Like a Cloud Without Water

The Bible offers scant information of the time between the Testaments. In those 430 years between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Jesus, many events occurred in Israel. We are still learning about those events, especially through archeological discoveries. Like A Cloud Without Water--the title is quoted from Jude verse 12- is a historical/fiction approach to describing life in Israel during this period. Focus is placed on one family in the tribe of Asher. Through this family, we learn many things including how it may have occurred that Pharisees, about whom we know nothing in the Old Testament, are fully grown and prominent in the New Testament. We also learn of a heavy Greek influence on the culture of Israel, of strong resistance to Antiochus IV who would incite the Maccabean revolt. The book ends by quoting most of Luke 2 and we find Anna, of the tribe of Asher, seeing the baby Jesus. And now, Israel no longer is Like A Cloud Without Water.