When she's not writing, Rachel Kovaciny passes the time by reading, baking, watching movies, crocheting, blogging, and homeschooling her three children. Her least favorite activities are house-cleaning and wearing shoes, and she's been known to go to great lengths to avoid both. She blogs about books, and also has a personal blog that talks about movies and other important things. story could have ended there, Judah triumphant over his enemy, but it goes on to show how focusing on vengeance can hollow a person out, leaving them empty and confused after they have gotten their revenge. With Messala gone, Judah is purposeless, vacant, his soul eaten away by the hatred he'd harbored for so many years. Into this void come the words of a young rabbi, someone Judah's one-time slave Esther has started following. This rabbi, or teacher, is named Jesus, and he teaches that people should forgive those who wrong them, should love their enemies, and should leave vengeance to God. Judah has had his revenge, and the rest of the film deals with the question of whether it's possible for him to forgive everyone who did him wrong, even the dead Messala, and to forgive himself for his actions as well. The movie is based on a book by General Lew Wallace, who had served under General Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War. Wallace wrote BenHur: A Tale of the
Christ in the 1870s, finishing it while he was Governor of New Mexico and submitting it for publication in 1880. He began writing it after having a debate with an agnostic friend about Christianity. Wallace realized how little he knew about Christianity or the history of Christ's life, and began to do research into that time period. It eventually led to his fleshing out a short story he'd written about the journey of the Magi. By focusing on a fictional character the same age as Christ, from the same area of the country, Wallace was able to impart historical detail to his readers about the world Christ lived in without fictionalizing the Biblical account of His life. I think Wallace's experiences living in a country trying to knit
itself back together after a civil war must have informed his decision to make the story revolve around two former friends who become bitter enemies. The lesson of finding peace through forgiveness would have resonated with the readers of the day, who were struggling with similar issues. In today's fractured world, its message is equally poignant. When I was a kid, I loved BenHur's epic excitement. When I got older, I valued its excellent story-telling and character development. But now, it's the themes of forgiveness versus vengeance that resonate with me. Who knows—in another ten or twenty years, this story might mean even more to me! In the meantime, I think I'll watch it a few more times. ♼