Young Thirteen-year-old Bani, though born in Jerusalem, has lived from infancy with his uncle in beautiful Susa, the city of the Persian King Artaxerxes. Now, his Uncle Nehemiah wants to leave his position of high honor as Cupbearer to the King to return to Jerusalem, a city in ruins and beset by every kind of trouble. Nehemiah's request of the king, permission to return to help his own people, could easily be misconstrued as treasonous scheming. Seen through the eyes of Bani, this novel dramatizes a turning-point of history, in 445 BC, when--through confrontation and daring risks--Judaism was re-established in the Promised Land, and purified for her unfolding mission.

This never-before published tale carries the reader back to Ancient Egypt and to the biblical Jerusalem. Around 701 B.C. Egypt is being ruled by the Kushite dynasty. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son, succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and Egypt—a “divine” rulership. He begins to find his way...until a treacherous plot pushes him into sudden exile and into the hands of Amos, an emissary of King Hezekiah seeking help for Judea from the Egyptians against the Assyrians. Far from home, near Jerusalem, and found out in his disguise as a medical assistant, Taharka encounters two kings in conflict. One is the mighty Assyrian, Sennacherib, promising alliance; the other is Hezekiah, the Jew who trusts in Yahweh. Taharka must choose with whom to live or die.

Uriah Tarhund's Hittite home is destroyed by the invading Greeks. His dying father tells him to go south and seek a Caananite named Sisera. Uriah sets out and is plunged into the tumult of an uneasy Judea. When he finds Sisera, he is joins him in a war. The Caananites are defeated, but Uriah is able to make peace with himself, the Hebrews, and their God.