© 1880 by Lew Wallace
Ben-Hur surprised me by living up completely to my expectations. I really liked it. To my honest amazement, the 19th-century prose was accessible – dare I say enjoyable? – to my 21st century attention-deficit-disordered mind (thank you, Google). Despite detours into lengthy page-length paragraphs and meandering thoughts followed rigorously to their logical conclusions, I was hooked from the beginning. But the final act gave plenty of chills to a spiritualphile as myself. How I wished I were there! What would I have done?
I think most people my age or older have seen the 1959 epic Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston. Younger folk may or may not. I have never seen it on regular teevee; TCM airs it a couple of times a year. The only time I watched it – all four hours – was two years ago this Christmastime. The house was warm and cozy, all decorated in reds and greens. Snow blanketed the street outside. The wife was cooking something warm and delicious over the stove and the newborn dozed in the bouncie at her feet. Little One snuggled with me as we watched the film, though she often grew bored and played with some games or toys before coming back to me.
Perhaps a quick refresher might be beneficial, to contrast with the even-more-rarely experienced novel. After a brief prologue detailing the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, we’re introduced to young Judah Ben-Hur, first overjoyed to see his childhood friend Messala, then bitterly arguing over Israel’s future under Caesar’s boot with the Roman national. Shortly after a new procurator from Rome arrives. Accidentally, Ben-Hur’s younger sister, watching from a rooftop with the family, dislodges a tile which inadvertently leads to the procurator’s death.
Ben-Hur and his family are immediately arrested. His heartfelt pleas falling on Messala’s deaf ears, Ben-Hur is condemned to become a galley slave, a grueling and drawn-out two or three year death sentence. He knows not the fate of his mother and sister, who, we later learn, are sent to a leper colony as punishment.
Along the forced march to the sea port, sun-burned and in shackles, a mad-with-thirst Ben-Hur is given a cupful of water by Jesus. It is one of the powerful highlights of the film.
Two potent, single-minded drives enable Judah to survive his ordeal as a rower in the belly of the Roman ship – the urgent quest to find his mother and sister, if they even are alive, and the desire to wreak terrible vengeance upon the traitorous Messala. Christ’s supernatural act of charity has done nothing – surprisingly – to ameliorate the latter drive.
The movie shows us how Ben-Hur catches the eye of the duumvir in charge of the vessel, how they both escape a drowning death, how he becomes a prominent Roman citizen, how he has mastered the art of charioteering, and, finally, how he gains his just revenge over the childhood friend who destroyed his life – and those of his dearest mother and sister – without a care.
In the final act, Judah finds his loved ones in the leper colony. Driven to desperate despair, huddled under a bridge, the mother and daughter are cured as the blood of Christ, flowing from His broken body on the cross, mingling with running water, pours down on them during the storm that followed Jesus’ death.
The problem I always had with the movie, regarding it’s spiritual element, was that this ending always seemed tacked on as an afterthought. Or as a way of keeping the movie at four hours instead of five or six had they followed Wallace’s story more faithfully.
Ben-Hur the novel is subtitled, “A Tale of the Christ.” Barring a few minor details, the film stays true to the book. With one exception and a major diversion, however. Composed of eight “books,” Book I of Ben-Hur spends its time developing the characters of the three Magi, the three Wise Men, especially Balthasar, who visit the baby Jesus in the manger. Also fleshed out are several representative characters of Bethlehem, particularly Joseph.
Then twenty-five some-odd years pass and Judah Ben-Hur enters the story. He’s much younger than Heston; he’s probably seventeen or eighteen. For the next three hundred pages or so we read the story as we’ve seen it on the big screen. With minor details. The procurator doesn’t die in the book, for instance. There’s still that encounter with a pre-ministerial Jesus at the well by a thirsting Ben-Hur, though that tribune from the movie (what a perfect scene!) is not present.
The major diversion between the two works occurs during the final act.
I’ve already summed up what happens in the movie. In the book, Judah returns to Antioch a very rich young man, and though his foe is vanquished, he still harbors a deep grudge against Rome. However, word is spreading through the countryside of – the Messiah! The Savior of Israel, prophesied to come and deliver her from oppression and usher in an era of military, political, and economic might. This has now inflamed Judah Ben-Hur’s passion, and he sees this mysterious King as the means of his retribution.
Judah begins tailing the wandering Messiah and observes the wonders of Christ’s ministry. He’s present at the baptism by John, he’s tasted the water-turned-wine, he feasts at the feeding of the thousands. Being a trained soldier, he both observes the apostles, learns their names, overhears their talk, while simultaneously winning over Galileans to his military cause, eventually growing a force the size of three legions.
Then, Palm Sunday, and – his mother and sister are healed of their affliction by the passing Savior.
And after Palm Sunday, Good Friday. Judah, torn, desirous to swoop down with his men and rescue Christ, fights his passions, following the events of that terrible day. Realizing that he has been led by the same Spirit that has led his friend Balthasar thirty-three years back, Judah finds himself at Golgotha, watching the crucifixion. I will not say what happens to him, but – a few pages later and at the novel’s conclusion – what Ben-Hur does touched me in a very unexpected and satisfying way.
Check it out! There are many, many worse ways one can spend a dozen hours.
[note: Ben-Hur was the best-selling American novel for 56 years, until Gone With the Wind was published. Lew Wallace also had the distinction of being a Union general in the Civil War. His most notable and perhaps controversial command was at the Battle of Shiloh.]
Ben-Hur surprised me by living up completely to my expectations. I really liked it. To my honest amazement, the 19th-century prose was accessible – dare I say enjoyable? – to my 21st century attention-deficit-disordered mind (thank you, Google). Despite detours into lengthy page-length paragraphs and meandering thoughts followed rigorously to their logical conclusions, I was hooked from the beginning. But the final act gave plenty of chills to a spiritualphile as myself. How I wished I were there! What would I have done?
I think most people my age or older have seen the 1959 epic Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston. Younger folk may or may not. I have never seen it on regular teevee; TCM airs it a couple of times a year. The only time I watched it – all four hours – was two years ago this Christmastime. The house was warm and cozy, all decorated in reds and greens. Snow blanketed the street outside. The wife was cooking something warm and delicious over the stove and the newborn dozed in the bouncie at her feet. Little One snuggled with me as we watched the film, though she often grew bored and played with some games or toys before coming back to me.
Perhaps a quick refresher might be beneficial, to contrast with the even-more-rarely experienced novel. After a brief prologue detailing the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, we’re introduced to young Judah Ben-Hur, first overjoyed to see his childhood friend Messala, then bitterly arguing over Israel’s future under Caesar’s boot with the Roman national. Shortly after a new procurator from Rome arrives. Accidentally, Ben-Hur’s younger sister, watching from a rooftop with the family, dislodges a tile which inadvertently leads to the procurator’s death.
Ben-Hur and his family are immediately arrested. His heartfelt pleas falling on Messala’s deaf ears, Ben-Hur is condemned to become a galley slave, a grueling and drawn-out two or three year death sentence. He knows not the fate of his mother and sister, who, we later learn, are sent to a leper colony as punishment.
Along the forced march to the sea port, sun-burned and in shackles, a mad-with-thirst Ben-Hur is given a cupful of water by Jesus. It is one of the powerful highlights of the film.
Two potent, single-minded drives enable Judah to survive his ordeal as a rower in the belly of the Roman ship – the urgent quest to find his mother and sister, if they even are alive, and the desire to wreak terrible vengeance upon the traitorous Messala. Christ’s supernatural act of charity has done nothing – surprisingly – to ameliorate the latter drive.
The movie shows us how Ben-Hur catches the eye of the duumvir in charge of the vessel, how they both escape a drowning death, how he becomes a prominent Roman citizen, how he has mastered the art of charioteering, and, finally, how he gains his just revenge over the childhood friend who destroyed his life – and those of his dearest mother and sister – without a care.
In the final act, Judah finds his loved ones in the leper colony. Driven to desperate despair, huddled under a bridge, the mother and daughter are cured as the blood of Christ, flowing from His broken body on the cross, mingling with running water, pours down on them during the storm that followed Jesus’ death.
The problem I always had with the movie, regarding it’s spiritual element, was that this ending always seemed tacked on as an afterthought. Or as a way of keeping the movie at four hours instead of five or six had they followed Wallace’s story more faithfully.
Ben-Hur the novel is subtitled, “A Tale of the Christ.” Barring a few minor details, the film stays true to the book. With one exception and a major diversion, however. Composed of eight “books,” Book I of Ben-Hur spends its time developing the characters of the three Magi, the three Wise Men, especially Balthasar, who visit the baby Jesus in the manger. Also fleshed out are several representative characters of Bethlehem, particularly Joseph.
Then twenty-five some-odd years pass and Judah Ben-Hur enters the story. He’s much younger than Heston; he’s probably seventeen or eighteen. For the next three hundred pages or so we read the story as we’ve seen it on the big screen. With minor details. The procurator doesn’t die in the book, for instance. There’s still that encounter with a pre-ministerial Jesus at the well by a thirsting Ben-Hur, though that tribune from the movie (what a perfect scene!) is not present.
The major diversion between the two works occurs during the final act.
I’ve already summed up what happens in the movie. In the book, Judah returns to Antioch a very rich young man, and though his foe is vanquished, he still harbors a deep grudge against Rome. However, word is spreading through the countryside of – the Messiah! The Savior of Israel, prophesied to come and deliver her from oppression and usher in an era of military, political, and economic might. This has now inflamed Judah Ben-Hur’s passion, and he sees this mysterious King as the means of his retribution.
Judah begins tailing the wandering Messiah and observes the wonders of Christ’s ministry. He’s present at the baptism by John, he’s tasted the water-turned-wine, he feasts at the feeding of the thousands. Being a trained soldier, he both observes the apostles, learns their names, overhears their talk, while simultaneously winning over Galileans to his military cause, eventually growing a force the size of three legions.
Then, Palm Sunday, and – his mother and sister are healed of their affliction by the passing Savior.
And after Palm Sunday, Good Friday. Judah, torn, desirous to swoop down with his men and rescue Christ, fights his passions, following the events of that terrible day. Realizing that he has been led by the same Spirit that has led his friend Balthasar thirty-three years back, Judah finds himself at Golgotha, watching the crucifixion. I will not say what happens to him, but – a few pages later and at the novel’s conclusion – what Ben-Hur does touched me in a very unexpected and satisfying way.
Check it out! There are many, many worse ways one can spend a dozen hours.
[note: Ben-Hur was the best-selling American novel for 56 years, until Gone With the Wind was published. Lew Wallace also had the distinction of being a Union general in the Civil War. His most notable and perhaps controversial command was at the Battle of Shiloh.]
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