By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin in Pikesville, Maryland
Movies about Bible events are very popular. Many have well-known actors in top roles. They always add actions and conversations that are not in the Bible, usually depict events more violently, and generally reflect the film writer’s view of what Scripture says.
Many viewers are convinced they are watching a dramatization of what the Bible says, and by seeing the film, they now understand the Bible, despite virtually all of the movies containing matters not in the Bible and often conflicting with what Scripture states. They need to realize that what they are viewing is fiction.
The biblical style is to tell its tales in a somewhat ambiguous manner, leaving it to the reader to interpret the details and determine precisely what is happening. This is necessary because people with different levels of intelligence and learning read the Bible. It is written so that everyone can gain information to help them improve themselves and the world.
Scripture contains multiple hints of its true intentions, despite mentioning matters that it actually disapproves of. These disapproved matters needed to be included in the Bible because of the primitive mindset of the former Israelite slaves. Had they not been included, the early Israelites would have thought the Bible was foolish and ignored it.
Film writers insert their interpretations of Scripture and generally embellish it with fictional drama to please their audience and gain wide recognition and massive profits.
Two examples show how this is done.
The 1959 movie, Solomon and Sheba, stars Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, and George Sanders. It is a good fictional action drama, but it misleads viewers into thinking it dramatizes what the Bible says, and it is a total, terrible deception. It is as if the producer told the writer to write a drama based on the story of Solomon and Sheba, and he, thinking he had a better idea, decided instead to revise the tale into a war drama, reflecting the brotherly hatred of Cain and Abel, and the romance of Samson and Delilah.
Unlike Scripture, the movie fiction contends that Egypt hated Israel and was at war with Israel. (In the Bible, the opposite is true. Solomon assures there would be no problem with Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter.) In both the Bible and the film, Solomon has a brother who aspires to the throne after their father, King David, dies. In the Bible, this is a small event that ends early in the narrative. In the film, the evil brother continues to fight Solomon by joining with Egyptian forces against Solomon. The fighting is in the beginning, middle, and end of the film.
Contrary to Scripture, Sheba does not come to seek wisdom. She, like Delilah, is a paid spy. Egypt hires her to seduce Solomon so that he loses all of his power. It is only after he loses his power that Egypt can defeat Israel. She succeeds, as Delilah did, and, while according to the Bible, the Jewish Temple was not destroyed until hundreds of years after Solomon’s lifetime. In this fictional account, it is destroyed because Solomon follows Sheba and worships an idol by having sex with her before the idol, for this is how these pagans worship their god.
The 1951 movie David and Bathsheba, starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward, is another example. The story is told in 2 Samuel 11:1-27 and 12:1-24, totaling 51 sentences. In contrast, the movie runs 1 hour and 56 minutes.
Chapter 11 describes how David sees Bathsheba, a married woman, bathing from his rooftop. He sends for her and sleeps with her. When she becomes pregnant, he tries to cover his act by having her husband, Uriah, sent to the battle front lines, where he is killed.
Chapter 12 details the conflict between him and the prophet Nathan, who reveals God’s displeasure with the adultery and murder. God punishes David by his and Batsheva’s first child dying. David repents, and his second son, Solomon, is born.
The Bible story ends there, but the movie spends more than an hour telling these events; it then follows with a drama that lasts about half an hour and is neither in Scripture nor even hinted at there.
In the fictional film ending, the Israelites hear of David and Batsheva’s adultery and murder of her husband, and huge crowds gather to stone Batsheva. David tells God he is entirely to blame (as if he could fool God) and tries to commit suicide to save the woman he loves. God accepts his plea, and he is forgiven.
While it is clear that the film’s ending is a fabrication, it would be wrong to say that the film’s first part is not true. True, it contains many details not found in Scripture. But arguably, it does not contradict the Bible; instead, it interprets what is stated. However, by doing so, it presents events not in Scripture and changes what we think about God, David, and Batsheva.
For example, the following is not in the Bible: Batsheva admits to David that she seduced him into having sex with her; she tells David she disliked her husband and knew he would be on his porch and could see her bathing naked. She and David planned the killing of her husband. God does not punish David by causing a drought that affects all of Israel, as the movie states.Similarly, contrary to the movie, Scripture does not state that the Israelites knew about the adultery and murder and began to hate David. The last part of the movie is pure fiction. It makes as much sense as saying that David flew to heaven in a Martian spaceship that happened to be passing by at this time, wrestled with God, was victorious, and that the defeated Deity promised to save his beloved.
The best approach is not to accept the misrepresentations; understand the Bible by reading it and deciding for yourself after consulting the works of a scholar you consider an expert. Or recognize that many facts in the tale are ambiguous.