by Elspeth Young, the name of the woman written in Hebrew characters, the Hebrew meaning of the name, and a list of scriptures which detail the woman's story. Olson also includes the background for each woman's story, establishing the cultural and political setting for the account. To introduce the Little Maid's story, Olson first describes the complex relations between Israel and Syria, and before detailing the story of the Widow of Zarapheth, the reader is given a summary of the political conditions during the Omride Dynasty in which the widow lived. A wealth of historical and archeological information is included for each woman. For example, in the story of Sarai and Hagar, Olson references texts written by the Hurrians, a people from Mesopotamia who were contemporaries with the patriarchs. Olson uses their surviving documents--marriage certificates, wills, and adoption agreements--to explain the events of the Genesis narration in the context of the laws and culture of the time. Other ancient texts referenced include the Code of Hammurabi, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, ancient Jewish rabbinical writings, and the Greek and Hebrew translations of the Old Testament (the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, respectively). Illustrations, maps, graphs, time lines, pedigree charts, and modern-day photos of the locations mentioned further ground the women's stories in historical reality.

In addition to the historical side of the accounts, Olson takes pains to discuss the spiritual significance of each woman's tale. Each chapter includes commentary from latter-day apostles and prophets. Olson also explains the symbolism in each account and draws connections between our modern-day lives and the lives of these ancient women. Finally, at the end of each chapter, Olson lists several, "points to ponder," which encourage additional application of the Old Testament events to our lives.

The book also contains an extensive appendix, with an Old Testament Time Line and a complete listing of every woman mentioned in the Old Testament, including those who are not identified by name. The scripture references are listed for each woman, and, for those women whose names are given, the meanings of the names are listed. The appendix also includes an introduction to Elspeth, Ashton, and Al Young, the artists whose work appears throughout the book. For each of the paintings by Elspeth Young, the book's primary artist, the story behind the painting, the relevant scripture references, and a list of symbolic elements in the painting is given.

Finally, the book lists Olson's sources and includes both a scripture and a subject index.

In terms of improvements, I would have liked to see more sources cited in the text itself. Although I appreciated the sketches of archeological excavations, artifacts, etc. made by Ashton Young, the artist's sources for those inclusions needed to be given; were the sketches based on actual artifacts (and if so, which ones?) or, like his sister's paintings, were they simply the artist's interpretations? I was also confused at times whether the "facts" presented by Olson were accepted as such by scholars and historians at large or by only the LDS population. And although I thought many of Olson's attempts to connect Old Testament events to the reader's modern-day life, a few of these associations seemed either too sentimental or too much of a stretch, or both; I came across the phrase "one wonders," and the word "perhaps" a little too often. It seemed at times that Olson's narrative became almost an apologetic; she became so defensive when describing the women's accomplishments that at times that the very points she was trying to establish seemed dubious, a sort of, "the lady doth protest too much," type thing.

With that being said however, I loved this book. It was fascinating from both a historical and a spiritual perspective. The cultural, legal, historical, and political background given for each story shed light on the Old Testament as a whole, not just on the stories of the women listed. And it read like a novel rather than a reference text. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (7/10)