This fast-paced novel about the meaning of an ancient scroll takes readers into the heart of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic conflicts in the city of Jerusalem to reveal the key that unlocks a message for all humanity.
First time reading this author and at first I had a problem sorting out the characters and the groups involved in the troubled land of Israel. The long-fought battle over ownership of Jerusalem was still ongoing with a desire to split the city into a Jewish zone and an Arab Muslim zone with USA looking for the most beneficial to themselves economically. The Arabs and Jews both claim the city as their own completely but neither will cede to the other so a split might be the correct choice...they think. The discovery of an ancient scroll by the man who found the Dead Sea Scrolls decades earlier caused a lot of worry, greed, selfishness, death to prominent men and destruction of a village shop and many of the villagers. The three main characters, Musa, a Muslim archeologist; Leah a nonobservant Jewish amateur archeologist, and Father Michael Kelly, a Catholic priest whose interest is language and archeology provide a most interesting read. During this journey, they all have to take a long inward look at their own characters and their own faith. And during this journey and translation of the newly-found scroll, they discover who owns Jerusalem.
This book discusses the interrelations between the three major religious groups living in the city of Jerusalem: Muslim, Christian, and Jew. The book provides an outline of the faith perspectives of each as well as their political motivations in dealing with each other. The book is fairly well-written, but the story includes so many different characters that it is difficult at times to keep all of the players in the story straight. The book does stress the possibility of finding agreement between the different groups in a hope of finding peace. A Muslim, Christian, and Jewish couple find a previously undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll and they have to work together to try to decipher the message as differing political factions attempt to take control of the scroll and the message.
This book contained a fascinating blend of history, current events, cultures,and psychology Against a backdrop of modern Israel, the Arab who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls as a boy, now an old man, reveals to his son that there was a scroll no one else knew about that he has kept hidden for four decades. Although he does not know what it says, he senses that it is of huge significance, written in several ancient languages. His son, an archaeologist, seeks to discover its meaning, but as he is not an expert in every ancient language,he needs helpin the translation. The result is an unlikely team of an Arab, a Jewish couple, and a Roman Catholic priest. Of course, the team has its challenges not only in learning to trust one another but to keep the existence of the scroll from becoming public knowledge, because as they learn early on, this scroll is the ancient deed to Jerusalem and will decide to whom the city ultimately belongs. As the story unfolds and the news is leaked, the stakes become higher - their own lives, and the threat of another war. This book held my attention from beginning to end, and the surprising conclusion was well worth the journey. - Loved it!
I don't think I could much differentiate between the Facts and the Fiction in this book..but One thing I could say for sure is that it Leaves you thinking... What Hell Really happened.... Captivating...and Engrossing Read... I wish the 2 book in the Series Comes out Soon...
A really great read centering arounnd the gift of Melchizedek as to who he gave the land of Israel. Full of action and intrigue as3 people, one Jewish, one arab and one Catholic Priest struggle to translate the golden scroll. There will be a sequel and i plan to read that too.