The Ten Commandments
- Joe
- 14 hours ago
- 5 min read
Most years around Easter as a kid I'd see at least a chunk of the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments, as it was always on TV. I had assumed this longtime tradition must've ceased at some point, but apparently even in the year of our Lord 2026 it was on ABC, as it has every year going back to 1973, the night before Easter Sunday.
The long and the short of why we, as Christians, are a fan of this timing is the connection between Passover (portrayed in the film during the Exodus) and Easter, which I'm led to believe is not common knowledge. It was Passover for which Jesus, a Jew, came to Jerusalem, this was the reason for the meal of the Last Supper, and it was after the meal that he was arrested and killed. Jesus used implements of the Seder (unleavened bread and wine) to establish how to remember him, now called Communion (or the Eucharist to Catholics). Further, Jesus's death on the cross is like the death of the Passover lamb, in which his blood saves us from (eternal) death. So, anyway, there's quite a bit to why Christians care about Passover.
Back to the movie. It had been years since I'd watched the old Charlton Heston classic and wanted to do so again. As much as I like Prince of Egypt (seriously it's great), there's no replacing this old movie. Sometime in the past six months I saw that a digital version was on sale on Prime for like $4 and bought it, then my wife and I watched it in the week or so after Easter, in several installments. It is LONG if you aren't aware, 3 hours 40 minutes. It makes me wonder how they even fit it on TV with ads etc.
I have so much to say after the rewatch. Simply it's a marvel. Cliche or no we know do not make movies like this any more. It covers Moses's entire life, from the basket in the bulrushes to the end on Mount Nebo. It covers his time in Egypt living in the house of the Pharaoh, his time wandering and eventual return a changed man, the plagues and release of the Israelites, the crossing of the Red Sea and his receiving of the tablets written in God's own hand. But more than the breadth of the story is the scale of everything put on film. There are shots where they must've used ten thousand extras. Memorable are many of the earlier scenes showing the building projects undertaken by Rameses' father, here spelled Sethi (Seti I and Rameses II are the two Pharaohs taken from history - they are not specified in the Bible/Torah). Even more impressive is when the Israelites leave Egypt in one massive train of people and animals and belongings. The crossing of the Red Sea, the pursuit of the chariots, and the debauchery of the people at the foot of Mount Sinai (sometimes referred to as the 'orgy' scene) need to be called out too. It was a ridiculous undertaking of filmmaking that's still impressive today.
As we were watching this I joked to my wife about how this was a overly dramatic version of this story. This, while I still think it's true, is laughable. How can you get more dramatic than Moses and the burning bush, the plagues (with first Passover), the escape across the Red Sea and the pillar of fire, and multiple direct contacts with God himself? Well, you do it by packing the script full of other interesting tidbits and details, and by adding a conniving woman to the mix.
We can't talk about the Ten Commandments and ignore Nefretiri (Anne Baxter). She's probably the character I remembered most and that'll continue into the future. As the bride bound to the future Pharaoh of Egypt she's in love with Heston's Moses, then being raised as a son of Pharaoh. Moses on several occasions proves himself the more capable man than Rameses and Sethi seems committed to naming Moses his heir, up until his backstory is revealed. Nefretiri even kills the woman who shares Moses's true lineage to protect him, not caring one bit. She, much later, clearly still enamored with Moses, tries to treat directly with him. Spurned for good she turns Rameses (now Pharaoh) toward more evil. In this version she makes much of the action happen, gets all the best costumes and you'll probably find yourself quoting her more than anyone else ('Oh Moses, Moses!').
There's so much more packed into this film than I had realized before. I'm glad I'd recently read the biblical book of Exodus, but also that I know a lot more about ancient history than I did in my youth. I couldn't help but notice when, early in the film, Set(h)i's court is shown and the scene includes a visit from an ambassador of Priam of Troy. This is the Trojan king during the Iliad, the father of Hector and Paris, a legendary figure in his own right. And, considering the real Pharaoh Seti reigned in the 13th century BC while the Trojan War perhaps took place around 1200 BC, the dates do actually line up! There's a scene immediately following that where a king of Ethiopia, just conquered by Moses for Egypt, is presented before the Pharaoh and it includes a bit of jealousy between Nefretiri and an Ethiopian princess. Little did I know that, according to Jewish historian Josephus, Moses may have married a Cushite woman before Zipporah during his upbringing in Egypt. True or no it's fascinating to me and funny it was hinted at in this movie.
As for biblical references there were a couple above the rest I appreciated. First was the tribe of Joseph carrying out the patriarch's bones in the procession, leaving Egypt, to fulfill a long-held promise (Exodus 13:19/Genesis 50:25). Second was the usage of Dathan, a prominent Israelite who rebels against Moses and is eventually swallowed up in an earthquake (Numbers 16:31-33). In the film he's a willing turncoat who repeatedly betrays his fellow Hebrews but is nonetheless forced to leave Egypt. He's the primary instigator at the foot of Mount Sinai and pushes the golden calf in an attempt to pervert the Israelites. When Moses descends and throws the tablets in disgust it causes the earthquake and Dathan's death. It's very effective but its portrayal is early in the narrative. Still, I didn't know that this was not just a invention for film and enjoyed how they used the character.
There's plenty more that's extra-biblical, I guess that's the best way to call it. In the Bible it's never a secret that Moses is Hebrew. We don't actually know for certain who the Pharaohs were when this took place. There's the competition for supremacy between Rameses and Moses in their younger days, in love, in war, in monument construction. There's Nefretiri and everything she touches. Joshua is a major character throughout, a leader amongst the Israelites even before Moses arrives in his final form, as opposed to his first appearance in the wilderness. Moses saves his own birth mother Yochebel from getting crushed by a giant stone. When Moses discovers his heritage he willingly becomes a slave before he kills a man and leaves Egypt for the first time. The burning bush is on Mt Sinai in the film, for a sense of consistency I guess, instead of Mt Horeb. Admittedly there's a lot of blanks to be filled in, and in some cases some decisions were made to simplify things. I don't have major issues here but am just noting various differences that come to mind.
Put all together this movie is phenomenal, in how they adapted the Bible story and all its astounding moments and emotions, in how they fleshed out the characters and made them and their motivations feel real, and how much they included from other sources (fictional or historical) as well. It's all woven together remarkably well and it's all SO BIG. An all time story and an all time film. Check it out, and maybe you can also witness the power of God.
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