The Bible
The Bible and AD Miniseries
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The Bible Miniseries on
The History Channel
A Review of Episode One
By Gary F. Zeolla
The Bible is to be a five-part (ten hour) miniseries on The History Channel.
The first episode aired Sunday, March 3, 2013, with following episodes scheduled
to be aired on subsequent Sundays. I first heard about it on "TV Watch" on my iGoogle page. As soon as I saw it, I thought that there is no way the series
will not actually follow the Bible. I say that as every time secular TV does a
show about the Bible, it's never faithful to the Bible.
And sure enough, as I read the review, it stated, "Thusly begins this cheesefest
miniseries, which, according to the opening crawl, ‘endeavors to stay true to
the spirit of the book.' It doesn't. My old picture Bible was more faithful." So
that set me up to not have high hopes for the miniseries. In fact, I wasn't even
going to watch it. But there was a lot of hype about it, and Christians seemed
to be excited about it. And in fact, some 14 million people ended up watching
the first episode.
And I can understand the excitement. To have a secular network do a series on
the Bible would seem like a good thing. It has the possibility of exposing the
Bible to potentially millions of people who have never read the Bible. And no
matter how accurate or inaccurate the series is, if it inspires people to read
the Bible for themselves, then that is a very good thing.
However, I am a stickler for accuracy. I just feel like if you're going to make
a movie or TV series about the Bible it should be faithful to what the Bible
teaches. To expose people to a distorted view of the Bible I simply don't
consider beneficial. It can be hard to "unlearn" inaccuracies that get implanted
into someone's head. So how accurate is this History Channel production? This
article will answer that question by reviewing episode one
titled “Beginnings.”
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from my
Analytical-Literal
Translation of the Old Testament: Volume One: The Torah.
Copyright © 2012 By Gary F. Zeolla (www.Zeolla.org).
Genesis 1-11
Very quickly in watching episode one, it became obvious what the
biggest problem was going to be with the series: it was going to try to cover
too much ground. The Bible is a long book, and to try to boil it down to just
ten hours requires skipping over whole chunks of it.
The series opens with Noah in the ark floating upon the floodwaters. But they
never actually said that's what it was. Noah wasn't named, and no other aspects
of the flood story were depicted. So if I hadn't known what it was supposed to
be, I probably would have thought it was just some unnamed guy in a ship in the
middle of the ocean.
Noah was relating to his sons the story of creation, citing the seven days of
creation. Then very quickly Adam and Eve were shown, and the eating of the
forbidden fruit, and Cain striking Abel. And that was it as far as the first eleven chapters of Genesis
goes. Most off all, the very important covenant the LORD makes with Noah as record in
Genesis 9 is completely left out.
And to mention one inaccuracy about the story of Noah was the shape and size of
the ark. It was pictured as a modestly sized boat with a pointed bow and stern.
But the ark as described in Scripture is a large barge, a rectangle (Gen
6:14-15). It was designed to just float upon the water, not to pass through the
water, so no pointed bow was necessary.
Abraham and Lot
Some of the more important parts of the story of Abraham were
depicted, starting with his calling and his leaving his homeland with his wife,
his nephew Lot, and others. But even at this time they were referring to Abraham
and Sarah. But Biblical, initially, their names were Abram and Sarai (Gen
11:29). The LORD changed their names to Abraham and Sarah much later. This
change of name is important, as Abram means "exalted father" while Abraham
means, "father of a multitude." The later was the LORD's promise to Abraham,
that he would be "a father of many nations" (Gen 17:5,15).
Then they showed the separation of Lot and Abram and Lot going to Sodom. The
scene of the LORD and two angels coming to Abram was then depicted. They tell
Abram that Sodom is going to be destroyed, and Abram pleads with the LORD to
spare it if fifty, forty, or even just ten righteous are found. And the LORD
agrees. That was well-depicted.
But then we come to destruction of Sodom as recorded in Genesis 19, and the
inaccuracies of the show abound. First, the angels enter the city and plead with
Lot to take them into his house. But Biblically, it is the other way around. Lot
pleads with the angels to come into his house (vv. 1-3).
Once in his house, the men of the city begin banging on Lot's door, and lot
tries pushing them away. But it is never made clear in the show what the men
want. But in the Bible, they are saying, "Where are the men, the ones going in
to you this night? Bring them out to us that we may be with them [sexually]" (v.
5). I guess having a bunch of homosexuals wanting to gang rape two visitors to
their city was just too "politically incorrect" for the show to depict.
The angels strike the men with blindness, which is Biblical (v. 11). But then,
they depict the angels as fighting their way out of the city with Lot, his wife,
and his two daughters. The angels are depicted as fighting with a sword in each
hand, jumping around Ninja style, striking down the men of the city. But that
whole scene has no Biblical basis whatsoever.
Also, what is left out is Lot pleading with his sons-in-laws to come with them
(v.14). But then, Lot's daughters are depicted as being little girls, way too
young to be married.
Lot, his wife, and daughters are depicted as fleeing from the city, with Lot's
wife looking back and being turned into a pillar of salt. That is accurate.
(v.26). But they failed to include the angel's prior warning to Lot and his
family not to look back (v. 17), so the turning of Lot's into a pillar of salt
made no sense.
As they are fleeing, they show what looked like balls of fire coming down upon
Sodom. And that ends the story. The aftermath of the destruction, Lot's fleeing
to Zoar and then into the mountains and his sin with his daughters is omitted
(vv.23-36). But maybe that's for the best as the latter is a rather sordid
scene.
The story then goes back to Abram. And there is quite a bit of detail. Sarai
being barren and thus giving her female-servant Hagar to Abraham to sleep with
is depicted (Gen 16:1-5). But the pregnant Hagar fleeing from Sarah but being
turned back by an angel is left out (Gen 16:6-10). They just show her giving
birth to Ishmael, and then jump to fourteen years later, when the LORD promises
Abram that Sarai will have a son. It is here that the LORD changes their names
to Abraham and Sarah (Gen 17:15,16).
Sarah is depicting as hearing about having a son and laughing, the LORD hears
her and tells her to call her son Isaac, which means "laughter." But in fact, it
was Abraham who first laughed, and it was he that was told to name his son Isaac
(Gen 17:17-19). It is at the next appearance of God to Abraham that Sarah hears
the promise of a son and laughs (Gen 18:12).
In any case, Isaac is born. And Sarah is depicted as being upset about Ishmael,
and wants to ensure with Abraham that Isaac will be his sole heir, not Ishmael.
To that Abraham agrees. But the whole scene of Hagar fleeing with Ishmael is
left out (Gen 21:8-21).
Then Abraham being called by the LORD to sacrifice Isaac is depicted (Gen 22).
He and the child travel a distance. Isaac asks where the lamb is for the
sacrifice, and Abraham replies that the LORD will provide the sacrifice. Abraham
then fights with the child to bind him. He then lays Isaac on some wood and
lifts up the knife with agony. But just as he begins his strike down, an angel
calls to him, and Abraham misses Isaac, striking the knife into the wood
instead. Abraham then sees a lamb stuck in the thicket and takes it for a
sacrifice.
That is all well depicted. But one little point is it was a ram not a lamb
caught in the thicket (Gen 22:13). But more importantly, what is omitted is what
the LORD says afterwards, "I have sworn an oath by Myself, says the LORD,
because you did this thing, and on My account did not spare your beloved son,
surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as
the stars of heaven, and as the sand by the shore of the sea, and your seed will
inherit the cities of their enemies. And in your seed will all the nations of
the earth be blessed, because you obeyed My voice" (Gen 22:17-18).
And then that's it as far as the Book of Genesis goes. The next 28 chapters are
completely skipped. The narrator just says that Isaac fathered Jacob and Jacob
went into Egypt due to a famine. But there are many important stories in those
28 chapters, such as the life stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. But probably
the most important point left out is the formation of the twelve tribes of
Israel via the twelve sons of Jacob. Those twelve tribes are referred to
constantly in the rest of the Torah and throughout the Historical Books of the
Old Testament.
Moses and the Exodus
The episode then jumps to the grown Moses in the court of
Pharaoh fighting with his brother. The brother gets upset when he gets cut, and
criticizes Moses for not really being his brother. There is no such scene in the
Bible. But it is used to show flashbacks of the Hebrew babies being cast into
the water and Moses being placed in a basket. But if I didn't already know what
that was all about, I would have been confused as the whole thing is rushed.
The episode never actually had Moses being told he was a Hebrew just that he was
a son of a slave. But Moses now knowing this walks among the Hebrew slaves and
sees them being whipped into servitude by the Egyptian taskmasters. He then gets
angry and picks up a stone and strikes dead one of the taskmasters.
That is all basically Biblical, except for one part. When he kills the Egyptian
it is depicted as being in the middle of a crowd and thus Moses flees
immediately. But in fact, before killing the Egyptian, Moses looked around to be
sure no one was around. It wasn't until the next day that he finds out that
others know what happens and he flees from Egypt (Exod 2:11-15).
Moses' time in Midian and his marriage to Zipporah and the birth of his son
Gershom is skipped (Exod 2:16-22). But the important scene of the LORD appearing
to Moses in the burning bush is depicted, but very quickly. Most of the
important details of the conversation between the LORD and Moses are left out
(Exod 3). There is also no mention of the "signs" that the LORD gives to Moses
to give to the Hebrews and to Pharaoh as proof that God has really spoken to
him, and there is no mention of Aaron being appointed as spokesman for Moses
(Exod 4).
Moses returns to Egypt and goes to the Hebrews and declares that God has sent
him to deliver them. They seem agreeable to the proposition, without much
objection. Initially, that is true (Exod 4:29-31). But the grumbling of the
Hebrews later when Pharaoh does not immediately release them is completely left
out.
When Moses goes to Pharaoh, his step-brother is now Pharaoh. But there is no
Biblical basis to that idea. Moses declares to Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" This
sentence is repeated by Moses several times in the show. That might sound
Biblical, but it's not. What Moses really said was, "Thus says the LORD God of
Israel: ‘'Let My people go'" (Exod 5:1; NKJV). This difference is important. The
way the show depicted it, it makes it sound like "my people" are Moses' people.
But in fact, the people are the LORD's people. That is why "My" is capitalized
in the NKJV.
Since Moses wasn't given the sign of his staff turning into a serpent, the whole
scene of him doing so before Pharaoh is omitted. The ten plagues are then
depicted by first showing Pharaoh bathing in the river and Moses striking the
water and it gradually turning to blood with Pharaoh still in it. It's true that
turning the water into blood was the first plague (Exod 12:17-22). But there is
no mention in the Bible that Pharaoh was bathing in it at the time. That is just
added for dramatic effect.
The next eight plagues are then depicted in rapid fashion simply by showing
pictures of frogs, locust, and the like. There is no depiction of the actual
destruction and agonies that they caused. If I didn't know those pictures were
of subsequent plagues, I wouldn't have known what it was all about.
Then comes the LORD's declaration that He will kill the firstborn of the land.
But the show didn't make it clear that it was only the firstborn that were to
die. It just said that "death" was coming upon the land. The Hebrews are
depicted as being fearful the death will strike them. And Moses initially makes
it sound like that will be the case, but he then says there is a way to prevent
the death from striking them. None of that is Biblical.
But what is Biblical is showing the Hebrews killing the lambs and spreading the
blood on the lintels of their doors (Exod 12:7). That is important. But what is
omitted is the Hebrews eating the lambs and the rest of the first Passover meal
(Exod 12:9). But the Passover meal is essential to the Jewish religion and is
referred to often later in the Bible.
The firstborn are killed and Pharaoh is shown holding his dead son and telling
Moses to leave with his people. The people flee. But then Pharaoh changes his
mind and chases after them with his army.
Moses and the people come to the Red Sea, although it is never called that in
the show. The people grumble, which is Biblical (Exod 14:11). Moses then raises
his staff, the Red Sea divides, the people cross over on dry land, and the
Egyptian army follows and is swallowed by the returning water. That is all
Biblical.
But what is left out is that the people spent the whole night waiting for the
parting of the waters, while the pillar of fire separated them and the Egyptian
army (Exod 14:19-20). In fact the whole fact of the people being led by a pillar
of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night is omitted (Exod 13:21-22).
And that's it as far as the story of the Exodus goes. Omitted is the forming of the golden calf and
the whole of the wilderness wanderings. The episode ends with Moses holding two
tablets of stone, but they are not identified as the Ten Commandments. Joshua is introduced and the Israelites
are ready to start the conquest of the Promised Land.
God vs. the LORD
One last point is worth mentioning. Throughout the episode, the term "God" is used. And yes, the Bible does use that term quite often. But more often, the term "the LORD" is used, as a translation of the Hebrew proper name for God, "Yahweh." That is important as "God" is a general term used for not just the one true God, but for the many false gods of the ancient and modern world. The term "the LORD" refers to the one true God, the God of Israel. So it is more specific.
Conclusion
I'm know I'm probably in the minority. Probably most Christians
watching the first episode of "The Bible" enjoyed it. But then, my dad told me
he wasn't thrilled with it, so I'm not totally alone. And probably most people
watching the episode didn't catch the many inaccuracies or notice the many
omissions. But then, just a few months ago, I finished translating
The Torah, so I am
very familiar with what it says. And in my translating, I was a stickler for
being as accurate as possible, so accuracy when it comes to the Bible is very
important to me.
I am just about finished translating the Historical Books of the Old Testament,
and I translated the New
Testament quite a while ago, so if I keep watching this series it will be
with a critical eye. And I can only hope and pray that the remaining episodes
are better done than the first one. Maybe when they get to the New Testament,
they will slow things down some and not skip so many things and show more detail
on important events. At the very least, as I said, hopefully this series will
inspire people to read the Bible for themselves. If it does, then it will be
worthwhile.
For a follow-up to this article, see The Bible Miniseries on The History Channel: A Review of Episode Two.
Analytical-Literal Translation of the Old Testament
Volume One - The Torah
The above article was first published in the
free Darkness to Light newsletter.
It was posted on this Web site March 6,
2013.
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