Title: Yeshuatekani: The Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley
Author: David Albert James Brand
Publisher: Ewings Publishing LLC
ISBN: 979-8894196411
Pages: 136
Genre: Non-Fiction Christian
Reviewer: Lily Amanda
Hollywood Book Reviews
What if everything you thought you knew about the Messiah was wrong? That’s the bold question at the heart of Yeshuatekani: The Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley, a deeply personal and wildly unconventional book by author David Albert James Brand. It’s not your usual theology read but a highly personal exposition that feels like sitting beside someone who’s been through a lot mentally and spiritually, and is now reaching out to share what they’ve uncovered, something they believe the world urgently needs to hear
The journey begins in a place few would expect – in the unpredictable and often disorienting world of bipolar disorder, where the author, caught between manic highs and devastating lows, found himself drawn to the Scriptures not out of obligation but out of a desperate need to make sense of the chaos that had taken hold of his life. What followed wasn’t a passive reading but a deep, almost obsessive excavation of meaning until the familiar landscape of Christian tradition began to shift, revealing what he believes to be a radically different picture of the Messiah. It’s from this unlikely starting point that a provocative thesis emerges, one which asks the reader not only to reconsider what they’ve always believed about the divine, but to confront the possibility that much of it might have been built on foundations far less solid than we’ve assumed.
In this book, Brand wrestles with something most people would never dare to explore and that’s the idea the Messiah might not be male after all, and that the name we’ve been taught to call upon, “Jesus,” may not be the original name at all. According to his study, the true Savior isn’t a man named Jesus at all, but a black woman named Yeshuatekani. This is an idea that he ties to verses that many people may either know by heart or have possibly heard repeatedly in their churches.
The book doesn’t follow a neat academic path. It’s more like an unfolding conversation, sometimes intense, sometimes gentle but often surprising. Brand uses familiar scriptures but replaces names and titles with what he believes are their original Hebrew meanings. At first, it’s disorienting but then you start to notice patterns and just when you think you’re starting to understand where it’s all going, the ground shifts again, and what feels like revelation turns into provocation, challenging not only what you believe, but why you believe it.
The book raises questions such as why were so many of the sacrificial lambs in the Old Testament female and why is “Wisdom” in Proverbs always referred to as a “she.” These aren’t just odd details according to the author but hidden clues in a much bigger tapestry. As you keep reading, you begin to notice how these little details start to connect, as he gently guides you toward the idea that we may have missed something or perhaps we’ve been handed a version of the story that left something behind… or someone. That’s the kind of feeling this book stirs, not all at once but in layers. Some moments feel almost poetic, especially when Brand connects Yeshuatekani to images of doves, lilies, and hidden names while other parts are confrontational. He is not afraid to call out what he sees as deception in modern Christianity, especially around holidays, church traditions, and leadership.
Yeshuatekani: The Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley, by David Albert James Brand isn’t about proving something in a scholarly way but about inviting you to look again and reconsider. Even though readers may reject some of its conclusions, its critique of how Christian traditions may have taken on elements from earlier belief systems raises historical questions that are worth considering. Its value lies not in academic rigor but in its ability to provoke thought about the intersections of gender, power, and scripture. For readers open to radical re-interpretations of Christianity, it offers a fascinating perspective but for traditional believers, it may serve as a litmus test for the boundaries of faith and heresy. With clarity and reverence, David Albert James Brand brings together biblical prophecy, Hebrew roots, and New Testament fulfillment to illuminate Christ as the fragrant offering, the gentle healer, and the victorious King.