Hope - Jesus has Come!

Once again the cinematic quality of the series continues to astound me.  The special effects are second to none and the acting continues to be believable, well cast (if you can lay aside a few things) and extremely well acted.  I've thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this series and now that Jesus has come I look forward to seeing him "change the world!"  Which is exactly what the Christ event did.  It not only changed the world, but eternity and the direction of the human race.

However, this week's installment offered some of the most troubling inconsistencies thus far, and disappointed me in many ways.  Here are a few things "they missed:"

Things They Missed:

1. A Kingdom Divided: Again, not a huge issue because of the time constraints (this week they had to fit roughly 1,000 years into 110 minutes of film) but it's worth noting that they missed the split of the Kingdom after Solomon and the subsequent problems therein.  Some amazing stories about who God is and what he expects of people can be found in these pages... stories like Elijah, Elisha, Ahab and Jezebel, Hezekiah, Joash, Josiah etc... The list goes on and on.  I do like that they included Zedekiah, but glossing over the entire monarchy since David is tough to do considering the exile is a direct result of those Kings' rule.

2. Exile: In truth, Daniel went through three Kings and three empires.  I thought the Nebuchadnezzar story was done only adequately well.  Daniel would have been younger than the man that was cast, but that is a minor issue.  My major issue came with two of the biggest stories in Daniel - The Fiery Furnace and the Lion's Den:



First, the story with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego lacked some dialogue and fervor.  I think it's important to note that God struggles with taming Nebuchadnezzar almost as much as he does Israel and Judah's own kings (and he's not even Jewish!).  The writers missed the Hebrews' entire conversation with Nebuchadnezzar and missed a brilliant opportunity to show not only God's power but also these men and their certain faith.  In scripture Daniel doesn't even factor into the story, yet he seems to be a central figure in the TV Show.  They also missed that the fire was lit before they threw them into the furnace and that Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree that all people could not say anything against their God.  It seemed to me they did the story just to do it and missed some amazing gems had they chosen to do it differently (and it wouldn't have taken much more time).

Second, the story of Daniel in the Lion's den.  I thought they handled the actual scene of the Lion's den very well, and Daniel was a great actor and very believable.  In fact, I would have loved this scene had they gotten one important historical issue correct.  It was Darius, not Cyrus that sent Daniel to the Lion's den, and that is important.  This story shows that Daniel persevered under the scrutiny of 3 different kingdoms and kings.  I know what they were trying to do (smoosh everything together as quickly as possible to get to Jesus) but I thought it was handled poorly.  There's no reason to get that king wrong, even if they could have used Darius and then mentioned Cyrus' reign in passing as Daniel informs Azariah of the impending Messiah.

3. The Maccabees and Crucifixion: The writers included a bit of extra-biblical history (though to Catholicism, Maccabees would certianly be biblical) by including the Maccabean revolt (though, that occurred under Antiochus Epiphanues in the Greek rule after Alexander the Great, not during Herod's reign.)  The crucifixions along the Apian Way did happen during Jesus' time, and possibly even his return from Egypt but it is not recorded in scripture anywhere.  Just because these things aren't covered in scripture doesn't mean they didn't happen but I do question whether they should have been included.  Perhaps skipping over the revolts they could have bolstered some of their Old Testament stories that seemed lacking like Daniel or the Kings?

4. The Magi: Many probably didn't notice this while watching The Bible, but the Magi visiting Jesus wasn't exactly accurate.  First, they probably visited Jesus when he was a little over one year old or even two years old since Herod ordered all male children two years old and younger be slaughtered.  These magi also probably traveled with massive entourages as well: armed guards, servants etc.  This might inform why Herod was seemingly so threatened by their claimed allegiance to this new King of the Jews.

Five Favorite Things:

1. Lion's Den: While the fact that they had Cyrus ordering Daniel to the Lion's den instead of Darius irked me, I thought if one could get past this gaffe that the scene was handled extremely well.  The fear was palpable and I loved the fact that Daniel quoted Psalms as he prayed to God in that moment.  Psalms were a huge worship tool in the Hebrew culture and most had memorized nearly all 150 by the time they were 14.  I thought that was one of the better depictions of the Daniel story I had ever seen.

2. The raid of Jerusalem: I loved that they brought in Jeremiah as Jerusalem was sacked by Babylon.  Jeremiah was one of the thankless prophets and it is presumed by many biblical scholars that he penned the Lamentations soon after he witnessed the destruction of God's Temple in Israel.  The only thing I wished for was a little bit more of him.  Zedekiah's demise was handled extremely accurately and left me with a lump in my throat as well.

3. The Angels Appearing: I absolutely loved how the makers of The Bible depicted Gabriel's appearance to both Mary and Joseph.  It wasn't some mystical floating being that could not be felt or touched, Gabriel had a physically strong presence and his presence with Joseph in that scene was particularly impressive.  While Gabriel looked like and talked like a human it was easy to see that he was also something more.  I really was hoping to see a host of angels in the sky above Bethlehem but I suppose that was too much to ask.

4. Jesus' Baptism: At first I was a bit bewildered by this scene.  They didn't get it exactly right with scripture and John the Baptist never said "Behold, the Lamb of God" to the people like he does in scripture but despite all that I loved the energy and the certitude that it displayed.  I especially liked that the writers refrained from trying to depict the Trinity as Jesus emerged from the water.  Some things are best left untouched by human hands, and whether they regarded it this way or not I thought it was a good decision.

5. Jesus' Temptation: The temptation of Jesus brought chills to my body.  I thought they really handled how Jesus physically and emotionally would have felt at this time and the depiction of Satan was particularly chilling.  The whole scene laid the groundwork for the rest of the Jesus narrative and I thought it was handled extremely well.  I did notice that people made a connection that I'll admit I didn't see, but some thought that the man cast as Satan struck a more than passing resemblance to President Barak Obama.  I thought that was absurd and an affront to what Roma Downey and Mark Burnett were trying to do.  Whether or not people agree with President Obama isn't an issue within this series and I really wish politics would have been left out of it.

Final Thoughts:

While the first part of this week's installment left much to be desired I liked that they took the direction they did with the Jesus narrative.  I especially like ending with the call of Peter in the boat.  While the call is embellished upon a little bit I thought coupling it with John the Baptist's beheading (at the behest of Herod's daughter which wasn't shown) and John proclaiming that it was too late and that the Messiah was already here was very suspenseful.  It made me excited for next week's installment of The Bible!

- Pastor Josh