Answers in Exodus?

I’m being asked by supporters if I would comment on the upcoming film Exodus: Gods and Kings, scheduled to be released on December 12. It’s a film about Moses with the title role played by well-known actor Christian Bale (of Batman fame).

Now, this latest Bible-themed movie from Hollywood comes several months after the controversial movie Noah, which was a terrible film (see our review here). We have heard that an Episcopal priest familiar with the production of Exodus: Gods and Kings has declared that the film will be respectful of Christians. But from the few things we have discovered already about the movie, we doubt it will be faithful to the biblical text. Even Bale has declared that his film is “a far cry from what [actor] Charlton Heston and [director] Cecil B. DeMille delivered 60 years ago” with The Ten Commandments. That’s somewhat of a concern because that film from the 1950s was by and large true to Exodus. And Bale has hinted that the film will have “violence in the extreme”—looking at a movie trailer, it appears to be so.

As I declared in a previous blog post, people who want to learn more about Moses and the Exodus from a biblical perspective will certainly do better to visit the Sight and Sound Theater near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a well-produced musical drama, Moses.