Let me begin by saying that the History Channels first installment of "The Bible" was excellent! I thought the stories were handled well and the biblical content portrayed accurately enough to convey the truth of the Word. The made-for-tv special effects were well done and there was plenty of action to keep the viewer captivated.
Personally I did have a bit of a problem with the ages of the characters. For instance, Sarah was well over one hundred years old when she had Isaac. Perhaps there aren't many 100 year old actors in Hollywood, but I'm not sure that a one hundred year old woman portrayed by a fifty year old woman should be running up and down rocky mountains as this Sarah did. And when Moses returned from his time in the wilderness (after the burning bush) he would have been more than 80 years old. His OLDER sister Miriam was introduced to him on his return as a 40 year old accompanying 2 young children addressed as "her children." I don't remember reading anything in Genesis about Miriam having children in her old age as Sarah had in hers. Just saying...
To me, it was genius to have Noah retell the story of creation and the fall from inside the Ark. It gave the movie a great action beginning and helped move us through several chapters of Genesis without taking up too much movie time. It also helped portray the activity of passing along information through story from generation to generation which is how a great deal of our faith has been preserved. We should learn from this technique and do the same with our children and grandchildren. When they hear us tell the Biblical stories as they have shaped and impacted our lives, our faith becomes a living and active faith in their ears... something they will remember the rest of their lives. While on the subject of the creation story, kudos to the writers for using a fruit other than an apple for the crisis moment when the first couple ate from the forbidden tree.
I was missing a reference to "The Covenant" in these stories tonight. While promises were made to Abraham and referenced by Moses, God made a stronger connection with these two men that goes beyond promises to actual covenant- an agreement between one who has power and one who has little or none. It is "Covenant" that marriages are based upon but which our current society disregards so easily. It is "Covenant" that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross completes in a way that will never be revoked or denied. Did you miss hearing the word "Covenant?"
Most intriguing to me was the hooded character that appeared to Abraham several times during the retelling of his story. This hooded character showed up as one of the "Three visitors" Abraham encounters in Genesis Chapter 18. He continues on with Abraham as "The Lord" who intends to destroy Sodom later in Chapter 18. This is the one Abraham pleads with so that Lots life may be spared. Once again we see the hooded figure call out to Abraham as he is about to slay his son Isaac in chapter 22. Here he is referred to as "An angel." Many Bible scholars refer to these "sightings" as Christ sightings... believing that Christ (the second person of the Trinity) shows up in the Old Testament- a physical manifestation of God, Immanuel, "God with us." If this is what the producers and writers of "The Bible" have in mind, we should see a few other appearances of the same hooded character in upcoming episodes. What are your thoughts on the subject?
I hope you enjoyed this first evening of "The Bible" as much as I have. I can't wait to catch the next installment of the series.
God bless you. Pastor Paul
Join Benson Baptist as we journey through "The Bible" alongside the television miniseries premiering March 3, 2013 on the History Channel.
While watching this I found myself having the same problem with the ages that were portrayed. Obviously, it would be hard to find someone the right age to play it, but with the makeup artists that film companies have today, surely they could have tried a little harder. The men and women looked "normal" old as if they were very early in their elderly years.
ReplyDeleteI do really like that the History Channel has decided to do something like this because it brings life to the stories. (Just gotta keep in mind that some things have been stretched/added/tweaked to make it appealing to viewers.) I think this is something that may draw people in who want to find out more. Or draw in those who remember these from their childhoods to come back to their religion. Or just encourage us all to go back and read these stories as they are actually written in the Bible. (I know I was unsure about some things and wanted to go back and check to see if the History Channel was portraying it right or wrong.)
I also thought they did a great job film-wise, the quality was not sacrificed.
I think this is going to be a very interesting series to watch and I'm excited to see how it plays out, especially in comparison to the real stories it is portraying.
I think we'll need to set aside all the problems with general characterization of the key players in the stories. Otherwise, we will get caught up in the minutiae and miss out on the under lying theme(s) and how they are handled.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the reoccurring phrase, "Trust in God." It was stated multiple times by multiple characters (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua). This gave me the impression that the story tellers are tying to send a deeper message then simply what has been written in the Bible.
The other thing that struck me is in this PC age, there was no sugar coating of the idea that Israel is God's chosen people. It could have been very easy to dull this message so as not to potentially offend the Muslims and Arabs in the world.
Focusing on minutiae is what I do best... I'm a pastor! But really, I think there is room for observations about things that might trip us up or those who are watching who don't know the real story. Sometimes it's the details; the well crafted line, the placement of props, the casting of actors or the timing of action that will make or break a scene or that will support or undermine the conveyance of truth.
DeleteYour observations on the recurring phrase, "Trust in God" are well taken. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a theme the producers will be developing. It will be great to see how this unfolds.
I noticed the hooded character too. I recognized the voice from the trailer as the actor playing Jesus and I thought it was interesting they chose him for all those encounters with God instead of a more traditional, booming God voice that one might expect. Once the show reaches the story of Jesus, I think viewers will be more likely to hear him speak and feel like his words carry the weight God's words should carry simply based on voice recognition. Smart move on their part.
ReplyDeleteThe drama in the show was much better in some scenes than I was expecting and much worse in others. Noah's retelling of the creation story while trying to maintain the boat felt surprisingly genuine. I was expecting the grand scene they set up with the large scale special effects and epic scenery but then, for just a split second, they flashed to the many people outside the boat drowning. In that moment I forgot about the things I normally think about when I read about the flood. I forgot about how powerful God must be to do something like that. I forgot about the faith it took for Noah to build the ark. In that moment, the only thing I felt was sorrow for the people who had become so evil God chose to drown them. That isn't to say I thought they didn't deserve it or that God shouldn't have done it. I just felt awful that the world had gotten so terrible that such a decision was necessary. Kudos, Bible miniseries.
I also found myself extremely wrapped up in Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. I watched that scene from their website a while ago, then again at church on Sunday, then yet again when I watched on Sunday night and I couldn't help but hold my breath, waiting to see if God would step in in time to save poor Isaac. Isn't that the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? Well they did such a good job sucking me in that I couldn't help myself.
I was, however, disappointed with the Moses story. Maybe I've just seen too many Moses movies that have 2 hours or whatever to linger on all the important parts and envelop me in the story. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Moses's call is my favorite part of Scripture and if it's not exactly perfect, I might flip out... At any rate, I just felt like the burning bush scene fell a little flat. I was hoping they'd focus more on the fact that Moses really didn't deserve to be called by God to perform such a big task. My favorite theme behind this story is that God uses those who aren't good enough (in this case a murderer with speaking issues) to do big things. And where was the "I AM who I AM?" Ooooh, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Alas, it was totally absent. I suppose I should be forgiving since they crammed a lot of history into that two hours. I suppose.
All in all, it made me appreciate the stories in ways I hadn't before and the couple places I thought it fell flat just made me want to read the real deal. I guess that's the point, right?