When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord, so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 2 Kings 17:25

This single verse marks the end of one of the most tragic stories in the Old Testament. Drawn from 1st and 2nd Kings, Lions of Samaria focuses on the rise and fall, conquest and deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel. The full tragedy of a nation’s unfulfilled destiny and its consequences are shown without any mitigating side stories. The fate of the southern kingdom of Judah is similar, but Israel’s fall is far swifter, far deeper, and final. The exiles of Judah return to their homeland after seventy years in Babylon. There is no return from Assyria for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.

Emmet Roberts has taken the long road back to belief. Raised in a traditional faith, he rebelled against the insistent demand of unquestioning obedience. Dissatisfied with the uncertainty of agnosticism, he wandered into the bleakness of atheism. Still searching for meaning, he realized one day the questions he had chased for so long had returned to him as answers. Throughout the journey, the Bible has served as a constant guidepost, correcting his missteps and directing him back on to his homeward path. The ageless questions of ‘why am I here? what should I do?’ have been silenced by a divine answer to the child’s game: Faith covers doubt; Grace covers works; Love covers all. Lions of Samaria is his first adaptation of a bible story with a goal of making it more readable to fellow travelers along the way. He and his wife currently live in the far north country of Michigan, under the watchful eye of their cat Phileta.