Episode two gets a mixed review according to Scripture. The story of Joshua and Judges were not done particularly well, but the story of David (for the most part) is done quite well.
The recapitulation at the beginning of the second episode was particularly helpful. Like with many series, it gave us an overview of what we have already seen. This one gave us some of the best highlights leading up to the conquest of the land as the miniseries has told it. Unfortunately, they have Joshua tell the spies: “Jericho: Its all that stands between us and the Promised Land.” This just simply will not do. One could argue that Sihon and Og stood between Israel and the Promised Land, but they did not tell that exciting story — one that would have helped explain why the people of Jericho were so afraid of the people of Israel. But Jericho does not stand between them and the Promised Land, Jericho is the beginning of the conquest of that land.
But this is the only the beginning with the unhelpful nature of the telling of the story of Jericho. Rahab does not come across as a hero of faith in the miniseries as she does in the Scriptures. Instead, the spies take her at knife-point. It was a disappointing start to say the least. The spies even told her to hang the scarlet cord on her door rather than in the window — this so that they could make the analogy with Passover (which we did not see them observe at this time). The only thing done well was to tell the instructions for taking Jericho at the same time as we see it done. This emphasizes the point of the text that Joshua did exactly as the LORD told him.
But then the text fast-forwards all the way to Samson in the book of Judges. Here again the episode was disappointing to say the least. It started well with the flashback to the angel of the LORD telling his mother that her son would be a Nazirite from the womb. But they went to the burning of his first Philistine wife and her father without much explanation as to why this was happening. The next scene where the people turn over Samson to the Philistines and Samson gets loose and kills many with the jawbone of a donkey is better, though they skip the prostitute he uses and have him meet Delilah immediately. His death is very dramatically portrayed. Samson is a much more complex figure than the miniseries conveys and he is not set in the context of Judges and the Prophets very well. Be sure to read my commentary on this part of Judges, because the Scriptures are much more fascinating than the miniseries telling of Samson.
On the other hand, the story of David is told much better. Immediately after the story of Samson the miniseries fast-forwards to the elder prophet Samuel. The opening scene with Samuel and the people’s demand for a king is excellent. The first anointed king is Saul. After his anointing we see Saul’s sinful sacrifice and Samuel killing Agag. Here the miniseries departs from the Scriptures for no reason in the details, but they are in a hurry to get to David.
I particularly liked David saying the words of Psalm 23 as he approached Goliath the Giant of Gath. My only major complaint about their telling of the story is the episode with Bathsheba. In the biblical text there is more of a gap between God’s covenant with David and David’s sin with Bathsheba, including his prayer and David’s kindness to Mephiboseth. The miniseries on the other hand shows David looking at the Bathsheba on the rooftop right at the same time he is hearing that his kingdom will be forever. Additionally, after David’s sin, it would have been more powerful to have Nathan tell the biblical parable. Nevertheless, most of the miniseries rendition of the story about David is particularly good.
Hopefully the miniseries will encourage people to seek out the truth of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, this episode can only get a mixed review at best.
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