The Ten Commandments

On Monday night I watched the first half of the new ABC "epic miniseries", The Ten Commandments. When I was a kid, I loved the old Cecil B. DeMille Ten Commandments. I loved how Charlton Heston and Yule Brenner would stare each other down - "Let my people go!" "Never!" And they were so very manly. I think I had a crush on Pharoah.

In this version, Pharoah is kind of a weakling who has skinny little bird arms. Moses is just a regular guy who talks to God sometimes. And God, well, let's just say he isn't exactly the thundering Almighty of the Old Testament. When he talks to Moses from the burning bush and tells him to go back to Egypt and tell Pharoah the free lunch is over, he's all gentle and nice about it. When Moses says "They won't listen to me. They won't believe that you've spoken to me. They won't. They won't. They won't...Don't send me. Don't send me. I'm not the person you need. I can't do this. I can't do this," God just kindly reassures him that all will be well.

Cecil B. DeMille's God would have drop kicked him back to Egypt for that kind of faithless wimpering.