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The Ten Commandments movie

Estro Felino

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
capumetu said:
If the Movie made you feel more spiritual, and motivate you to seek God, fantastic. But the Bible is certainly the best place to learn the facts about God.
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This movie is nothing but an artistic work.
A movie is supposed to be entertaining...that is why the writers invented the character of Nefertiri.
And the romance between her and Moses is central in the movie...

 
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WalterTrull

WalterTrull

Godfella
Don't get me wrong. I love the movie. Watched it many times. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a pedant. Does it strike you that this movie was made before actors had to be super buff to take their shirts off. Sort of fun.
 
Subduction Zone

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
capumetu said:
As with any movie maam, they add a lot of drama. I like that movie very much, just some tidbits,
The Bible shows Pharaoh had the Hebrew babies killed to curb increases in Israelite population, but DeMille’s movie says it was to cut off the deliverer Moses while he was a babe.—Ex. 1:9, 10.
The Bible indicates Moses knew all the time he was a Hebrew, and because he knew he was he killed an Egyptian that was striking one of his Hebrew brothers. He fled from Egypt. But the movie has him exiled because when he is grown it is learned he is a Hebrew and loves the same girl as Pharaoh’s son.—Ex. 2:11, 12, 15.
The Bible first tells of the law to be written on human hearts in the prophet Jeremiah’s time, but DeMille runs ahead of God in this by about nine hundred years, having it said to Moses at the burning bush.—Jer. 31:31-33.
The Bible account shows that the Israelites used God’s name Jehovah and that it was specifically discussed with Moses, at Exodus 6:3, but the movie repeatedly refers to God’s name being unknown to the Israelites and it never is disclosed in the film.
The Bible, at Acts 7:23-30, shows that Moses fled Egypt when he was forty years old and was eighty when he returned from Midian. But the movie shows no such passage of time, keeping all the characters involved in love episodes wonderfully youthful, although Moses was allowed to age miraculously all at once, at the burning bush.
The Bible shows that Moses’ enemies in Egypt were dead when he returned, but the movie has his worst enemy sitting on the throne as Pharaoh.—Ex. 4:19.
The Bible tells of God’s determination to bring the tenth plague, the death of the Egyptian first-born. But in the movie this death of the first-born is Pharaoh’s idea, he intending to do this to the Israelites, and only then does God turn the tables on him by doing it to the Egyptian first-born.—Ex. 11:1-5.
The Bible record states that Pharaoh later pursued the Israelites to recover his slave labor, but DeMille says it was because Moses spurned the love of Pharaoh’s queen.—Ex. 14:5, 6.
It may be debatable whether Pharaoh accompanied his troops to the Red Sea or not, but if he did he died there, according to the Bible. But the movie let him survive that watery debacle and return to Egypt.—Ex. 14:28.
Did Dathan instigate the golden-calf worship at Sinai, and did the earth swallow him and others for that? DeMille says yes, but the Bible says no. Did those calf worshipers die that way at all? No, but by sword and plague. Dathan was not among them, for he and other rebels were swallowed up by the earth at a much later time and for an entirely different sin.—Ex. 32:27, 28, 35; Num. 16:1-3, 12, 25-32.
Ironically, where DeMille said he would depart from the Bible he actually did not. He said the people danced naked at the worship of the golden calf but he would clothe them; modern translations accurately show they did not dance naked but merely broke loose in unrestraint and unruliness.—Ex. 32:25, NW, RS, AT, Le.

If the Movie made you feel more spiritual, and motivate you to seek God, fantastic. But the Bible is certainly the best place to learn the facts about God.
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The movie version is just as true as the biblical version. Don't put too much value on the story itself since at best it is a morality tale.
 
Windwalker

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Trailblazer said:
What I think people need to understand about God is that God is loving but also just so sometimes the wrath if God it is warranted, as was depicted in the movie. I kind of like the wrathful God because I am big on justice. ;)
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Funny thing about that word justice. The word justice can be understood two different ways. There is the justicice of distribution, and the justice of retribution. The justice of distribution is of primary concern in biblical materials. Retributive justice is secondary and derives from a failure to uphold distributive justice. When the biblical writers cry out for justice, it's primary call is for fairness and distribution of God's world to all God's children. The cry for retribution is when that fair distribution has been violated and the people suffer.

Retributive justice however, is frankly the way of the world, paying others back, vengeance for injustices against others. It is violent, threatening, intimidating. Distributive justice on the other hand is not. It is invitational, never forceful. It is frankly, the way of the Divine. Love never forces itself upon others. Love invites.

What then of fairness, or what you may call justice when that is violated and others suffers as a result? Shouldn't the perpetrators suffer a payback, and get their "just" comeuppance? That's the tricky thing. Violence, even when done in the name of justice, has consequences.

Consequences flow internally from an act, punishments flow externally from it. "Justice" in the sense of consequences, are the natural result of failing to act internally consistent with the Divine nature embedded within all of us by virtue of Creation itself. That is distributive justice, leveling out through internal imbalances resulting in suffering. Suffering is internally generated by ourselves to ourselves, when we step outside of how we are designed to function. We reap what we sow, even if we "get away with it" in the eyes of others.

Think of it in terms of sitting slouched over in a chair all day long. The body is not designed to do that. Soon, all manner of secondary symptoms begin to surface, back pain, hip stiffness, knee pain, challenges breathing properly, etc. None of those are "punishments", or anything coming from outside of you. They are "consequences" rather, coming as a result of internal actions which violate the body's design. God is not punishing us with for sitting wrong. We are doing that to ourselves.

The latter is Divine justice. The law of consequences, not external punishments. Divine justice is invitational. "Are you tired of suffering yet? Start doing the right thing then." Punishment from the outside, is really more about the person punishing, forcing themselves upon the other, satisfying their sense of outrage at the other though an action of violence. But that action of violence from them to the others, is actually an act that has internal consequences against themselves. The latter, is the way of the world.

Yes, you find both types of justice, the Divine way and the world's way, attributed to God in the biblical materials. And that is an interesting, and confusing thing, in that it is a contradiction about the nature of the Divine. This thread I started here goes into that, which you may find interesting to read. How to Read the Bible, and Still be a Christian
 
BilliardsBall

BilliardsBall

Veteran Member
Trailblazer said:
Our cable went out a couple of days ago so my husband went looking for movies and pulled the movie The Ten Commandments (1956) off the bookcase, which is one of his favorite movies. We have seen the movie many times but it has been years since I watched it.


I soon realized that I am not the same person I was when I last watched it because I cried through practically the entire movie. I know I have said that I am not religiously inclined and that I don’t like God very much but after watching this movie I realized that is not really the case.

I never read the Torah or the Old Testament, only bits and pieces of it, but now I am inspired to read it all, as soon as I have time. I also want to say that I now believe that Judaism laid the foundation for the religions that came later – Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith.

I have a whole new appreciation for Moses and the Jewish people and Judaism after watching this movie, so I guess it was a good thing our cable went out. :)

If anyone of the Jewish faith or anyone else wants to weigh in on how accurately the movie depicts the Jewish history I would be very happy to hear from them. How much of the movie was just Hollywood? Call me naive, but I believe that those miracles could have happened by the power of God.
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I'm a Jew. Much of the Ten Commandments script is from Josephus and Talmud.

Read the NT also, particularly the gospels, the film is filled with magnificent pictures of Jesus! Think of Joshua being whipped and the position he's in, or statements of Moses like "I heard the Word. And the Word WAS God!"
 
Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
ChristineM said:
Beta was not so popular in the uk although some people had them. They were most upset when the format was dumped
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Yes, I remember people being upset here too, as we are the same vintage. :);)
I can also remember not being able to rent very many tapes that would play on our Beta player.
 
Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Audie said:
I cannot see enjoying anything in that
movie, it left me feeling kind of ill and utterly revolted.
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We humans certainly are all very different, what we like, what we don't like.
Lots of it is related to what culture we were brought in and of course our parents...
I was not brought up religious yet 95% of people in the United States were Christians when I was growing up.
Only later during college did I find religion but it never really took with me....
I am still not what most people would call religious, I am just a believer in God and Baha'u'llah, and all the other Messengers.
 
ChristineM

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Trailblazer said:
Yes, I remember people being upset here too, as we are the same vintage. :);)
I can also remember not being able to rent very many tapes that would play on our Beta player.
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Same vintage... An insult Ma'am, an insult, i may feel 15 or 20 years older some mornings but...
 
Audie

Audie

Veteran Member
Trailblazer said:
We humans certainly are all very different, what we like, what we don't like.
Lots of it is related to what culture we were brought in and of course our parents...
I was not brought up religious yet 95% of people in the United States were Christians when I was growing up.
Only later during college did I find religion but it never really took with me....
I am still not what most people would call religious, I am just a believer in God and Baha'u'llah, and all the other Messengers.
Click to expand...

You don't see the " god" being portrayed
as a monster? The slaughter of innocents
Is....?
 
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