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[ Man ] THIS IS A REPRODUCTION...
OF ONE OF MICHELANGELO'S GREATEST WORKS:
MOSES.
IF YOU WILL BE PATIENT WITH ME,
I'D LIKE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL SOUL...
THAT MICHELANGELO CAUGHT SO MAGNIFICENTLY IN MARBLE.
FOR CENTURIES PEOPLE HAVE BEEN PUZZLED BY THESE HORNS.
WELL, IN THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF EXODUS...
THE HEBREW TEXT TELLS US...
THAT WHEN MOSES CAME DOWN FROM THE MOUNT,
QEREN CAME FROM HIS HEAD.
WELL, QEREN IS THE HEBREW WORD FOR "HORN,"
BUT IT ALSO IS THE HEBREW WORD FOR "RAYS OF LIGHT."
LATER ARTISTS, LIKE DORE,
SHOW MOSES WITH RAYS OF LIGHT COMING FROM HIS HEAD.
HERE IS A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL STATUE IN ROME.
TON HESTON,
MENTS.
EITHER AS THE PROPHET WITH THE LONG, WHITE BEARD,
OR AS HE IS PORTRAYED IN THIS, THIS CANVAS,
PAINTED BY VAN *** IN ENGLAND...
40--
A BABY FOUND IN THE BULRUSHES BY THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH.
INCIDENTALLY, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THIS VAN *** HAS EVER BEEN EXHIBITED.
YET, THERE IS A WHOLE LIFETIME...
BETWEEN THE BABY IN THE BASKET...
AND THE BEARDED PROPHET RECEIVING THE TABLETS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS...
ON MOUNT SINAI.
THESE VERY TABLETS WERE ACTUALLY CARVED...
FROM THE RED GRANITE OF THE HOLY MOUNTAIN ITSELF.
THIS CANAANITE LETTERING OF THE LATE BRONZE AGE...
IS A FORERUNNER OF THE HEBREW ALPHABET, THE GREEK ALPHABET...
AND OUR OWN ALPHABET TODAY.
THE BIBLE OMITS THE FIRST 30 YEARS OR SO...
THAT BROUGHT MOSES TO MANHOOD.
TO FILL IN THOSE MISSING YEARS,
WE TURN TO ANCIENT HISTORIANS...
SUCH AS PHILO AND JOSEPHUS.
PHILO WROTE DURING THE LIFETIME OF JESUS OF NAZARETH,
AND JOSEPHUS WROTE SOME 50 YEARS LATER.
THESE HISTORIANS HAD ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS...
LONG SINCE DESTROYED,
OR PERHAPS LOST, LIKE THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS.
TO FILM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,
WE ROLLED OUR CAMERAS...
ON THE VERY GROUND THAT MOSES WALKED--
HERE, FROM THE LAND OF GOSHEN,
ACROSS THE RED SEA, DOWN THROUGH THE DESERTS OF SHUR AND SIN,
TO MOUNT SINAI,
THE HOLY PLACE OF GOD.
...
..
AS OUR CARAVAN DESCENDED.
NO, MOSES' LIFE...
IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ADVENTURE STORIES EVER PUT BETWEEN THE COVERS OF A BOOK.
HERE, IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF EXODUS:
"BY THE MERCILESS EDICT OF THE PHARAOH, RAMESES THE FIRST,
"ALL THE NEWBORN HEBREW MALE CHILDREN...
WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH."
TO SAVE THE
MOSES' MOTHER, YOCHABEL, PLAYED BY MARTHA SCOTT,
PLACED HIM IN A BASKET DAUBED WITH PITCH...
AND SET HIM AFLOAT ON THE GREAT RIVER NILE.
THE SWIFT CURRENT,
SWEEPS HIM TO THE FEET OF BITHIAH, PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER,
PLAYED BY NINA FOCH.
THE PRINCESS, HAVING NO SON OF HER OWN,
ADOPTS THE BABY AND RAISES HIM...
IN THE VERY COURT WHICH HAD CONDEMNED HIM TO DEATH.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND GREATER DRAMA THAN THAT ?
MOSES GREW TO MANHOOD AND POWER,
A PRINCE OF EGYPT.
THE OLD PHARAOH HAD DIED,
AND HIS SON SETI, PLAYED BY SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE, HAD BECOME PHARAOH.
DID SETI FIND OUT THIS PRINCE OF EGYPT WAS A HEBREW SLAVE ?
WHAT DID MOSES DO WHEN HE LEARNED THE TRUTH ABOUT HIMSELF,
THAT HE, A RICH AND POWERFUL PRINCE,
WAS LESS THAN THE DUST BENEATH THE WHEELS OF PHARAOH'S CHARIOT ?
AND SETI'S OWN SON,
THE POWERFUL, MAGNIFICENT, FEARLESS PRINCE RAMESES,
PLAYED BY YUL BRYNNER--
WHO WAS IT THAT BETRAYED MOSES TO HIM ?
I,
PLAYED BY ANNE BAXTER ?
OR DID THE OLD NURSE MEMNET, PLAYED BY JUDITH ANDERSON,
BETRAY THE SECRET OF MOSES' BIRTH...
THAT SHE HAD KEPT FOR 30 YEARS ?
THEN THERE WAS THE CYNICAL, FASTIDIOUS BAKA,
THE MASTER BUILDER OF EGYPT,
PLAYED BY VINCENT PRICE.
WAS HE THE INFORMER ?
OR WAS MOSES BETRAYED BY DATHAN,
TASKMASTER OVER HIS OWN PEOPLE,
PLAYED BY EDWARD G. ROBINSON ?
VERY WELL.
I WILL BARGAIN WITH YOU.
IF WHAT YOU SAY PLEASES ME...
I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR PRICE, ALL OF IT.
IF NOT, I WILL GIVE YOU THE POINT OF THIS BLADE THROUGH YOUR LYING THROAT.
AGREED.
WHEN MOSES LEARNED THAT HE WAS HEBREW...
AND HE LOOKED UPON THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS OWN PEOPLE,
[ Whip Cracks ]
THE BIBLE TELLS US...
MOSES KILLED.
HOW DID HE ESCAPE FROM EGYPT ?
AND WHO GAVE HIM SANCTUARY FROM PHARAOH'S SENTENCE OF DEATH ?
COHATH, STRIKE YOUR BOWS.
♪♪
WHICH OF JETHRO'S SEVEN DAUGHTERS DID HE MARRY ?
E LEARN SHEPHERD?
WAS IT FROM JETHRO'S ELDEST DAUGHTER, SEPHORA,
?
WHAT MADE MOSES RETURN TO EGYPT...
AND ALMOST CERTAIN DEATH...
WHEN THE YOUNG RAMESES BECAME THE NEW PHARAOH ?
NS ?
IF THERE IS ONE MORE PLAGUE ON EGYPT,
UR WORD
AND THERE SHALL BE SO GREAT A CRY THROUGHOUT THE LAND...
THAT YOU WILL SURELY LET THE PEOPLE GO.
COME TO ME NO MORE, MOSES,
FOR ON THE DAY YOU SEE MY FACE AGAIN YOU WILL SURELY DIE.
DID NEFRETIRI REVENGE THE KILLING OF HER OWN SON ?
HOW DID THE DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN FREE THE SLAVES ?
GO OUT FROM AMONG US, YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE.
I SET YOU FREE.
WHO ORGANIZED THE GREATEST MIGRATION THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, THE EXODUS ?
WAS IT JOSHUA, THE YOUNG LEADER, PLAYED BY JOHN DEREK,
WHO BECAME THE POWERFUL MILITARY COMMANDER OF HIS PEOPLE ?
THE BIBLE TELLS US LITTLE OF JOSHUA'S YOUTH,
OR HIS HOPES AND LOVES,
OR OF THOSE WHO MAY HAVE LOVED HIM,
HOW DID GOD HARDEN PHARAOH'S HEART...
THAT HE CALLED FORTH 600 OF HIS WAR CHARIOTS...
TO DESTROY MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ?
HOW DID THEY ESCAPE,
WITH PHARAOH'S CHARIOTS AT THEIR BACKS...
AND THE RED SEA BEFORE THEM ?
WAS IT BECAUSE THERE WERE NO GRAVES IN EGYPT THAT YOU TOOK US AWAY TO DIE IN THE WILDERNESS ?
ALL THIS HAPPENED 3,000 YEARS AGO,
BUT WE'RE STILL FIGHTING THE SAME BATTLE THAT MOSES FOUGHT.
ARE MEN TO BE RULED BY GOD'S LAWS,
OR ARE THEY TO BE RULED BY THE WHIMS OF A DICTATOR...
LIKE RAMESES ?
ARE MEN THE PROPERTY OF THE STATE,
THEY FREE SOULS
THE STORY OF MOSES, AS TOLD IN THE BIBLE,
IS A LIFE OF STRUGGLE AND DEFIANCE,
AND LIFE OF LOVE AND BATTLE AND SACRIFICE AND ***,
A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENT AND DISASTER,
OF HUMILIATION AND GLORY.
MOSES IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST HUMAN BEINGS,
AND HUMAN HE WAS TO THE POINT OF SIN.
AND HOLY TO THE POINT OF SEEING GOD,
BY WHICH MEN MAY LIVE IN PEACE AND FREEDOM.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.