If there is one piece of advice I can give to any Christian who chooses to watch Hollywood-made, Bible-based movies, it is this: Do not expect 100% scriptural accuracy, because you will rarely find it in such movies. If you embrace this attitude beforehand, you will enjoy Hollywood's version of Biblical history more.
This film is no different. While it covers the key points regarding the illicit relationship which occurred between King David and Bathsheba, a number of the events in David's life are out of chronological order.
For example, we see flashbacks of David as a young shepherd boy being anointed by the Prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel, and then David as a slightly older youth killing the Philistine giant Goliath, in the closing moments of the film.
To incorporate these moments of David's life into the movie, a bit of fiction is employed. These visions -- or whatever they were meant to be -- occur while King David has his hands placed upon the side of the Ark of the Covenant and is asking God for His mercy and forgiveness, after his sins are exposed by the Prophet Nathan. Scripturally-speaking, this would never occur; because as even the movie reveals, anyone who touched the Ark died.
Furthermore, as I have seen in other movies of this genre, sometimes words are placed in the mouth of one character, when they were actually said by someone else in the Bible.
Regarding this particular movie, a case in point concerns King David's decision to place Uriah the Hittite in the hottest part of the battle against the Ammonites so that he will die. This movie would have us to believe that it was actually Uriah's idea to do this, because he desired to show David his loyalty and bravery. The truth, however, is that it was David's idea, because he wanted Uriah to die, so that he -- meaning David -- could conceal his sin of adultery, and getting Bathsheba pregnant. In short, David committed outright murder.
Another departure from the actual Scriptures occurs when following the death of Bathsheba's firstborn -- who was fathered by David -- the Prophet Nathan and the people demand that Bathsheba be stoned to death, according to the mandates of the Mosaic Law. While this was indeed the punishment for committing adultery, the Bible makes no mention of this concerning Bathsheba. What we are told in the Scriptures is that their punishment was losing their child, as well as the fact that war and treason would never depart from David's house, being as he had an innocent man killed.
This film also paints a very hostile relationship between David and Michal, who was King Saul's daughter who became David's first wife. While the Bible does inform us that Michal was a jealous woman, and that God struck her barren because of it, it makes no mention of her -- or Absalom -- standing up as witnesses so that David's lie could be exposed, and so that Bathsheba would be stoned. These were simply fictitious plot devices.
While I have enjoyed some of Gregory Peck's work -- such as "Moby Dick", "To Kill a Mockingbird", etc -- I didn't care for the way he portrayed King David. Peck plays a very dark, scheming, sarcastic, manipulative David. In particular, I didn't like his disrespectful attitude towards Nathan the Prophet, and the way that he doubted God's Word being spoken through Nathan. David came across as being quite snobbish.
Of course, I recognize that perhaps Peck played David this way in order to emphasize how far he had strayed from the Lord once he had achieved fame, riches and power. This was in contrast to the more humble David we see praying to the Lord before the Ark of the Covenant near the end of the film.
All in all, "David and Bathsheba" was an okay movie; but I can't say that I was really connected to any of the characters, and it didn't really excite me. In fact, I think I enjoyed the 1997 "David" TV movie with Nathaniel Parker, Jonathan Pryce, Leonard Nimoy, Franco Nero and Sheryl Lee, more than this one. To each his own.
This film is no different. While it covers the key points regarding the illicit relationship which occurred between King David and Bathsheba, a number of the events in David's life are out of chronological order.
For example, we see flashbacks of David as a young shepherd boy being anointed by the Prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel, and then David as a slightly older youth killing the Philistine giant Goliath, in the closing moments of the film.
To incorporate these moments of David's life into the movie, a bit of fiction is employed. These visions -- or whatever they were meant to be -- occur while King David has his hands placed upon the side of the Ark of the Covenant and is asking God for His mercy and forgiveness, after his sins are exposed by the Prophet Nathan. Scripturally-speaking, this would never occur; because as even the movie reveals, anyone who touched the Ark died.
Furthermore, as I have seen in other movies of this genre, sometimes words are placed in the mouth of one character, when they were actually said by someone else in the Bible.
Regarding this particular movie, a case in point concerns King David's decision to place Uriah the Hittite in the hottest part of the battle against the Ammonites so that he will die. This movie would have us to believe that it was actually Uriah's idea to do this, because he desired to show David his loyalty and bravery. The truth, however, is that it was David's idea, because he wanted Uriah to die, so that he -- meaning David -- could conceal his sin of adultery, and getting Bathsheba pregnant. In short, David committed outright murder.
Another departure from the actual Scriptures occurs when following the death of Bathsheba's firstborn -- who was fathered by David -- the Prophet Nathan and the people demand that Bathsheba be stoned to death, according to the mandates of the Mosaic Law. While this was indeed the punishment for committing adultery, the Bible makes no mention of this concerning Bathsheba. What we are told in the Scriptures is that their punishment was losing their child, as well as the fact that war and treason would never depart from David's house, being as he had an innocent man killed.
This film also paints a very hostile relationship between David and Michal, who was King Saul's daughter who became David's first wife. While the Bible does inform us that Michal was a jealous woman, and that God struck her barren because of it, it makes no mention of her -- or Absalom -- standing up as witnesses so that David's lie could be exposed, and so that Bathsheba would be stoned. These were simply fictitious plot devices.
While I have enjoyed some of Gregory Peck's work -- such as "Moby Dick", "To Kill a Mockingbird", etc -- I didn't care for the way he portrayed King David. Peck plays a very dark, scheming, sarcastic, manipulative David. In particular, I didn't like his disrespectful attitude towards Nathan the Prophet, and the way that he doubted God's Word being spoken through Nathan. David came across as being quite snobbish.
Of course, I recognize that perhaps Peck played David this way in order to emphasize how far he had strayed from the Lord once he had achieved fame, riches and power. This was in contrast to the more humble David we see praying to the Lord before the Ark of the Covenant near the end of the film.
All in all, "David and Bathsheba" was an okay movie; but I can't say that I was really connected to any of the characters, and it didn't really excite me. In fact, I think I enjoyed the 1997 "David" TV movie with Nathaniel Parker, Jonathan Pryce, Leonard Nimoy, Franco Nero and Sheryl Lee, more than this one. To each his own.