| The Ten Commandments | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Ron Hutchinson |
| Directed by | Robert Dornhelm |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Randy Edelman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Running time | 167 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | April 10 [1] – April 11, 2006 |
The Ten Commandments is a 2006 miniseries that dramatizes the biblical story of Moses. It aired on ABC.
The series was filmed in Egypt, Mount Sinai, and the Sinai Peninsula.
Moses's mother, Jochebed, saves her baby from the edict of the Pharaoh that all newborn male Hebrew children must die by placing him in a basket on the Nile River. He is found by Pharaoh's daughter Bithia and adopted into the royal house.
Some time later, Bithia gives birth to a son Menerith, and they are raised as brothers. Moses grows up knowing that he is not the blood brother of Menerith, but is shown his true heritage (something he knows nothing about) at about the age of 10: he is re-introduced to Jochebed, his father Amram, his brother Aaron, and his sister Miriam.
Years later, Prince Moses and Menerith inspect a building site. While Menerith leaves for a task, Moses continues his inspection only to witness an Egyptian overseer attempting to rape the wife of a Hebrew laborer. Moses manages to rescue the Hebrew couple by killing the Egyptian overseer and hiding the body. When the body is discovered, Pharaoh orders Moses' arrest, but he is able to escape with the aid of Menerith.
After traveling days through the desert, Moses arrives in Midian and saves the seven daughters of Jethro from tribesmen. In gratitude, their father gives Moses the choice of one of them to take for his wife. He refuses but is later convinced by Zipporah to marry her.
Moses, still wanting to know why God allows the Hebrews to be enslaved, climbs Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb) and is confronted by God in the form of a bush that burns but is not consumed. God tells Moses that "I am who I am", gives Moses his powers, and endows him with the knowledge to free the Hebrews.
Because Pharaoh Ramesses refuses to free the Hebrews, Egypt is struck with ten plagues. Only after the final one, during which Pharaoh's beloved son dies, are the Hebrews freed. However, Pharaoh's heart is hardened once more due to him being unable to accept his son's death, and decides to try to re-capture them.
The Hebrews are guided to the Red Sea by a cloud. When the Egyptians' chariots get near, God blocks their path and Moses parts the Red Sea, providing the Hebrews an escape route. When the Hebrews make it to the other side, Moses closes the separated waters, drowning the pursuing Egyptians — including Menerith. The Hebrews witness Moses weeping over Menerith, whom he later gives a proper burial.
Moses climbs the mountain to receive God's commandments in the form of two stone tablets, but when he descends, he finds that many of the Hebrews have built a golden calf and created an orgy. Moses destroys the tablets and the idol in a fit of rage and orders the deaths of the wicked revelers. After a brutal fight that leaves many dead, the survivors plead to receive God's commandments and Moses climbs up the mountain again. After Moses reads the commandments, the tablets are placed in an ark.
Sometime later, an elderly Moses lives his life as a hermit on a mountain slope and is seen looking at the promised land, which he is not allowed to enter due to an unspecified previous disobedience to God.
Barry Garron of The Hollywood Reporter gave the mini-series generally positive review, praising the performances as well as "the stunning cinematography and eye-catching special effects" but also noted that it "fails to take full advantage of the source material". [2] David Bianculli of the New York Daily News reviewed it as "Thou shalt not watch", [3] while Matt Roush of TV Guide wrote the film "violates the primary commandment of epic filmmaking, biblical or otherwise: Thou shalt not bore". [4] Matthew Gilbert of the Boston Globe called it "an empty inane remake" [5] and The Washington Post's Tom Shales calls it a "dreadful, doleful remake of Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 classic The Ten Commandments ". [6]
The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible. It is a narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites leaving slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of their deity named Yahweh, who according to the story chose them as his people. The Israelites then journey with the legendary prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh gives the 10 commandments and they enter into a covenant with Yahweh, who promises to make them a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" on condition of their faithfulness. He gives them their laws and instructions to build the Tabernacle, the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to conquer Canaan, which has earlier, according to the myth of Genesis, been promised to the "seed" of Abraham, the legendary patriarch of the Israelites.
Moses was a Hebrew teacher and leader considered the most important prophet in Judaism and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and other Abrahamic religions. According to both the Bible and the Quran, Moses was the leader of the Israelites and lawgiver to whom the prophetic authorship of the Torah is attributed.
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic religious drama film produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, shot in VistaVision, and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is based on the 1949 novel Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, the 1859 novel Pillar of Fire by J. H. Ingraham, the 1937 novel On Eagle's Wings by A. E. Southon, and the Book of Exodus, found in the Bible. The Ten Commandments dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and thereafter leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God, the Ten Commandments. The film stars Charlton Heston in the lead role, Yul Brynner as Rameses, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Zipporah, Debra Paget as Lilia, and John Derek as Joshua; and features Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Seti I, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, and Vincent Price as Baka, among others.
Zipporah, or Tzipora, is mentioned in the Book of Exodus as the wife of Moses, and the daughter of Reuel/Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian.
Miriam is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro was Moses' father-in-law, a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian, sometimes called Reuel. In Exodus, Moses' father-in-law is initially referred to as "Reuel" but afterwards as "Jethro". He was also identified as the father of Hobab in Numbers 10:29, though Judges 4:11 identifies him as Hobab.
According to the Bible, Jochebed was a daughter of Levi and mother of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend, she is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias. In the New Testament, she is praised for her faith in God.
The burning bush refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah. It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the biblical account, the bush was on fire but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the biblical narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by Yahweh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan.
Moses the Lawgiver is a six-hour television miniseries filmed in 1973/74 and starring Burt Lancaster as Moses. It was an ITC/RAI co-production filmed in Rome and on location in Israel and Morocco.
The Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue, are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship originally from the Jewish tradition that play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. The text of the Ten Commandments appears in three different versions in the Bible: at Exodus 20:2–17, Deuteronomy 5:6–21, and the "Ritual Decalogue" of Exodus 34:11–26.
Shemot, Shemoth, or Shemos is the thirteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 1:1–6:1. The parashah tells of the Israelites' affliction in Egypt, the hiding and rescuing of the infant Moses, Moses in Midian, the calling of Moses, circumcision on the way, meeting the elders, and Moses before Pharaoh.
Yitro, Yithro, Yisroi, Yisrau, or Yisro is the seventeenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the fifth in the Book of Exodus. The parashah tells of Jethro's organizational counsel to Moses and God's revelation of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
The Pharaoh's daughter in the story of the finding of Moses in the biblical Book of Exodus is an important, albeit minor, figure in Abrahamic religions. Though some variations of her story exist, the general consensus among Jews, Christians, and Muslims is that she is the adoptive mother of the prophet Moses. Muslims identify her with Asiya, the Great Royal Wife of the pharaoh. In either version, she saved Moses from certain death from both the Nile river and from the Pharaoh. As she ensured the well-being of Moses throughout his early life, she played an essential role in lifting the Hebrew slaves out of bondage in Egypt, their journey to the Promised Land, and the establishment of the Ten Commandments.
Discussions in rabbinic literature of the biblical character Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and through their wanderings in the wilderness, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
The Ten Commandments is a 2007 animated biblical epic fantasy film directed by John Stronach and Bill Boyce, and written by Ed Naha. The film follows Moses from his childhood, as the adopted grandson of Pharaoh, to his adulthood, as the chosen one of Yahweh and liberator of his people.
The Ten Commandments: The Musical is a musical with music by Patrick Leonard and lyrics by Maribeth Derry. The book is adapted from the French musical Les Dix Commandements created by Élie Chouraqui from an idea by Albert Cohen, which in turn was based on the Book of Exodus and the 1956 epic film The Ten Commandments.
The Staff of Moses, also known as the Rod of Moses or Staff of God, is mentioned in the Bible and Quran as a walking stick used by Moses. According to the Book of Exodus, the staff was used to produce water from a rock, was transformed into a snake and back, and was used at the parting of the Red Sea. Whether the staff of Moses was the same as the staff used by his brother Aaron has been debated by rabbinical scholars.
The Tables of the Law is a 1944 novella by German writer Thomas Mann. It is a dramatic retelling of the Biblical story of Moses contained in the Book of Exodus, although some of the laws which Moses proscribes for his followers are taken from Leviticus. It was the only story that Mann was ever commissioned to write, and he finished it in just eight weeks, beginning on January 18, 1943, and ending on March 13, 1943. Publisher Armin L. Robinson, believing the Ten Commandments to be the basis on which civilization was founded, wanted to make a movie detailing the Nazis' "desecration of the Mosaic Decalogue". Instead, he settled on a book, entitled The Ten Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code, with ten authors, one for each commandment. Mann's novella, which he was paid $1,000 to write, was originally meant to be the introduction to the volume, but Robinson liked it so much that he decided to make it the first story, under the heading "Thou Shalt Have No Other God Before Me". Mann considered his story to be greatly superior to that of his fellow contributors, and he considered the overall book a "failure".
"Finger of God" is a phrase used in the Torah, translated into the Christian Bible. In Exodus 8:16–20 it is used during the plagues of Egypt by Pharaoh's magicians. In Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10 it refers to the method by which the Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone that were brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses.
Moses, Man of the Mountain is a 1939 novel by African-American novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. The novel rewrites the story of the Book of Exodus of Moses and the Israelites from an Afro-American perspective. The novel applies a number of different motifs and themes commonly addressed in African-American culture, subverting the Moses story.
