Mesu Andrews is a beloved biblical fiction author. Her latest release dives into the little-known story of Miriam in the Old Testament. Mesu recently sat down to talk with our managing editor about Miriam (WaterBrook Press), her inspiration, and what’s up next for her!
FF: Can you tell us a little about the kind of research you did for this book?
Mesu: My main sources for that came mostly from a book, The Miracles of The Exodus. It just described, from a scientific point-of-view, the ten plagues. It was a scientist, a believer. He actually went at it by trying to say, “This is how science could have done the plagues.” In that, he sort of proved the plagues with science. In doing so, he told how the time frame of each of the plagues, how long from the blood in the water, to the flies, to the frogs, to the … It was so fascinating to hear a scientist give real, natural, data on some of those things. He didn’t discount it as a miracle, but he said, “Here’s how a seed of doubt in anyone that wanted to doubt could’ve explained away God’s miracle.” It’s the same today. Anybody can explain away a miracle if they want to. God always leaves open that door for people who want to doubt. Faith is faith. You have to want to believe, in order to believe.
FF: What was the most surprising thing you found in your research?
Mesu: I would say, let me think about that. I think one of the things that I found very surprising, was there was no definitive answer on Miriam, as to whether she was married or single. I guess, in my mind, I’d always thought Miriam’s single, period, the end. There’s no mention of a husband, or children, or anything. Of course she’s single. When I got into the research, I found very conflicting reports on whether Miriam was married or not. One report said she was married to Caleb, one of the spies. Josh and Caleb that went into the promised land.
FF: That’s fascinating.
Mesu: Yeah, it was. I was shocked. Another report said, “Oh, no, no, she’s married to Hur.” Remember Hur, the guy that held up Moses’s arms during one of the battles? Of course, this is not in the Bible. This is in historical research and Jewish legend. When I come across things like that, I just feel like that’s something that I, then, can decide on my own. I’m writing a novel. I’m writing fiction. The Biblical story is never, never, something that I will deter from, but the historical research that I do, that I can decide which way I want the story to go.
FF: What has been the feedback, because this released last March, so what’s been the feedback from fans? Especially people who’ve been reading you from the beginning, what have they said about it?
Mesu: I’ve heard from several folks that this is their favorite book. I wondered if it’s because this story is so familiar. We’ve seen The 10 Commandments at least … Okay, I’m 52, so I grew up with The 10 Commandments, and Ben Hur, and some of those older movies just that were epics on television once a year. We grew up with these stories on TV.
They love the fact that this story gives some of the background of such a minor character in some of those stories, because you don’t think about Miriam. You think about Moses. This is from the vantage point of somebody who did not have a 1-800-GOD number. She didn’t know what was coming. When you think of the plagues from the standpoint of somebody who did not know what the frogs were about, and why is the water blood? She didn’t have any of those little warning signs that Moses had.
FF: How did you interpret that?
Mesu: God, on Mt. Sinai, said to Moses, “You will know me by my actions.” That’s what ‘I am’ means in Hebrew, you will know me by my actions. His actions were turning water to blood and sending a bunch a frogs. That’s kind of scary. I’m not sure I want to follow this god. It’s only later that he begins to show the distinction between his people. Now, that god I want to follow. Sometimes it takes a little while for God’s character to come through as we see his actions. Patience is something that Miriam gets to learn. That resonates with people.
FF: Patience is a theme. What are some of the other themes you feel are really strong in the book?
Mesu: I think the strongest theme in this book is the different roles that Miriam has to adjust to. When we open up, Miriam is 86. She’s been a prophetess in Israel her whole life, basically, since she was about 12, and she knows only one way to relate to God. It’s deeply. She has known God and loved God, deeply, her whole life. He’s been her husband. He’s been her whole world. All of a sudden, God goes silent. Then, he brings Moses back, and Moses is God’s man for the time. Miriam doesn’t know what’s gone wrong. She doesn’t know what has changed. Has it been something she’s done wrong? Has God changed? What’s going on? I think the biggest lesson, in here, that Miriam learns is that it’s not God that changes. God remains constant, but sometimes his role for us changes. It’s up to us to wait, to listen, to be alert to how he wants to change our role in his kingdom.
FF: Definitely. Okay. Before I let you go, you have to tell me what’s up next for you.
Mesu: Oh, what’s up next. I’m working on a wonderful, fun, project. Isaiah’s daughter is actually what’s coming next.
FF: What?
Mesu: Yes! Yes! Okay, so the scripture tells us that Isaiah had two sons. Jewish legend tells us that Isaiah’s daughter was Hephziba, Hezekiah’s wife.
FF: That’s exciting!
Mesu: That means that Hezekiah’s wife, Hephziba, so she was married to the most righteous king in Judah, but her son Manasseh was the most evil king Judah ever saw.
FF: Okay, so where does the story plant us? What are we going to see?
Mesu: You are going to see a woman who, as a child, starts out as a 5-year-old girl. She is taken captive, and she is marched to Sumaria as a captive in a train. Then she is rescued and she is planted in Isaiah’s home as a serving girl. I mean, I’m not ruining the story, because if you read the story, you know she ends up being Hezekiah’s wife. She goes from captive to queen.
FF: Wow. This is fascinating.
Mesu: It is. It’s so much fun. That’s the meat of the story is all that happens in between.