Through our Bible and history curriculum, the kids and I have spent the last couple of months studying the life and time period of Moses. I thought it might be fun to watch a couple of “Moses” films we got from our local church library, and the recent winter storms have given us a good excuse to snuggle up for a couple of long afternoon movies, popcorn in hand.
When it comes to watching Bible movies, I tend to think of these as "safe" films; I'm not usually worried about language, violence, obscenity, etc. Yet I still felt compelled to stay engaged through these films. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to watch these movies, but if you have small children, you know how loudly housework can call your name when the tv silences little people! What made up my mind that I was going to sit tight through the Bible movies? I realized with the ages of my children (7, 5, and 4), I can't expect them to know how to discern artistic interpretation. They will see scenes that are never mentioned in scripture, and I don't expect them to have the Bible knowledge to recognize every one. If I'll stay with them, I've found that we actually can all learn a great deal about the Bible when watching these films!
As we sat down to watch each "Moses" movie, if the kids saw something that they couldn't remember from our read aloud Bible time that has recently taken us through Exodus, they let me know and I wrote it down to look up later. Caleb also has been reading through the book of Exodus in his Adventure Bible which is a more literal translation of scripture than that of a story Bible, so we voted to use his Bible for investigating the foggy details of specific events.
The Ten Commandments (1956)
This epic classic is a two disc marathon that begins with Pharoah's edict to kill all the Hebrew male babies and ends with Moses passing the mantle of leadership to Joshua and ascending Mount Nebo at the end of his life. By the movie's own admission in the introduction, the script was enhanced by non-biblical sources, such as: Josephus, the Sepher-ha-Yashar, the Chronicles of Moses and the Quran. And parts were mere invention. Right after this introduction, I paused the film and explained to the boys what that meant and reminded them to let me know if they had any questions. (No matter what movie we're watching, someone seems to always be thinking aloud anyway.) There were some great biblical truths displayed; however, though not an exhaustive list, here are some of the questions either I asked or they did about scenes we didn't remember reading in scripture.
- Did Moses love Pharoah's daughter? This was a major theme throughout the film that has no basis in scripture.
- What was Moses' mother's name? In the film it's Yoshebel, and scripture tells us it was Jochebed (Exodus 6:20)
- Was Joshua the Hebrew slave that Moses rescued from an Egyptian beating? Scripture does not name the slave. (Exodus 2:11)
- Did Moses stand trial before Pharaoh after killing the Egyptian taskmaster? No (Exodus 2:11-15)
- Did Joshua go looking for Moses in Midian? No, God sent Moses back to Egypt. (Exodus 3:10)
- Did Moses tell Pharaoh about the last plague? No, after the ninth plague Moses told Pharaoh that he would never see his face again. (Exodus 10:28-29)
- Did Pharaoh issue a decree to kill all the firstborn of the Hebrews right before the last plague? No. Exodus 12 gives detail of the last plague.
- Did the Red Sea part instantly? No, the Bible tells us it took all night (Exodus 14:21)
- Was it a pillar of fire or cloud that held back the Egyptian army while the Red Sea parted? It was a cloud. (Exodus 14:19)
- Did Pharaoh go back to Egypt after his army drowned in the Red Sea? It may not be explicitly clear, but Exodus 14 and Psalm 136:15 leave room for the notion that Pharaoh went with his army into the Red Sea and was drowned.
- Did Moses' Egyptian mother leave Egypt with Moses and the Hebrews when pharaoh set them free? Nothing in scripture speaks to Moses' Egyptian mother leaving Egypt with the Hebrews; however Exodus 12:37-39 does indicate that some foreigners indeed followed the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Torah often addresses how "foreigners" in the midst of Israel were to be treated.
- Was it the daughter or wife who drew Moses out of the water? The film depicts Pharoah's wife finding and raising Moses, but scripture tells us it was Pharoah's daughter (Exodus 2:5-10).
- When did Moses know he was a Hebrew? In the film Moses doesn't find out until right before he kills the Egyptian he sees beating a Hebrew. However, Moses' mother nursed him until he "grew up" and was taken to the palace, so most likely he knew he was Hebrew. (Exodus 1:9-10)
- Did Moses kill the Egyptian taskmaster accidentally? No. (Exodus 2:12)
- Did Zipporah meet Moses first in Egypt? Zipporah is given a much larger role in the film than is found in scripture. He does not meet her until he arrives in Midian (Exodus 2:21)
- Did Moses or Aaron speak to Pharaoh? Aaron was to be Moses' "mouth" and Moses was to perform the "signs" of God. (Exodus 4:15-17) "You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land." (Exodus 7:2)
To me the most important question after each of these films was...
What did we learn about GOD? I want to make sure I reinforce and affirm truths about God's character and power and just as assuredly deconstruct any false concepts of God that might have been misunderstood or sparked by the film.
I hope by making good discussion a theme in our home, we can keep discernment and God's value system from going to the waste side when the television comes on. Choosing wisdom versus foolishness has become a big theme in our parenting; I wrote a previous post on four questions we try to keep in mind that can be applied to any tv show or movie as we seek to cultivate wisdom in our viewing habits.
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