Alrighty, it’s
time for Episode 2’s review. This episode was entitled “The Exodus”
The Man Moses
I loved the
young Moses! I think they portrayed him right on! But more about that later.
I had several
issues with the ex-prince Moses. From the moment of the burning bush scene (and
let me state now that I LOVED the way they portrayed the burning bush itself!),
I thought that Moses’ character was completely off. He was almost, dare I say,
arrogant in all that he did whether it was stating aloud to himself that he
would deliver God’s people, announcing his intentions to his brethren, the way
he said that Pharaoh wasn’t a god, and more. It just didn’t like him.
Moses
scripturally was an extremely humble man AND he had a major stuttering issue
that we first see surface at the burning bush because he’s literally begging
God to pick someone else for the task. God finally relents and makes his
brother Aaron Moses’ spokesman. None of this is portrayed or even hinted at in
the series.
Ethnicities
Again, I loved
the portrayal of the young princes of Egypt, I felt like the fighting portrayed
was entirely realistic and helped to feed into the beyond brotherly rivalry.
However, I
feel like the authentic portrayal of Moses was lost in appearance once the
actor switched to the older Caucasian-looking version of Moses.
That said, I
feel like Roma Downey and Mark Burnett did a great job casting an overall group
of actors who looked the from the court of Pharaoh to the Israelites.
Brotherly Behaviour
As
aforementioned, I felt the portrayal of the young Moses and Ramses was
well-planned and I loved Moses’ indicated affection and happiness for his
would-be royal nephew.
However, I
thought the treatment of Moses and Aaron by Pharaoh’s soldiers was unrealistic.
I do not think it consistent to portray the physical abuse of the Levite
brothers who are the instruments of the ten plagues on Egypt . The
soldiers would have been terrified of Moses and his brother! Scripture never
indicates or even hinted that Pharaoh was able to rough up Moses and Aaron
although I’m sure that those were Pharaoh’s sentiments.
Where is the Hyssop??
Another issue
that any student of the Bible or Pentateuch would have caught was the lack of
hyssop at the first Passover.
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. (Exodus 12:22)
God doesn’t
command anything haphazardly, so to exclude the hyssop from the process of the
painting of the door lintels was a definite error to me.
The
signification of "hyssop," is external truth, which is a means of
purification. (Bible Meanings Info)
To leave out
the hyssop is to leave out the element of purification entirely.
People Problems
My last point
is that I felt the disobedience of the people wasn’t even related to whether that
was the people collectively, Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses, and
Moses’ frustration with the people which led to his disobedience against God.
All of these instances of disobedience caused the children of Israel —leadership included—to miss the Promise Land altogether. All we see is Moses
receiving the 10 Commandments and telling Joshua that he will lead the
Israelites into Canaan .
I understand
that time is a huge constraint for what is and is not portrayed in The Bible Series, yet I feel that
certainly spiritually significant elements could be portrayed better and more
frequently.
That said, I
did enjoy episode and look forward to viewing the rest!