| Seventeen-year-old Joseph’s life is far from perfect. He does have his father’s favor and trust, and the love of his younger brother Benjamin and sister Dinah. What he does not have is the love of his ten older brothers. Embittered by their father’s favor towards Joseph, his brothers take every opportunity to spite him. Spurred to anger by their actions and horrified by a threat made towards Benjamin, Joseph, overcome with fury, tells them of his dreams – for his dreams show a future where they will bow down to him. Outraged, his brothers take their revenge, and Joseph is sold into Egypt as a slave. Bitterness and hate threaten to overcome him, and, in desperation, Joseph turns to the stories of his father’s God, a distant and omnipotent being whom Joseph has never dared to speak to. Slowly, Joseph begins to pick up the pieces of a shattered life. But only when those carefully gathered pieces re-break, over and over again, does Joseph truly begin to understand what it means to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). |  |
Genre: Biblical Fiction
Release date: May 16, 2022
Release date: May 16, 2022
Click here to get your copy!
Interview with Elizabeth
1. How long did it take to finish writing this book?
Oh gosh. YEARS. I think I began researching for the book around nine years ago, and then I began writing it in earnest a few years after that. However, I then experienced a difficult period where I struggled with my creativity, so I stopped writing the book partway through. I finally picked it up again in 2018 and finished the first draft later that year. Now it’s 2022 and I can’t believe that it’s finally a published book!
2. Do you have favorite character(s) in this book?
Joseph. I loved writing him, and hopefully disarming readers with his likability. I think there’s this common idea among Christians that Joseph must have been a spoiled brat at the beginning, because he was Jacob’s favorite. But there’s just not a lot of evidence in the Genesis text to support that. Everything we see in Egypt tells us that he was a bright, ridiculously hard worker who had God’s favor on him. I don’t know if any human can flip from “spoiled brat” to that so quickly, especially after being sold by one’s own brothers.
A lot of people point to him “bragging” about his dreams to his brothers as evidence of his spoiled personality, but I’d again like to point out that Joseph is seemingly portrayed as quite bright in the Genesis account. Bright people who have brothers who murdered a whole town don’t brag like that to them. It was a fun challenge trying to figure out how to get Joseph to tell his brothers about his dreams without him bragging, and to continue writing his journey from there.
3. What do you hope your readers will take away with them when they read this book?
I hope readers will see the story of Joseph in a new light. The Joseph narrative is one of the more detailed parts of the Bible in regards to how much focus it puts on a single person’s life story. So, a lot of people feel like they know the Joseph Story. And they do – I mean, my tale is just a novelization.
But my goal wasn’t necessarily to retell plot points, but instead to detail a possible “inner faith journey” that could take place within Joseph, throughout the recorded events. Joseph is portrayed as a real hero of faith in Genesis. I hope that as people read Not by Sight, they see a story about how real faith can falter, but later still grow, in dire circumstances, and how reliance on God gives people the strength to live a life that pleases Him.
4. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, friends.
I’m a teacher and I live in California. I’ve taught both 5th and 6th grades, but now I teach middle school math. Very different from writing, I know, but I actually find that it rests my brain. I can’t imagine teaching English all day and then going home to write afterwards!
For fun, I love reading and drawing, and as a millennial, I’m also a connoisseur of memes and YouTube. Oh, and I’ll go to Disneyland any chance I get!
I have an awesome family and friends who are supportive of my writing! Thank you, guys!
5. If you could change one thing in your life, past or present, what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be my propensity to worry. God even warns us against worry in Philippians 4 and Matthew 6. But I trained my brain to worry more and more over the years. It’s something I’m working on not doing now. Worry sucks your joy and your energy. That’s not what God wants for us and it’s not the life that He calls us to live!
We have no knowledge of tomorrow, and very little knowledge of today or even yesterday in the grand scheme of things. God wants us to lay our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). He is the One who knows all and will see us through!
Oh gosh. YEARS. I think I began researching for the book around nine years ago, and then I began writing it in earnest a few years after that. However, I then experienced a difficult period where I struggled with my creativity, so I stopped writing the book partway through. I finally picked it up again in 2018 and finished the first draft later that year. Now it’s 2022 and I can’t believe that it’s finally a published book!
2. Do you have favorite character(s) in this book?
Joseph. I loved writing him, and hopefully disarming readers with his likability. I think there’s this common idea among Christians that Joseph must have been a spoiled brat at the beginning, because he was Jacob’s favorite. But there’s just not a lot of evidence in the Genesis text to support that. Everything we see in Egypt tells us that he was a bright, ridiculously hard worker who had God’s favor on him. I don’t know if any human can flip from “spoiled brat” to that so quickly, especially after being sold by one’s own brothers.
A lot of people point to him “bragging” about his dreams to his brothers as evidence of his spoiled personality, but I’d again like to point out that Joseph is seemingly portrayed as quite bright in the Genesis account. Bright people who have brothers who murdered a whole town don’t brag like that to them. It was a fun challenge trying to figure out how to get Joseph to tell his brothers about his dreams without him bragging, and to continue writing his journey from there.
3. What do you hope your readers will take away with them when they read this book?
I hope readers will see the story of Joseph in a new light. The Joseph narrative is one of the more detailed parts of the Bible in regards to how much focus it puts on a single person’s life story. So, a lot of people feel like they know the Joseph Story. And they do – I mean, my tale is just a novelization.
But my goal wasn’t necessarily to retell plot points, but instead to detail a possible “inner faith journey” that could take place within Joseph, throughout the recorded events. Joseph is portrayed as a real hero of faith in Genesis. I hope that as people read Not by Sight, they see a story about how real faith can falter, but later still grow, in dire circumstances, and how reliance on God gives people the strength to live a life that pleases Him.
4. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, friends.
I’m a teacher and I live in California. I’ve taught both 5th and 6th grades, but now I teach middle school math. Very different from writing, I know, but I actually find that it rests my brain. I can’t imagine teaching English all day and then going home to write afterwards!
For fun, I love reading and drawing, and as a millennial, I’m also a connoisseur of memes and YouTube. Oh, and I’ll go to Disneyland any chance I get!
I have an awesome family and friends who are supportive of my writing! Thank you, guys!
5. If you could change one thing in your life, past or present, what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be my propensity to worry. God even warns us against worry in Philippians 4 and Matthew 6. But I trained my brain to worry more and more over the years. It’s something I’m working on not doing now. Worry sucks your joy and your energy. That’s not what God wants for us and it’s not the life that He calls us to live!
We have no knowledge of tomorrow, and very little knowledge of today or even yesterday in the grand scheme of things. God wants us to lay our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). He is the One who knows all and will see us through!
More from Elizabeth
Imagine you’re back in Sunday School, sitting down with all your friends and watching the volunteer parent who teaches the class smile over the flannelgraph. (Or, if you never went to Sunday School, just imagine yourself in a smallish room with too many little friends around you, and an adult who doesn’t want to mess this up running the class.) “Now, friends,” (s)he says, holding up a flannel image of a teenager in what looks like a rainbow bathrobe: “This is Joseph.”
Joseph is plastered to the flannelgraph, and the parent puts up a flannel group of angry men next to him. “His brothers hated him because his father gave him a beautiful coat. They threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave!”
Appreciative gasps echo from the crowd of five-year-olds – even kids know that good drama comes from torturing your characters.
“His master threw him in prison – ” (we necessarily skip why) “– but one day Pharaoh had a dream!”
Flannel Pharaoh appears, slapped on the flannelgraph, wearing a white skirt and lots of bling.
“Joseph interpreted the dream, and Pharaoh made him his second-in-command. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food in a famine, Joseph helped them. And you know what, friends?” The parent looks around with a grin. “Joseph never lost his faith in God! Isn’t that amazing?”
You and your friends nod solemnly. What a guy.
You probably hear this story at least once a year in Sunday School, with more detail added each time, but by the time you’re a worldly-wise sixth grader, you start to nod a little less and frown a little more.
You know the story like the back of your hand.
But it doesn’t make any sense anymore.
The truth is that this version of Joseph, whose flannel avatar has been waved in your face for years, this icon of the Sunday-School world, isn’t a person to emulate. He can’t be emulated.
Because the story of a man who faced every unthinkable hardship thrown his way with a smile on his face and praise on his lips and forgiveness in his heart is. Not. A. Story. Of. Real. Faith.
You want real faith? Look at the guy who talked to Jesus in Mark Chapter 9. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Translation: “I know I’m supposed to trust You, but in this moment, I don’t. Please help me out!”
Humans aren’t perfect. Why then are we shown a perfect Joseph?
Various adaptations of the Joseph story have tried their hand at mitigating the perfect Joseph problem. For the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the whole thing is played so humorously that character exploration ranks at exactly nil, and no one questions anything Joseph does. For the perennial Sunday-School favorite Joseph: King of Dreams cartoon movie, God and faith are taken mostly out of the story, so Joseph is free to be an “ordinary person” who reacts accordingly. (Do you see the problem with this last idea? I hope you do. faith ≠ superhuman).
Other adaptations have tried as well, but this fantasy and science fiction writer was one day struck with the need to try it for herself. I loved the story (remember, torturing characters = good drama, and boy does Joseph get the – extremely – short end of the stick for a good chunk of his life) and secondly, because I knew it would be a challenge.
Part of the reason for this “perfect” Joseph we so often see in Sunday School is that the Bible is not written as a novel. Most narratives in the Bible go over the events needed to comprehend the message or information in bare-bones, rapid-fire succession. No fluff involved, no discussion of motives, internal conflict, or thought processes. The Joseph account in Genesis is unique in that it is one of the longest continuous narratives in the Bible, but even it gives very little in the way of discussing these storytelling necessities.
The goal then became to come up with consistent personality traits and motivations, and logical, human reactions to events, that would lead each player in the Joseph narrative to take the actions recorded in Genesis. I felt like an archaeologist, piecing together ancient clues that could lead me to a bigger, more complete picture of the story.
It was a wild ride, but I had an absolute blast writing it. I can’t wait to share Not by Sight: a novel of the patriarchs with you!
Joseph is plastered to the flannelgraph, and the parent puts up a flannel group of angry men next to him. “His brothers hated him because his father gave him a beautiful coat. They threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave!”
Appreciative gasps echo from the crowd of five-year-olds – even kids know that good drama comes from torturing your characters.
“His master threw him in prison – ” (we necessarily skip why) “– but one day Pharaoh had a dream!”
Flannel Pharaoh appears, slapped on the flannelgraph, wearing a white skirt and lots of bling.
“Joseph interpreted the dream, and Pharaoh made him his second-in-command. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food in a famine, Joseph helped them. And you know what, friends?” The parent looks around with a grin. “Joseph never lost his faith in God! Isn’t that amazing?”
You and your friends nod solemnly. What a guy.
You probably hear this story at least once a year in Sunday School, with more detail added each time, but by the time you’re a worldly-wise sixth grader, you start to nod a little less and frown a little more.
You know the story like the back of your hand.
But it doesn’t make any sense anymore.
The truth is that this version of Joseph, whose flannel avatar has been waved in your face for years, this icon of the Sunday-School world, isn’t a person to emulate. He can’t be emulated.
Because the story of a man who faced every unthinkable hardship thrown his way with a smile on his face and praise on his lips and forgiveness in his heart is. Not. A. Story. Of. Real. Faith.
You want real faith? Look at the guy who talked to Jesus in Mark Chapter 9. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Translation: “I know I’m supposed to trust You, but in this moment, I don’t. Please help me out!”
Humans aren’t perfect. Why then are we shown a perfect Joseph?
Various adaptations of the Joseph story have tried their hand at mitigating the perfect Joseph problem. For the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the whole thing is played so humorously that character exploration ranks at exactly nil, and no one questions anything Joseph does. For the perennial Sunday-School favorite Joseph: King of Dreams cartoon movie, God and faith are taken mostly out of the story, so Joseph is free to be an “ordinary person” who reacts accordingly. (Do you see the problem with this last idea? I hope you do. faith ≠ superhuman).
Other adaptations have tried as well, but this fantasy and science fiction writer was one day struck with the need to try it for herself. I loved the story (remember, torturing characters = good drama, and boy does Joseph get the – extremely – short end of the stick for a good chunk of his life) and secondly, because I knew it would be a challenge.
Part of the reason for this “perfect” Joseph we so often see in Sunday School is that the Bible is not written as a novel. Most narratives in the Bible go over the events needed to comprehend the message or information in bare-bones, rapid-fire succession. No fluff involved, no discussion of motives, internal conflict, or thought processes. The Joseph account in Genesis is unique in that it is one of the longest continuous narratives in the Bible, but even it gives very little in the way of discussing these storytelling necessities.
The goal then became to come up with consistent personality traits and motivations, and logical, human reactions to events, that would lead each player in the Joseph narrative to take the actions recorded in Genesis. I felt like an archaeologist, piecing together ancient clues that could lead me to a bigger, more complete picture of the story.
It was a wild ride, but I had an absolute blast writing it. I can’t wait to share Not by Sight: a novel of the patriarchs with you!
 Elizabeth Jacobson | Elizabeth Jacobson is a middle-school math teacher in sunny California who loves the Bible, fantasy, and science fiction. She got bit by the writing bug at age thirteen and has been frantically putting words on pages ever since. Her goal in writing is to share with the world the most important message anyone can express: the Love of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Not by Sight: A novel of the patriarchs is her first novel. You can connect with her at headdeskliz.com or on Facebook or Instagram. |
It's Time For A Giveaway!
To celebrate her tour, Elizabeth is giving away the grand prize package of a hardcover
copy of Not by Sight: a novel of the patriarchs, combined with a $50 Amazon gift card!!
copy of Not by Sight: a novel of the patriarchs, combined with a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries!
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Vicky Sluiter, May 7 (Author Interview)
Miriam Jacob, May 7
Inklings and notions, May 8
For Him and My Family, May 9
deb’s Book Review, May 10
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 11 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, May 12
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, May 13
For the Love of Literature, May 14 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, May 14
Connie’s History Classroom, May 15
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 16
Tell Tale Book Reviews, May 17 (Author Interview)
Blogging With Carol, May 18