Her dark eyes sparkled as she looked up at her father. She was taller than most of the other girls in Bethany, nearly reaching her father's shoulder. She'd bound up the auburn hair that flowed in gentle cascades down her back, under her shawl. While she turned a few heads when she walked through the village, her father told her many times, "Beauty does not run the home, daughter, only skillful hands." Her hands were indeed skillful, for she had learned to help her mother in the household duties when she was even younger than Mary.
pg. 8
Martha, A Novel
The Messiah. The Chosen One. Would he come in her lifetime? Each Jewish mother who gave birth to a son hoped beyond hope that he would be the one who would free their people. Martha thought of this. If she were to marry and have a son, could he be the one?
pg. 14
Another biblical novel by Diana Wallis Taylor. A beautiful portrayal of Martha, whom I believe I'd formerly classified as a drudge and a crab. Mary sat at Jesus feet and Martha chastized her, complaining that she wasn't helping with all that entertaining a crowd entails.
Martha as characterized in Ms. Wallis Taylor's telling is a beautiful, over-worked but otherwise fully-well rounded, very young woman of Bethany, near Jerusalem. Sister of both Mary and Lazarus-- yes, the Lazarus who Jesus loved and raised from the dead.
