I met Peggy Miracle Consolver, Author of Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star Namer at CBAUnite’s International Christian Retail Show in Cincinnati. Peggy has a passion for the bible and the Old Testament that is contagious.
Author Bio:
Born a Miracle, the third of six, Peggy grew up on a wheat farm in southwest Oklahoma. She cooked for wheat harvesters by age twelve while mother and father worked in the field. Coming from a family heritage of Appalachian storytellers, she did not hear a new joke until she was twenty-eight years old.
Peggy graduated from Grandfield High School and met her husband George in college. They graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, OK. She taught shorthand, typing, and business law in a north Dallas high school and worked as executive secretary for a construction company in Austin, TX. Peggy delighted in her two children as a stay-at-home mom volunteering at their schools, with Girl Scouts, and in the neighborhood. She loves teaching Sunday school and women’s Bible studies where she emphasizes digging deeper into the story.
Book Description:
Keshub, a young shepherd boy, lives adventure every day as he defends his flock from predators and proves himself among older brothers. But tales from caravanners who stop at his family’s way-station evoke a longing for adventure beyond the horizons of his own valley in the midst of Canaan. Is he ready for the danger he will encounter when he meets the unloved son of the evil king of the Amorites? Can he deceive his own family to hide the rescued son and a member of the king’s harem? Live the tension of imminent invasion as the Hebrews approach. Too young, by far, he becomes a spy keeping watch over the Hebrew’s movements in the Jordan Valley. Is the greater enemy the ones across the Jordan River or their neighbor, the despicable king? True to scripture and authenticated by archeological research, this tale of God’s grace puts flesh and blood on the enigmatic Gibeonites who make a treaty with Joshua. Shepherd, Potter, Spy―And the Star Namer looks at Joshua’s story from a new point of view. In the end, Keshub becomes a major player in the life of the leader of the Hebrews.
Donna: How did you pick that specific story and a story in the Old Testament?
Peggy: Ever since I started teaching Sunday school and began to read the Old Testament, I thought it was exciting. Then I was reading chronologically the entire bible in a year. I did that for 14 years. I kept stopping in the same place: Joshua 9 & 10. Those people are not mentioned ever before and only one place, 400 years later. The place name is mentioned many times after this episode but the people are not and they do not have names. So much intimate detail but we didn’t know who they were. There had to be a really good story of why they did what they did.
The point of view is a Gibeonite Shepherd boy in the beginning. It starts one year before the Israelites enter Canaan. Numbers 20 is where Moses strikes the rock a second time which is the reason he could not enter Canaan. The Gibeonites leader is a family of potters. The people-groups around them are idol worshipers and offer child sacrifices. But the master potter of Gibeon says, “Nothing I have created with my hands can do anything for me other than store my food, or carry my water, or I can trade it for something else.” So, I believe he was not an idol worshiper. Also from Joshua 9 & 10, some of the Gibeonites’ first words to the Hebrews were, “We are your servants.” I believe this was more than just a formality, but a heart-felt plea to know their God.
When the Gibeonites were confronted about why they deceived Joshua by wearing raggedy clothes and worn out sandals. and having moldy bread, they said we saw what your God did for you. The Star Namer element to the fictional story is the potter’s desire to know the One who named the star whose name meant “the heretofore and the hereafter.”
The story was challenging. I had to work out a schedule of all the days the spies camped out on the ridge above Jericho after the Hebrews entered Canaan on the first of April.
Oh by the way…I went there. I stood on the hill where Gibeon is.
“I had started writing and told my husband, if I really write this maybe I should go. He booked us an archeological dig with Associates for Biblical Research.
They have amassed a lot of evidence. This is their last year of the dig. They are digging at a place that matches the 12 points given in the Bible about Ai.
Donna: Did you do more than just bible research?
Peggy: Besides the archaeological dig at Ai, I read books on bible customs, National Geographic articles on the area, on camels, explored the Brittish Museum, etc. The people of Gibeon were just like us.
When I get to heaven I will l ask them how it all really happened.
Donna: Have you always had a passion for that?
Peggy: I have a passion for teaching Sunday School and making the Bible come alive. I made up the background. It is not just names on a page. They are real people. They didn’t have the modern convenience and the knowledge that we have but they have intellect and figured things out.
Donna: Is it written for a young person or adults?
Peggy: Adults are enjoying it and giving rave reviews, but the main character is 12 years old. I had it graded on a website that calculates readability with 7 different equations for which grade level. So the first 20 chapters have been rated at a 5.5 grade level.
I would love to get the book into homeschool curriculum. It is written in a newer style with deep point of view and active verbs.
I had a very difficult critique group and I learned a lot. They would not let anything by.
Donna: Is this your first book?
Peggy: Yes, this is my first book. I have written a study guide to go with it. I believe in the value of my story to direct readers back to what the Bible says. I believe it would be of particular interest to homeschoolers and Christian schools.
