Transitions. Think about that word for a moment. Maybe it’s just a fancy word for change. We all love change, right?
Are you in the midst of a transition in any part of your life? Dating, to engaged, to wedding? Marriage…or divorce? What about your career? Changing jobs? A promotion? Retirement?
It’s May, so some of you are preparing for your kids’ graduation. From grade school to junior high, from high school to college, or perhaps YOU are graduating. Congrats! Well done! Maybe you’re nearing the end of your life, a different sort of graduation. The years have sped past, and you’re ready to meet Jesus, but you have no idea what your final transition will be like.
Transitions For Authors
My first biblical novel, Love Amid the Ashes, was published fourteen years ago, but I’ve been writing since the late 90s. An author experiences MANY transitions…
- From a hobby writer to a professional—when I spent more BIC (butt-in-chair) time writing than I spent talking about writing.
- From allowing friends and family to read my chapters to showing my work to professional editors at writers’ conferences.
- From focusing on getting published to writing for my Audience of One (Jesus)! And a year later came my first contract with Revell.
- From writing stand-alone novels to writing series in which each book CAN stand alone.
I could continue this string of transitions—from one publishing house to another, from one editor to another, from one agent to another—but I’d rather describe a transition YOU AND I will share in a few months!
Book #2 In King David’s Brides
Let me begin with a quick overview of the King David’s Bride series. Borne of a deep love for King David, I wanted to explore the untold stories of his six wives listed in 2 Sam. 3:2-5. These unfamiliar women birthed his first six sons while David reigned in Hebron, before he transitioned from Hebron to Jerusalem.
If you’ve read Book #1 in the King David’s Bride series, Brave: The Story of Ahinoam, you may have had the thought, Is Mesu suggesting that God APPROVED of David’s sin: marrying more than one woman? CLICK HERE to read my April 28, 2025 blog post, which (I hope) answers that question with a resounding NO! Yahweh never approves of sin.
Though each of the four books in the King David’s Brides series can stand alone, no matter where you begin reading, ALL FOUR BOOKS tell a SINGLE STORY.
Brave Broaches The Sin Question
If you’ve read Brave: The Story of Ahinoam, I hope you noticed that David began feeling a niggling of conviction when, at the end of chapter 26, Joab and Amasai argued about a previous decision David made.
[Joab says,] “If David marries Abigail, it will be to save her life and produce an heir. Why would he be condemned for counting her son as his heir when he received no judgment for eating the Tabernacle’s bread?” (1 Samuel 21:1-6)
[Amasai replies,] “Wouldn’t you consider the deaths of eighty priests and their families judgment?” (1 Samuel 22:6-23)
[David thinks:] Amasai’s retort felt like a dagger in my belly. Did everyone believe taking that bread was a sin and the deaths at Nob were Yahweh’s judgment against me because of it?
What’s your opinion? Did the priests of Nob die as judgment for David’s sin of taking the showbread (Leviticus 24:5-9)? Or did Yahweh extend grace to David’s sin through the same Holy Spirit’s indwelling that’s available now to all who have faith in Jesus?
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. 1 Samuel 16:13
Transition To Noble: The Story of Maakah
Maakah’s story is very different than Ahinoam’s. Ahinoam was the daughter of a Kenite blacksmith. He taught her to worship Yahweh from her earliest memories. Maakah is the daughter of Geshur’s King Talmai. As an obedient princess, she worshiped her patron goddess, Asherah, and paid honor to all gods of Geshur.
Both Maakah’s and Ahinoam’s descriptions are fictional. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything more than their names and which of David’s sons they bore. But the Bible hints that David had married an idolatrous Princess before–Saul’s daughter, Michal.
Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head. 1 Samuel 19:11–13
Why did I write that Ahinoam was a Kenite—a Gentile? First, it was part of the set up for book #2, bringing in a gentile princess. But I also needed Ahinoam to be a believable dagger-throwing tough gal. So, I fashioned her after the best biblical tough gal I could think of: Jael, who was also Kenite. Jael killed a Canaanite general and helped Israel win a war (Judges 4:21-22). Ahinoam didn’t help David win any wars, but she seems to be the only one of King David’s brides with him during their years of hiding from Saul in the Wilderness.
If you’d like to know how David crosses paths with Maakah, a foreign princess, you’ll have to read Noble to see how the story unfolds! Take a look at the new “Noble page” on my website! Maybe even bookmark it ’cause the sneak peek chapter is coming! (No date given from my publisher yet.)
Transitions For Books #3 And #4
I’ve explained a little about the transition from Brave to Noble. But what is the transition at the end of Noble that leads into Bk #3, Loyal: The Story of Haggith, and Loyal’s ending that leads into Bk #4, Worthy: The Story of Abital? (Loyal and Worthy release dates TBD)
I can’t spoil my endings!!! However, Scripture tends to be the ultimate spoiler in biblical novels, so let me refer you to 2 Samuel 3:4-5, which says David married and had a son by Haggith (Bk #3), Abital (Bk #4), and Eglah (Bk #4).
Though each book has its plot with main characters (MCs), challenges, and a resolution, the series as a whole also follows a plotting template. Bk #1 established the MCs and major challenges of the series’ journey. Bk #2 presents some very BIG challenges and establishes a crucial choice made at the end of Noble, which is the Mid-Point of the series (2 books of 4 total).
Sin Or No Sin?
The transition we’ve focused on most is the controversy of whether God ever approves of sin–in anyone’s life. Here’s the command from God when He spoke the Law through Moses after they’d wandered forty years in the wilderness and 400 years before they’d anoint their first king:
[Israel’s king] must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:17
Seems pretty clear, right? I’ve gotten two or three emails from readers saying, “Your book, Brave, makes it sound like Yahweh approves of David taking many wives.”
I answer with a plea to keep reading the series. These characters, just like you and me, change–go through transitions–in which they’ll search their hearts and even change the trajectory of their lives!
Because I write fiction, it’s a good sign when readers experience the thoughts, feelings, and desires of the characters in each book. Have you noticed that in most of my books, each chapter begins with a character’s name? Then I use the pronoun “I” to immerse my readers in the chapter, as if they ARE that particular character. (It’s called writing in 1st-person.) While writing, I laugh, cry, and feel anxious with my characters, and I hope you do, too, while reading! But sometimes those characters feel (or think) things that contradict the Truth of God’s Word–and they must change during the continuing story of the series!
Transition From Book 2 to Book 3
Without giving away the ending of Maakah’s story in Bk #2, readers may still wonder:
Did David and his wives believe Yahweh approved of their sinful choice, or was His voice distorted by their selfish desires?
I’m sharing this question so you can prepare your heart to read Maakah’s story (NOBLE) and read the novel from each character’s point of view. Discern the difference between God’s unalterable truth and each character’s belief of what God says, feels, or does. I think you’ll notice the difference.
By the end of Bk #3, Haggith’s story, all the characters will have openly wrestled with God’s command in Deuteronomy 17:17. By the end of Bk #4, all six women will have borne their sons and transitioned into a different relationship with Yahweh, David, and each other. So, hang in there, friends! And please read Brave, Noble, Loyal, and Worthy as stand-alone novels but also as four parts of a single story.
A Prayer For Myself and You (if you need it)
I hope we’ll all make some “transitions” in our hearts as we read (and I write) the series of King David’s Brides! Here’s the first prayer that’s been laid on my heart for myself and my Newsies, who realized a sin we may have justified like David and his wives:
My God, my Savior, my indwelling Counselor and Friend, I confess that I’ve allowed some pet sins to rule and guide me. Grieve me as all sin grieves You. I repent and completely turn away from the root of pride that says I know better than You. I submit myself, body, mind, and spirit, to living the Jesus Way. Wholly committed to Your Truth. Wholly devoted to the Lover of my soul. Wholly focused on eternity, so I can hear You more clearly than my earthly desires.
Tweet-ables:
- Transition. What transitions or changes do you face? If you are seeking the LORD for answers, be sure to read this post so you might avoid the mistake David and his wives made in the #BRAVEnovel.
- If you’re a writer, how do you transition in a series from one book to the next? Does the whole series have a single plot overriding each standalone novel?
