Unspoken

Title: Unspoken
Author: Francine Rivers
Genre: Christian Fiction

Unspoken is the fourth book in the Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers. This is a “biography” of the life of Bathsheba. Like the other books in the series, the story starts with Bathsheba as a little girl and takes it all the way through to her death. To many people, the name Bathsheba resounds of sin and shame, but do we really know all the facts surrounding that one night stand? The fact is, we just don’t, but the author weaves a story that remains true to scripture while bringing this Bible character to life.

One thing that I found very interesting in the book was that while both David and Bathsheba were forgiven from this sin, they still had to pay the consequences. Not only did the child conceive that night die, it led to a whole string of events that followed them through the rest of their lives. One thing that is brought up on the book was the fact that Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather. (Ahithophel was the man that gave advice to Abaslom when he tried to take over the kingdom.) I thought it was interesting that the author tied these two characters together giving Ahithopel motivation to assist in the downfall of King David because he is so angry that the king would sleep with his granddaughter. It made sense in the book, however, I could not find reference to it in the Bible. Please feel free to comment on that if you have any thoughts into the history of this. I also enjoyed the author’s liberties of possible conversations that might have taken in the palace between Bathsheba and other wives such as Abigail.


In my previous review of Unafraid, I mentioned what a challenge it was to keep the focus of the book on Mary, the mother of Jesus, who actually is the greater Biblical character. The same is true for Unspoken, once Bathsheba is in the palace; so much of her life revolves around King David of whom we know so much more about. While it would be so easy to be a book about David, the focus remains on this woman who is indeed in the lineage of Jesus Christ. I’m continually amazed at how God used ordinary women such as Bathsheba in His master plan.