The Bible Experience: Historical Books
01/31/2008 18:03
What do I mean by this? Well, TBE has reminded me of a very sobering fact: the Bible can be a very violent document in some places. This is especially true of the books of Judges through Esther. The violence of some of these chapters is made more real in a dramatization than in merely reading the same passages or even listening to a straightforward reading. In a dramatized version such as TBE, the listener hears the unsheathing of swords and the clash of weapons. When simply reading about a battle, one doesn't hear the screams of those being killed. It's all there in TBE. In certain parts of the historical books, such events are occur chapter after chapter, and it's all presented in frightening auditory detail in TBE.
Another interesting factor made more relevant in a dramatized Bible is the use of language that sounds foreign or simply archaic at times. People don't think of the TNIV as a dated translation, but since I often criticize the ESV as holding onto too much archaic language of the RSV, it's only fair to admit the same thing for the TNIV, although it's not near as pervasive as that in the ESV. I've stated before that I'm in favor of a median translation such as the TNIV holding onto some Hebraisms, especially in poetic languages, but the dramatization of a text makes certain phrases sound downright awkward in prose and narrative sections. Some examples:
- "make sport of" (Gen 39:14, 17; Ps 69:11)-- I meant to mention this one in the last review. A better rendering would be "make fun of."
- "be it ever so severely" (Ruth 1:17; 1 Sam 3:17; 14:44; 20:13; 25:22; 2 Sam 3:9, 35; 19:13; 1 Kgs 2:23; 19:2; 20:10; 2 Kgs 6:31). In most cases, simply using the word "severely" would suffice.
- "put to the sword" (Deut 13:15; 20:13; Josh 8:24; 10:30, 32; 11:11, 14; 13:22; Judg 21:10; 1 Sam 22:19; 2 Kgs 11:15; 2 Chr 23:14; Ps 78:64). Not even the NASB is this literal.
- "whatever your hand finds to do" (Judg 9:33; 1 Sam 10:7; Eccl 9:10). I believe this could be rendered something like "whatever you decide to do."
However, on the other side of the coin, it's the dramatic presentation that make some parts of the Bible easier to listen to. Let's be honest, when reading through the Bible, most folks skip over genealogies and longer lists rather quickly. Although I can preach a pretty good sermon (in MY opinion) on the genealogy of Jesus in Matth 1:1-17, most genealogies don't offer much unless one takes the time to slowly work through them consulting external reference books. TBE overcomes this difficulty because it can even add a bit of excitement to such passages. In most genealogies and longer lists, hand drums play in the background, creating a rhythm not all too foreign to the literary structure itself in some passages. They rhythm helps to move the passage along quite well, and I actually found myself paying more attention to such lists hearing it in TBE than I might have reading the same passages to myself.
Listening to TBE as I have during my commute each day also allows me to listen to the story in greater portions, not perhaps unlike many original hearers might have heard them. Granted, original hearers wouldn't have received dramatic productions with a multiple-person cast. But the Bible, like most ancient literature, was written to be read aloud. It was also intended to be read in much larger portions than what we are accustomed to, generally a whole scroll at a time, minimum. I mentioned in the last review about the disuse of God's name in the Joseph narrative that sets the stage for Moses' question in Ex 3:13. One can hear such things as they are set up narratively that might be missed if simply reading the text silently to oneself.
In listening to the end of Judges, the whole of Ruth, and the beginning of 1 Samuel in one day, I noticed another interesting narrative connection that I had never spotted before when simply reading the passages--no doubt because I would not have read all of these chapters together. At the end of the book of Judges, Israel disciplines one of its own tribes by declaring war on the Benjamites. Because the rest of the Israelites took an oath not to give their daughters as wives to the Benjamites, there was danger after the tribe was reconciled that it could very well die out eventually. So a "compromise" of sorts is made in which the Israelites instruct the Benjamites to kidnap wives for themselves at a festival in Shiloh. Then, as 1 Samuel begins, Shiloh is revisited, and is now firmly established as the central location of worship for the Israelites. And what happened to the Benjamites? Well 1 Sam 9 introduces us to a Benjamite family from which Israel's first king will originate.
It's not that there is some great profound meaning in all this. Rather, by listening to large sections of scripture, I could hear the ties of locations and names from one part of the story to the next like a narrative bouncing ball tying the pieces together. The example I gave above is even more clear when one realizes that in the original Jewish order of the Scriptures, Ruth does not interrupt Judges and 1 Samuel thus allowing these two books to be read consecutively. The Christian order of the historical books follows that of the Septuagint which inserts Ruth between Judges and 1 Samuel as a kind of parenthesis to provide family background to King David.
In TBE, three different voice actors portray David: Malcom David Kelly (known from the TV show Lost) plays David as a young boy; Derek Luke (Antoine Fisher, Lions for Lambs) plays David as a young man; and Gary Dourdan (CSI) plays David as the older, experienced king. Since David is such a pivotal figure in the history of Israel, casting three different voice actors for different periods in his life was a smart idea. Dourdan probably comes across best in the role, but Kelly's adolescent voice as the boy who takes on the hulking Philistine Goliath (Tommy "Tiny" Lister), demonstrates how preposterous such a match would have been had it not been for the fact that God was on David's side.
As I mentioned in the previous review of TBE Pentateuch, some voice actors come across better than others. Some will give performances that are quite moving while others simply fall flat. It's unfortunate that the latter pull the listener momentarily from the "experience" of The Bible Experience, but it's the reality of creating such an enormous project with literally hundreds of roles, and trying to involve so many notable figures in one project.
In the Book of Ruth, actress Sanaa Lathan performs quite believably, but it's actually Shirley Caesar as Naomi who steals the show. Caesar's performance allows the reader to fully feel Naomi's bitterness (Ruth 1:20). I immediately recognized Loretta Devine's (Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy) voice as Abigail. And I imagine that from now on, when I read 1 Sam 25:25, I will always hear "Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him" with her unique intonations.
Readers of my last post will remember how disappointed I was with performance of Forest Whitaker as Moses. In the historical books, Richard Lyons failed, in my opinion, to deliver as Ezra. His voice sounded younger than what I would imagine, lacking in conviction and devoid of emotion until the end of his performance when he started to give some life to the biblical character. In fact, the entire book of Ezra seemed to be a bit neglected in TBE for some reason, lacking in the normal energy found in other books so far.
However, if Ezra was a disappointment, Nehemiah delivered with power. Character actor William Allen Young delivered a wonderful performance as the post-Exile leader of the Israelites. His voice has power and conviction, and all the background sounds and music are well in place. In my opinion, Nehemiah is one of the best produced portions of TBE I've heard so far.
The Book of Esther, with Angela Basset in the title role, has been promoted quite a bit by Zondervan and deservedly so. I enjoyed listening to the entire book in one sitting, and this is another portion of TBE that stands out. My only nitpick was the continued mispronunciation of Vasti as Vash-TIE.
I've never heard any audio Bible dramatized or otherwise that I believe consistently pronounced every name correctly (as I thought it should be). And to be fair, not only are these foreign names, but many of our own standard pronunciations (Isaac and even Jesus!) would sound foreign to the original hearers. Nevertheless, it's a general rule that Hebrew names that include the equivalent of our vowel "i" probably never have the equivalent of our long-i sound, but usually a short i or more often an "ee" sound (my apologies for any improper phonetics representation). Thus, when Shishak is pronounced as SHY-shak (as it is consistently done in TBE), it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But again, I'm being overly picky, and I really can't blame the creators for mispronunciations of this level. However, I do believe it's poor directing when every other actor can correctly pronounce Artaxerxes except the character himself, played by Bishop Neil C. Ellis who kept trying to pronounce the first "x" as eks rather than "z" (can a person qualify as bishop and not know how to pronounce this)?
Regardless of my nitpicks on pronunciation, I found the historical books to be very well done, if not tiring at times because of the violence made more real by the format. I'm also still pleased with listening to TBE in MP3 format on my iPhone over my car stereo which works for me very well.
Related: The Bible Experience: Pentateuch