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Anybody happen to catch the old biblical epic - The 10 Commandments this weekend?
Reminded me what a heathen-type-person I am, since I haven't visited this story since childhood.
Watching it again as an adult I saw it in a totally different light. I'd forgotten what an egocentric, selfish and temperamental character god is in this story. Playing hard to-get by hiding in a burning bush high up on a mountain, then all that 'worship only me' stuff. Not to mention all the plagues and death.
It was much more Monty Python than I remembered.
For some reason it only just occurred to me that Moses emerging from the mountain after 40 days with writing on tablets of stone, reminded me of Joseph Smith and his golden plates.
Actually I really enjoyed it, although 4-5 hours including all the adverts was way too long. The over acting was hilarious.
The scene where Pharoah's magicians turned their staffs into serpents, then Moses turned his staff into a serpent that ate the other serpents. My dad pointed out to me that Moses had the power of the Almighty Lord behind him, so of course he was able to turn his staff into a serpent that was more powerful than the other two, but apparently Pharoah's magicians were able to turn their staffs into serpents strictly on their own power, which isn't too shabby.
Watching it again as an adult I saw it in a totally different light. I'd forgotten what an egocentric, selfish and temperamental character god is in this story. Playing hard to-get by hiding in a burning bush high up on a mountain, then all that 'worship only me' stuff. Not to mention all the plagues and death.
.
It wasn't depicted in the movie, but in the Bible we are informed that after the first plagues, Pharaoh decided to let the Hebrews go, but then "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" causing him to change his mind, necessitating more plagues to convince him to do the thing that he would have done had his heart not been hardened. Yahweh sure had a strange sense of humor.
I watched one year while on acid, funniest movie ever made.
Edward G. Robinson always cracks me up because his NY gangster snarl of a voice sounds so out of place in ancient Egypt. "Yeaaah, now look heah Moses."
He was authentic in that he was a Jew, Romanian born, family immigrated to NY when he was 9.
The scene where Pharoah's magicians turned their staffs into serpents, then Moses turned his staff into a serpent that ate the other serpents. My dad pointed out to me that Moses had the power of the Almighty Lord behind him, so of course he was able to turn his staff into a serpent that was more powerful than the other two, but apparently Pharoah's magicians were able to turn their staffs into serpents strictly on their own power, which isn't too shabby.
Haha. Brilliant.
Yes, I noticed they didn't show the actual serpent eating serpents bit, just people pointing and looking on aghast. They obviously judged that the animation was bad enough already.
It wasn't depicted in the movie, but in the Bible we are informed that after the first plagues, Pharaoh decided to let the Hebrews go, but then "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" causing him to change his mind, necessitating more plagues to convince him to do the thing that he would have done had his heart not been hardened. Yahweh sure had a strange sense of humor.
I watched one year while on acid, funniest movie ever made.
Edward G. Robinson always cracks me up because his NY gangster snarl of a voice sounds so out of place in ancient Egypt. "Yeaaah, now look heah Moses."
He was authentic in that he was a Jew, Romanian born, family immigrated to NY when he was 9.
. Yes there was a funny variety of accents. I thought it was odd that while most people were talking with pretty much modern day American accents, god was still all "thou shalt'" and "thee" and "thy" booming in old English, yet he wrote his tablets in some version of what looked like Phoenician. Obviously people were more adaptable linguistically back then.
(I have noticed Noah is Australian by the way, in the new version of that movie.)
Not only does god have an odd sense of humour, seems he had to try a lot harder back then. 10 plagues and still people weren't convinced. So he had to part the red sea in order to convince people of his power. He has it a lot easier nowadays. These days people believe any old nonsense.
And why does god seem to work in multiples of 10? 10 plagues, 10 commandments, 40 days and nights up a mountain? 40 years wandering the desert? How come America hasn't gone metric? It's obviously gods will.
yet he wrote his tablets in some version of what looked like Phoenician.
Fortunately I speak and read ancient Phoenician. There weren't actually any commandments on them, just a product placement advertisement from some pharmaceutical concern. It read "Take Two Tablets Every Four Hours As Needed."
It wasn't depicted in the movie, but in the Bible we are informed that after the first plagues, Pharaoh decided to let the Hebrews go, but then "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" causing him to change his mind, necessitating more plagues to convince him to do the thing that he would have done had his heart not been hardened. Yahweh sure had a strange sense of humor.
I watched one year while on acid, funniest movie ever made.
Edward G. Robinson always cracks me up because his NY gangster snarl of a voice sounds so out of place in ancient Egypt. "Yeaaah, now look heah Moses."
He was authentic in that he was a Jew, Romanian born, family immigrated to NY when he was 9.
I always get a sad laugh out of the "hardening his heart" thing. Why would God do such a crazy thing? If his goal was to free the Hebrews, he achieved it after 1 plague. The only reason to harden Pharaoh's heart and continue the performance would have been if he just wanted an excuse to beat the tar out of Egypt or if he badly needed his ego stroked, neither of which make any sense if God is supposedly all knowing, all powerful, all loving, all just, etc. It just doesn't fit, and also grossly violates the whole idea of free will, choice regarding sin or taking the right path, etc. I sometimes think that it was added in just to scare later readers of the tale or because somebody back in the day liked making up cool sounding plagues.
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. Yes there was a funny variety of accents. I thought it was odd that while most people were talking with pretty much modern day American accents, god was still all "thou shalt'" and "thee" and "thy" booming in old English, yet he wrote his tablets in some version of what looked like Phoenician. Obviously people were more adaptable linguistically back then.
