Category: The Bible

I’m excited to let you know I’m going to be one of the featured local authors at Kona Stories bookstore at the monthly “Words & Wine” event on Tuesday, August 6, at 6 pm. I’ll be talking about and reading from “Quest for a King” and “Exile of the King.”

Kona Stories is located in Keauhou Shopping Center. If you are local on Hawaii Island, come by and say “hi”!

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I recently posted some background on my research for the books in the Age of the Kingdom series, but recently I’ve found a great new source that I wanted to talk about here.

To say it was just the perfect time for me would be an understatement. I am now working on The Eternal Kingdom, Book 3 of the Age of the Kingdom series, which covers the first half of King David’s reign and this magazine is full of the latest archaeological discoveries and scholarship by people who have had their hands in the dirt in Jerusalem.

The issue is a special issue to coincide with a special David/Solomon exhibit in the organization’s museum located in Edmond, OK. They also have a location in Jerusalem. The magazine spends a lot of time on the excavations by Dr. Eliat Mazar on what is now believed by many to be David’s palace in Jerusalem.

As I have noted before, the conventional wisdom for many years was that King David, if he existed at all, was a minor local tribal chieftain and not the monarch of a major, extensive kingdom like is pictured in the Bible.

But there have been many major discoveries since the first archaeological proof of King David’s existence was discovered in 1993. In fact, the AIBA journal mentions many paradigm-shifting discoveries that are less than 10 years old.

So if someone tells you that scholars don’t believe King David existed, they are working off old information; they do not have any idea about the most recent scholarship.

It should be noted that the more is excavated by archaeologists, the more the Bible is confirmed, unlike the broader conventional wisdom, that scientific discoveries will eventually disprove the Bible.

That’s why in the books of this Age of the Kingdom series I take the Bible as history, because what has been happening for a couple hundred years is that the science of archaeology has piece-by-piece, supported the story the Bible tells.

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(Image public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

The story of David and Goliath is an iconic underdog story and “David and Goliath” is applied as a catch-phrase every time there is an underdog pitted against a gargantuan foe.

But how well do we know the story in the context of the stories on either side of it? Did you know that there’s a problem with the story that some skeptics have used to inspire doubt in the Bible?

It has to do with the question: Did King Saul know David BEFORE he killed Goliath?

Continue reading Did King Saul Know David Before He Killed Goliath? Comments closed

(Image created in Dall-E AI and extended using Adobe Photoshop Generative Extend)

In my previous post, I began with generalities about my research for writing the Age of the Kingdom series. Now I’ll share a little of the source material I leaned on in my research.

Of course, my starting point is the Bible, and because I believe the Bible is a book of truths for life, I’m not going to stray too far from the events that are described there. I reread not just First and Second Samuel, but also the books that went before, Judges, Joshua and the Pentateuch. These books and their stories are inseparable from the events in Samuel and Kings, because it’s all one continuous narrative.

Continue reading How To Research 3,000-year-old Historical Fiction (part 2) 2 Comments

I was not prepared for what I got when I gave Quest for a King to a company which offers feedback to authors (for a fee). I never talked to the reviewer; we only corresponded through email, but from the tone and content of the review and counsel I received, I’m pretty sure the reviewer was a female recently graduated from a decidedly secular university.

One thing that gave it away was that she said she wasn’t sure who to root for: Israel or the Philistines. In fact, she had to look up Philistines on Wikipedia! She didn’t know ANYTHING about them.

Continue reading How To Research 3,000-year-old Historical Fiction (part 1) 1 Comment

I recently was notified that Exile of the King, the second novel in the Age of the Kingdom series, has won the Gold Medal for Adult Fiction at the Christian Book Awards.

Quest for a King, the first novel in the series also won this award, so I praise God for this blessing.

The Age of the Kingdom series follows several families through multiple generations during the time leading up to and during Israel’s united monarchy 3,000 years ago. Quest and Exile cover the years prior to King Saul through his death in battle.

The series will continue with The Eternal Kingdom, which traces the first half of King David’s reign, and the fourth novel, yet to be named, will cover the second half of David’s reign.

There will either be five or six novels in the series, depending on whether the reign of Solomon is given two volumes.

Quest for a King and Exile of the King are available now and can be purchased here or at Amazon.com or your bookstore can order them from Ingram.

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Exile of the King, the second novel of the Age of the Kingdom series, is now available to order as of December 1, 2023. This book picks up where Quest for a King left off – right after David kills Goliath. Will Azel desert his post to follow David into exile? Will Jeriah remain loyal to King Saul and can he avoid being caught up in the king’s obsessions?

Here’s what some have said about it:

“After reading Quest for a King, I couldn’t wait to continue the riveting sequel in Exile of the King. If you love to read well-researched historical books that bring scripture alive, this book does not disappoint! I didn’t want to put Exile of the King down ‘til I’d read the whole book!”

Ruth Arthurs, MSW

“I loved this second installment in the Age of the Kingdom series. Gary Ivey takes the Biblical narrative of the emerging Kingdom of Israel and makes it come to life with a book that’s hard to put down. Can’t wait for the next volume of this saga!”

Bill Barley, BS, JD, Pastor, Living Stone Church

“In Exile of the King, Gary Ivey once more shows us the difference between reading the Bible and living the Bible. The author has an uncanny ability to bring the Bible’s outsize characters to life by surrounding them with credible characters and interactions that we can recognize from our own lives.

“The Bible’s tales have always been timeless, but now they are made both timeless and immediate through the unswerving use of vivid detail. David’s years in the wilderness, while spanning a few chapters in the Bible, are here given their due as the backbone of an entire novel.

“The brotherhood of Jonathan and David, Saul’s erratic temper, the sacking of Ziklag by the Amalekites, and the final battle with the Philistines in the Jezreel Valley, are all well-known biblical events that we can now remember as if we had lived through them. The details in Exile even extend to the day-to-day details of the characters’ lives:  the food they prepare, how they dress, and the chores they perform as part of their day. All of this draws the reader in and makes this book extremely hard…if not impossible…to put down.”

Brett Goldberg, BA, author of A Psalm in Jenin

Check Amazon.com or my “Shop” page to order a signed copy.

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