Bio: Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling and award-winning author of the biblical fiction series The Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land, as well as The Heart of a King, Star of Persia: Esther’s Story, Miriam’s Song, and The Prince and the Prodigal. She is also the author of the nonfiction books When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams and She Walked Before Us. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.
Welcome to my blog. Please provide a brief summary of your new book, Daughter of Eden. The first time her eyes open, Eve gazes on one whose beauty nearly blinds her, the one who has given her breath in her lungs. The Creator takes her hand and gives her to one who is like her and yet very different. A burst of joy fills her entire being. The man’s fingers intertwine with hers, and together they run and laugh, celebrate creation, and explore Eden. But her favorite moments are when the Creator comes to walk with them in the cool of the day. Day after day for as long as she can remember, all is perfect . . . until everything changes when she disobeys Him.
Suddenly, the
world is no longer a friendly place of trust. She faces the dark, the unknown
future, births, deaths, sacrifices, and the loss of so much, including the loss
of trust, not only in the Creator but in the man who shares her life—the only
other human in the world. How will they ever survive out of Eden?
Daughter of Eden is your fifteenth
biblical novel. Why did you decide to write about the life of Eve? Eve has always
fascinated me. I’ve pondered why she gave in to temptation when she was created
without sin. She had no inner sin nature to wrestle with. So was it outside
influence alone (from the serpent) or the knowledge that she and Adam had been
given a choice that led to her downfall? I wanted to explore Eden, which also
fascinates me, and what life was like after sin entered the world. Most of all,
who was Eve? Writing her story allowed me to pursue the answer to that
question, at least to my satisfaction.
Breaking God’s trust is one of Eve’s biggest regrets. How did this one act of disobedience forever change the world that she was living in? The obvious answer, of course, is that Adam and Eve were barred from ever entering the Garden of Eden again. Life outside of the garden held the curse on the earth (thorns and thistles) and the pain Eve (and all women) would suffer in childbirth. Animals were no longer friendly, and some became dangerous carnivores when in the past they had all been plant eaters. Adam and Eve no longer had God’s presence with them on a daily basis and had to figure out how to survive in a world that was no longer friendly. Their one act of disobedience changed human nature forever. We are still feeling the effects of sin today.
There are so many
valuable lessons that we can learn from Eve. Can you please expound upon some
of them? I think Eve learned the hard way,
as we all do, that disobedience to God has consequences. When God says “Do
this” or “Don’t do that,” He means it. And if He says there will be
consequences for certain choices, we can be certain He means that too and will
carry them out.
If we want to live at peace with
God, we need to bring Him our regrets. We need to be honest with Him about our
struggles and confess our sins. He is merciful and loves us, but when we hide
from Him, He can’t help us. He waits for us to seek Him and calls us to do just
that.
We are responsible to God for our
own choices, not the choices of another, even if that person is our son or
daughter. In Eve’s story, she feels guilty over Cain killing his brother Abel.
She struggles with guilt, blaming herself when her children sin because she was
the one who began it all. She had to learn that although her children inherited
a sin nature from their parents, they still grew up to make their own choices.
Parents today still struggle with blaming themselves for their children’s poor
choices. But each person answers to God on their own.
You are well known
for your detailed research. What type of research was required to write Daughter
of Eden? No
one knows the location of Eden. There is no historical or archaeological
evidence left to prove that it existed, but we have Scripture and ancient
stories of creation. I studied the scriptural account and the unseen realm and
tried to fit together the pieces of when God created the angels, the heavens
and the earth, and people, and when the angels rebelled. All of that affected
Adam and Eve, so the story was mostly written based on how I envisioned
creation coming together and what Eden might have looked like. Since I enjoy
imagining heaven, it wasn’t hard to imagine Eden.
After the fall was
harder. Adam and Eve had nothing and no one to help them, so I had to research
how people survive with little. For instance, when Adam utilizes every part of
the lion he is forced to kill, I took that from indigenous people using every
part of a buffalo. People of old wasted nothing—not like we do today—so I used
that idea. I believe God created intelligent human beings from the start, and
since they lived hundreds of years, they would have become very good at
utilizing the earth’s resources. I wrote from that premise.
The setting for Daughter
of Eden is the Garden of Eden. Can you provide a contrast between Eden and Eve’s
life after the fall? If
we can imagine heaven, we can picture Eden. It was a place of perfection, beautiful,
without flaw or defect. God walked there with humanity, exactly as He always
intended to do. There was nothing separating Adam and Eve from Him. It was
God’s intention from the beginning to dwell with humanity. All of Scripture
reflects this desire. The incarnation of Jesus Christ, his death, and his
resurrection fulfill what was lost in Eden. God could walk with men and women
again, but this time instead of providing a temporary covering for their sin,
Jesus provided a permanent solution.
When Adam and Eve sinned,
life became what we know today—a very broken world that grows only more
grievous with time. From the very first act of disobedience against Him, God
promised Eve that He would send a Redeemer to fix what they had broken. Jesus
did that. By trusting in Him, we can one day walk with Him in paradise as God
always meant it to be.
How did the fall
impact Eve’s life with her husband, Adam? If we look at relationships between
husbands and wives today, we know that there is no perfect marriage, no perfect
human connection. Sin caused all of us to become deeply self-centered, whether
we realize it or not. Marriage is self-sacrificing by its very nature, or at
least it should be to succeed. I have no doubt that Adam and Eve struggled and
failed to regain the perfect love they had in Eden. I can’t imagine how hard
that was to accept.
What do you love
most about writing biblical novels? I love studying the stories in Scripture
and trying to see God’s message to us in the people’s life histories. It takes
time to understand what might have been, and some books are more challenging to
write than others depending on how much Scripture tells us. I find that God always
teaches me something in the process of recording the stories.
What are you
working on next? I’m
currently writing the first draft of Noah’s Wife. She is unnamed in
Scripture, but history gives several possible names for her. I’ve chosen to name
her Emzara from the Book of Jubilees, which is the name given to her at the Ark
Encounter in Kentucky.
How can readers
connect with you?
Find me on my
website: www.jilleileensmith.com
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Thank you, Jill,
for sharing Daughter of Eden with us. When I received the book, I read
the first chapter. The writing is so lyrical. I had to stop reading when my
husband’s kidneys failed. Things are getting better with him, and I’m eager to
get back to your book.
Readers, here’s a
link to the book.
Leave a comment
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11 comments:
I’m not entering, but wanted to say this is so amazing and thought provoking. I absolutely loved it.
Can't wait to read this!
Abigail in VA
I so enjoy Jill's novels.
Caryl K in TX
Jill is an outstanding author of biblical fiction. Thank you for sharing.
Sounds amazing Thanks for sharing! Sarah T. from OHIO
Enter me in your awesome giveaway!!
Nichols SC.
Thank you, Lucy!
Thanks!
Thanks for all of your kind words. I wish you all the best, and for whoever wins, I hope you enjoy the book!
Brenda from Mississippi. I love Jill’s books and would love to have a copy.
Fascinating thoughts.
-Melissa in TN
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