The Ten Commandments, Essay Example

Introduction

The film of the Ten Commandment has been filmed at least eight times. The most memorable being that starring the actor Charlton Heston. More recently this was filmed in 2007 with a star studded cast that included Ben Kingsley and Christian Slater. The film provides the epic biblical story of the freedom of the Israelites from bondage of the Egyptians, the parting of the red sea and Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God. The films have been renowned for a number of historical inaccuracies. This paper examines some of these in greater depth and how the movies can fall short in teaching people historical accuracies in the history behind Western Civilisation.

Historical Inaccuracies

Virtually all of the films on the Ten Commandments have implied that Ramses was the Pharaoh at the timer of the Exodus. Whilst this statement is relatively harmless it nevertheless is factually inaccurate and may misguide history students. In addition those wishing to dispute biblical readings cite this as being false and as such the entire biblical story is false. Research studies have indicated that the Exodus took place some 150 years before Ramses and probably under the Pharaoh Amenhotep 11 [1 Kings 6:1]. Equally the City of Ramses as constructed centuries before the Pharaoh Ramses 11 took office.

There are some contradictions in minimising the sins of both Moses and Aaron. Moses was believed to be 80 years old when he led the Jews out of Egypt. This was a very different man to the young Moses. Moses had committed murder by killing an Egyptian guard, although believed to be an act of self-defence; it goes against the commandments of God. Later in the desert Aaron is described to look innocent of the forging of the golden calf and the act of idolatry, another cardinal sin against God in terms of worshiping false images. It took many years for the influence of God to make Aaron into a righteous person and servant of God. (Criswell).

The epic Cecil B. DeMille’s version of the movie filmed in 1956 tried to portray an accurate and honest depiction of historical events, however did depict Ramses as the Pharaoh. The film was also rather contrived in the depiction of the characters. Moses was believed to have a speech impediment and a stutter that was caused by putting a hot coal in his mouth from Pharaoh. Having the lead actor i.e. Charles Heston with a stutter did not fit well into the iconic image of Moses so this historical fact was quickly discarded.

In 2007 another film (more of a documentary) was made on the story of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments. This film called ‘Exodus’ attempted to provide more historical accuracies behind the events that took place in terms of the Exodus and the receiving of the Ten Commandments. A Swedish scientist who appears in the film talks more about researching historical accuracies in order to gain a better understanding of the events that took place during this time. The film illustrates the biblical site on Mount Sinai where God is said to have given Moses the Ten Commandments. The film refutes this site and states the real location is a Mountain in Saudi Arabia that is a heavily guarded religious location in that country. It is held that the crossing of the red sea took place at Nuweiba in Egypt and into the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi Arabia. (Kovaks).

Other factual errors that occurred in the early film of the Ten commandments are as follows:

• An error of omission happened where the Egyptian chariots are pursuing the Israelites through the Red Sea. The bible states that God caused the wheels to become misaligned and clog so that they would not function properly . (Exodus 14:25)
• Eliazar was commanded by Moses to place the five books in the Ark of the Covenant, however, there is no mention of this in the Bible of these writings in the Ark; only the tablets, a golden jar of manna and Arron’s rod that budded
• Aaron should not appear with Moses at the end of the film. The bible states that Moses told Joshua to lead the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, Aaron had been long dead.
• In a conversation between Birthia and Yochabel where Birthia says she should leave Goshen. She states that as Levites they are the guardians of the Israelites and cannot just leave them.The bible illustrates that the Levites were sanctified to the Lord’s use after these had supported Moses upon killing a large number at the foot of Mount Sinai.
• In the 10^th Plague scene (killing of the firstborn of the Egyptians) the film depicts a crescent moon. This conflicts with the biblical account of Passover where there was a full moon (Bible.ca)

Conclusions

It might be argued that the films are not really made with the purpose of providing factual history lessons to the audience. They are more designed to entertain with scenes of the spectacular and capture your imagination about biblical events. In most cases such films are relatively harmless provided that they are not taken too serious. The films of the Ten Commandments are no different to this. Other films like the Da Vinci Code and the Passion of Christ have similar inaccuracies and more concerned with just portraying the events of a story.

Works Cited

Bible.ca. The Date of the Exodus: 1440 BC. 2012. http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-date-1440bc.htm. 19 2 2012.

Criswell, David. The Ten Commandments. 2007. http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2007/tencommandments2007.html. 19 2 2012.

Kovaks, Joe. New film to prove accuracy of Bible. 4 6 2006. http://www.wnd.com/2006/06/36445/. 18 2 2012.