The Bible on The History Channel-Week Two
I'm not going to post a review each week. I will keep watching. But I wanted to follow up this week because the second episode reinforced my impression of the first. The big picture is missing. The signficance of events is left out of the history. And that is what the Bible is really about. I don't really understand the point of making a series about the Bible if the main point of it all is absent.
As I said last week, I'm entirely sympathetic to the massive task of selecting what events to include and what to leave out. Last night a half hour was spent on Samson. Now, that's an interesting story, but its importance in the Bible dosn't seem to justify 1/4 of the episode.
The episode began with the conquest of Jericho. The Israelite spies meet Rahab, and she tells them that the whole city is afraid of them. But the program didn't include that she was aware that the coming conquest wasn't just about national rivalries, which is the impression the program gives – it was about God's judgment for their sins, which she acknowledged deserved punishment. The reason for the conquest of the Canaanites was left out – the bigger picture.
Two episodes in David's life were stunningly devoid of the ultimate purpose. When David steps up to challenge Goliath, his purpose is to defend God's honor. He wonders how the Israelite army does not rise up at Goliath's taunts at God. That larger theme was totally missing. The point of David volunteering to fight Goliath wasn't just about the confrontation of two armies, but about the challenge of the Philistine army against the one true God. And David saw what Saul and his army completely missed.
Later when the prophet Nathan confronts David about his sin with Bathsheba, David's repentance is missing. That was a significant turning point in David's heart and commitment to God. When Nathan confronts him in the Bible, David repents and says, "I have sinned against the Lord." And of course, he writes Psalm 51 at some point. But in the episode last night, David never repents. He reacts defiantly to the pronouncement that his infant son will die as punishment. That was a stunning omission to me because it was the point of the story.
The Bible isn't just a series of events about the nation of Israel. The significance is what God was doing through the nation and individuals. It's about God. And that's what is disappointing to me in this series.
