It is interesting to see the ways in which the morally questionable stories in "Exodus" are modified in this movie to make them more suitable for a modern audience. For example, the God of "The Old Testament" is the God of the Hebrews, who are his chosen people, while the Moses of the movie has a Universalist attitude, saying God is for everyone. Also, there is no indication that the Hebrews were opposed to slavery per se, but only that they did not like being slaves themselves, whereas the Moses of the movie talks as though slavery is intrinsically wrong.
And then there is the recurring, exasperating aspect in which the Pharaoh is just about to agree to let the Hebrews go, but then God hardens his heart. Thanks to the addition of Nefretiri, however, the movie is able to blame the woman for hardening Rameses' heart, although Moses does throw in a quick line about how God will work his will through her. But mostly, the movie wants us to blame her. The reason given in "Exodus" as to why God kept hardening the heart of the Pharaoh is to make a point:
"14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD."
That seems to be acceptable as long as God is just making the lives of the Egyptians miserable, but we start feeling a little queasy when God decides to make his point by killing all of the Egyptians' first born. To render God's behavior more morally acceptable for a modern audience, the movie has Rameses decide to kill all the first born of the Hebrews to show them what's what. In point of fact, there is nothing of that in the "Bible." It is God who simply decides to kill all the firstborn Egyptians to really make the point that he is the Lord. But in the movie, once Rameses orders the killing of all the firstborn of the Hebrews, Moses talks as though this has set in motion an opposite process, the killing of all the firstborn Egyptians, almost as if there is a kind of supernatural mechanism that brings this result about automatically.
After the death of Rameses' firstborn son, he tells Moses that he and his people can go, taking their belongings and livestock with them. Fine. But then Rameses tosses in a remark from out of left field: "Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but go." That's a little bizarre. It is not as though Moses had made that demand previously, as in, "Let our people go, and throw in all your gold and silver too, or get ready for some plagues." But having Rameses say this makes it looks as though he offered to let the Hebrews take the gold and silver, that it was decreed by him, rather than the way the "Bible" tells it, that the Hebrews accumulated the gold and silver by way of individuals borrowing jewelry in bad faith. It is not enough, however, to have the Hebrews come into possession of the Egyptian gold and silver merely as an instance of "To the victor belong the spoils." Rather, the spoils are justified as reparations for slavery.
Just as Nefretiri takes the blame for hardening the Pharaoh's heart, Dathan also become the heavy that instigates the building of the Golden Calf. When the Hebrews make it to Mount Sinai, Moses climbs the mountain to talk to God. While he is away, the people begin to think he is never coming back. In "Exodus 32," the people ask Aaron, brother of Moses, to make gods for them, and he complies. He even has all the people get naked and dance around. In the movie, it is Dathan that inspires the people to demand a Golden Calf. Aaron opposes the idea and later protests that the people made him do it. So, the movie eliminates Aaron's complicity.
In the category of scenes-we'd-like-to-see, "Exodus" tells of how Moses gathered the Levites around them and ordered them slaughter kith and kin:
"32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
"32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men."
Ah, what a great spectacle that would have been. But alas, we are unlikely ever to a movie with that scene in it.
When we reach the end of the movie, Moses knows he will soon die and that he will not be able to cross the Jordan. Sephora, referred to as "Zipporah" in the "Bible," is with him, and this seems strange, because the "Bible" seems to say that Moses sent Zipporah and her two sons back home to her father ("Exodus 18"), and that he eventually married an Ethiopian woman ("Numbers 12"). In fact, early in the movie, Moses brings a beautiful Ethiopian princess to Egypt and presents her to the Pharaoh, and for a moment I wondered if she was going to be the one that Moses eventually married. But this second wife has been expunged from the film.
On the other hand, some say that Moses had only one wife, that Zipporah was the Ethiopian woman. But that would mean that Zipporah had been black all along, and not just slightly brown. But then, notwithstanding the movie's progressive declaration that all slavery is wrong and that slaves deserve reparations, I suppose depicting Moses as being married to a black woman in 1956 would have been a little too much for the times.
And then there is the recurring, exasperating aspect in which the Pharaoh is just about to agree to let the Hebrews go, but then God hardens his heart. Thanks to the addition of Nefretiri, however, the movie is able to blame the woman for hardening Rameses' heart, although Moses does throw in a quick line about how God will work his will through her. But mostly, the movie wants us to blame her. The reason given in "Exodus" as to why God kept hardening the heart of the Pharaoh is to make a point:
"14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD."
That seems to be acceptable as long as God is just making the lives of the Egyptians miserable, but we start feeling a little queasy when God decides to make his point by killing all of the Egyptians' first born. To render God's behavior more morally acceptable for a modern audience, the movie has Rameses decide to kill all the first born of the Hebrews to show them what's what. In point of fact, there is nothing of that in the "Bible." It is God who simply decides to kill all the firstborn Egyptians to really make the point that he is the Lord. But in the movie, once Rameses orders the killing of all the firstborn of the Hebrews, Moses talks as though this has set in motion an opposite process, the killing of all the firstborn Egyptians, almost as if there is a kind of supernatural mechanism that brings this result about automatically.
After the death of Rameses' firstborn son, he tells Moses that he and his people can go, taking their belongings and livestock with them. Fine. But then Rameses tosses in a remark from out of left field: "Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but go." That's a little bizarre. It is not as though Moses had made that demand previously, as in, "Let our people go, and throw in all your gold and silver too, or get ready for some plagues." But having Rameses say this makes it looks as though he offered to let the Hebrews take the gold and silver, that it was decreed by him, rather than the way the "Bible" tells it, that the Hebrews accumulated the gold and silver by way of individuals borrowing jewelry in bad faith. It is not enough, however, to have the Hebrews come into possession of the Egyptian gold and silver merely as an instance of "To the victor belong the spoils." Rather, the spoils are justified as reparations for slavery.
Just as Nefretiri takes the blame for hardening the Pharaoh's heart, Dathan also become the heavy that instigates the building of the Golden Calf. When the Hebrews make it to Mount Sinai, Moses climbs the mountain to talk to God. While he is away, the people begin to think he is never coming back. In "Exodus 32," the people ask Aaron, brother of Moses, to make gods for them, and he complies. He even has all the people get naked and dance around. In the movie, it is Dathan that inspires the people to demand a Golden Calf. Aaron opposes the idea and later protests that the people made him do it. So, the movie eliminates Aaron's complicity.
In the category of scenes-we'd-like-to-see, "Exodus" tells of how Moses gathered the Levites around them and ordered them slaughter kith and kin:
"32:27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
"32:28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men."
Ah, what a great spectacle that would have been. But alas, we are unlikely ever to a movie with that scene in it.
When we reach the end of the movie, Moses knows he will soon die and that he will not be able to cross the Jordan. Sephora, referred to as "Zipporah" in the "Bible," is with him, and this seems strange, because the "Bible" seems to say that Moses sent Zipporah and her two sons back home to her father ("Exodus 18"), and that he eventually married an Ethiopian woman ("Numbers 12"). In fact, early in the movie, Moses brings a beautiful Ethiopian princess to Egypt and presents her to the Pharaoh, and for a moment I wondered if she was going to be the one that Moses eventually married. But this second wife has been expunged from the film.
On the other hand, some say that Moses had only one wife, that Zipporah was the Ethiopian woman. But that would mean that Zipporah had been black all along, and not just slightly brown. But then, notwithstanding the movie's progressive declaration that all slavery is wrong and that slaves deserve reparations, I suppose depicting Moses as being married to a black woman in 1956 would have been a little too much for the times.