Whether Harry Potter or The Hobbit, adaptations of bestsellers onto the big screen come with high expectations. Readers expect their imagined worlds to be materialized and recreated ideally. But adaptations are common enough that book readers are accustomed to the movie versions taking some creative differences from the source material through added or omitted scenes, repurposed characters, or reimagined plot points. Filmmakers’ choices are often influenced by respecting a desired running time or simply having a particular focus for the story.
Movie adaptations of Bible stories are part of this phenomenon. Interpretation—trying to figure out the message—is key to how Christians engage with the Bible. Examining the changes from the text in adaptations is an exercise in understanding what these changes end up meaning to the stories.
When it comes to Hollywood’s biblical epics, The Ten Commandments (1956) is probably the traditional favorite. It adapts the story of Moses [1], the prophet God uses to deliver the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and lead them as a nation belonging to God, under God’s law. Both page and screen present the basic story of a Hebrew infant who is adopted and raised as if a member of the royal family. Later, Moses departs Egypt, only returning when called by God to lead his fellow Hebrews out of bondage. With its high drama, memorable characters, and stirring music, the movie is the source for many of the defining images of the Exodus story in the public imagination. Remarkably absorbing and involving, the movie’s popularity is no surprise.
The story’s concise biblical text is brought to life in the four-hour epic. The movie takes the liberty of dramatizing the narrative, especially before Moses’ prophethood. Almost half the film covers the single chapter of Exodus 2 (overall, the film touches upon material from about sixteen of Exodus’ forty chapters). Original to the movie is the love story between Moses and the princess Nefretiri, as well as the depicted rivalry between Moses and Rameses—the biological son of Pharaoh Sethi—that contributes so much to the film’s drama. But on reflection, one particular deviance from Scripture begins to stand out as remarkably significant, one that has deep spiritual ramifications for Christians and the interpretation of the text. This great difference is apparent when Moses goes from being part of the Egyptian royal family to leaving Egypt, Pharaoh, and his princehood altogether. The difference lies not merely in how it happens, but why.
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The Big Difference
In the movie, Moses has no idea he is a Hebrew by blood. He is glad to be a prince of Egypt and wants to serve Pharaoh’s glory. His praises are sung in the name of the gods of Egypt. Though not as cruel to them as Rameses, he is initially indifferent to the Hebrews’ plight for deliverance and all the more indifferent to their exalted one God. It is when his true heritage is dramatically realized that Moses considers the suffering of Israel closely and stands up against the bondage of his people, even slaying an official of Pharaoh. The ensuing controversy leads to Moses’ exile.
However, in the Biblical story, the text reads as if Moses is actually aware of his Hebrew heritage from the beginning. He does slay an official of Pharaoh out of anger at his treatment of his people, but Moses personally flees Egypt instead of being exiled. Different as this is, it still begs the question of how this is really a uniquely significant change on the movie’s part.
The explanation comes from what the Bible says about Moses, but from outside the book of Exodus. It comes from the New Testament book of Hebrews which provides a genuinely stunning piece of commentary on the concise narrative we find in Exodus written ages earlier. In a chapter stressing the importance of faith, the author of Hebrews writes these words:
“By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26) [2]
In the movie, Moses is doubtful of the God of his people up until he sees the burning bush—the first time God speaks to him directly, well after he has left Egypt. Moses originally departs Egypt because his passion against the abuse and bondage of his people causes him to defy Pharaoh, bringing him a sentence of exile to the harsh desert. All of this happens while Moses is indifferent towards the God of Israel. Before the revelation of his parentage, he is wholly dedicated to serving “Sethi’s glory,” his love for Nefretiri, and Egypt. He has no knowledge of the terrifying circumstances of his actual birth, and though not unsympathetic towards the Israelites, he doesn’t much care about their culture or their one God.
But the amazing revelation provided in Hebrews is that Moses did not forsake his status as a prince of Egypt only out of personal anger at the enslavement of his people, or even out of fearing punishment. Most of all, none of this happened while he was indifferent towards the God of Israel. Instead, the author of Hebrews writes that Moses, the eventual prophet of Israel, esteemed the reproach of Christ. That is, this man, who all of Egypt took as a prince, preferred the God of the slaves over the riches of Egypt. Looking at Egypt, the great civilization of the earth, Moses saw sin and inferiority from the glory of God; looking at the God of Israel, even while Israel knew nothing but ugly suffering in bondage, he saw goodness and glory and hope—for he looked to the reward.
The movie depicts Moses disguising himself as a slave after learning his heritage.The experience serves to help him understand and prefer his suffering people over his adoptive people, their oppressors. But Scripture suggests that Moses aligned himself with his suffering people because his hope in God, the God of slaves, inspired him to love his people and hate the riches of his material inheritance, which he counted as sin.
The disparity between the text and the film is amplified by the movie’s presentation of Moses as, in a sense, the inherently good protagonist, even while ignoring his eventual God. Throughout the film’s first half, we are clearly meant to appreciate Moses’ charisma and gentleness over Rameses. Even before Moses’ great hatred of the Hebrews’ enslavement, he improves their working conditions, tries to treat them justly, and even gives them a day in seven to rest—many years before God gives his people the commandment of the Sabbath. Moses, at the time as much a stranger to the Lord as Rameses, possesses all the heroic charms that seem to mark him for future prophethood. While it is not impossible for one to have these charms or even oppose bondage while not belonging to God, it’s not the story of Moses.
Examining those verses from Hebrews in the context of the broader passage of Hebrews 11, we learn that the saints of the Old Testament were empowered to do the right thing, especially when it was easier not to, by having faith in their God. This applied not only to momentary choices, but also to ultimate life ambitions. Moses was a prince of Egypt—he could have had the most comfortable and exalted life the world could offer. He needed only to keep silent. After all, from his perspective, why should he stand with his fellow Hebrews in suffering, even if they shared his blood? What good would it do him, or them? He was just one man. The excerpt ends with “he looked to the reward.” What reward did he see?
Looking to the Reward
Moses’ described faith and the many examples of faith mentioned in the chapter provide major lessons for Christians, who also must walk by faith, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1) [3]. Moses saw the glory and preferability of God such that he trusted God to deliver him and his people in bondage and bring them to Himself. Moses trusted that God would deliver His people to His goodness, to His peace, and to life untroubled—whether it happened in this life or beyond it. By trusting, hoping, having faith in God to do this, Moses was empowered to favor God’s righteousness even while the backs of his people were still red from Egyptian whips. Moses saw there is no higher good or better reward than God Himself— to know Him and stand before Him in peace and joy forever. Salvation is the removal of all obstacles to this reward, including sin. By trusting in the God of Abraham’s promise to bring those who belong to Him to this goodness, Moses trusted in the Spirit of Christ, even while Jesus’ birth was far off, and even while not understanding the future plainly.
In His ministry, Jesus told many parables about the kingdom of heaven. One that sheds light on Moses’ hope is found in the book of Matthew:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) [4]
Reading this verse as a window to Hebrews’ revelation about Moses, we may recognize that Moses is like the man who found treasure, the kingdom of heaven. The formation of a Christian is the same. A Christian is a person who belongs to the God of Moses through Christ by faith—a sort of faith that considers Jesus as greater than the passing pleasures of sin or even the treasures of this world, whether the ones in reach or ones beyond access.
Hebrews explains that esteeming Christ brings about salvation of the soul and reconciliation to God. As the people described in Hebrews 11 found, it can also bring the power for obedience in this life, for those that belong to God. The lesson extends to Christians: through loving God and seeing His glory, believers can rest in the hope of His righteousness and are empowered to love their neighbors and even their enemies. Obedience will remain a challenge that the Christian has to persevere in, but by walking in a “living hope,” God shall help a person overcome [5].Hope and looking to the reward enable a person to prefer God’s righteousness when, like for Moses, unrighteousness would be easier. But it also enables one to not abandon that hope altogether in times of suffering in exchange for despair, even when despair becomes tempting. God helps believers persevere by empowering them to meditate on the reward, which is fellowship with God through Christ forever, free from this life’s troubles.
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Reflecting on the fact that the clarifying key to Moses’ story comes on the other end of the Bible from Exodus, we can see how the filmmakers might have missed this illuminating element of the narrative. Despite its oversight, The Ten Commandments remains a valuable and wonderful film. There is richness and poetry in so many of its lines, and beauty in so many of the performances. Although its dramatic beats use historical and artistic imagination, there is something compelling about the drama of an Egyptian prince discovering he is the son of Hebrew slaves, the inner politics of Pharaoh’s court, and evolution of Moses’ love for Nefretiri. But above all, The Ten Commandments is valuable for representing in cinematic form the glitter of something seen in the Bible’s words or something kids may have glimpsed at in the colorful pages of a children’s illustrated Bible: across its four hours, The Ten Commandments contains sincere expressions of God’s glory that can inspire one to esteem God and can help lead one’s heart to the fruits of the very verses the movie neglected in adapting.
By Elnathan Abraham, Contributor
Elnathan Abraham grew up in both Mount Juliet, Tennessee and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is a junior currently studying English and may minor in Computer Science. He is fond of movies, literature, video games, and music.
References
- The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille (1956, Paramount Pictures)
- Hebrews 11:24-26 NKJV
- Hebrews 11:1 NKJV
- Matthew 13:44 NKJV
- 1 Peter 1:3 NKJV