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God's Top 10
In March 2006, Cecil B. DeMille's classic "The Ten Commandments" debuted as a three-disc collector's edition DVD (50th Anniversary Collection) from Paramount Home Video. Nominated for six Academy Awards and winning for best special effects, DeMille's 1956 remake stars Charlton Heston (Moses), Yul Brynner (Rameses), Anne Baxter (Nefretiri), Edward G. Robinson (Dathan), Yvonne De Carlo (Sephora), Debra Paget (Lilia), John Derek (Joshua) and Cedric Hardwicke (Sethi). The 3-disc set's bonus features include DeMille's original 1923 silent version. 1. Exodus 20:12 begins: "Honor thy father and thy mother." What benefit is promised for honoring parents? 2. Who wrote the hymn, That Man a Godly Life May Live, based on the Ten Commandments--J.S. Bach, Martin Luther, or John Wesley? 3. Who was Cecil B. DeMille's first choice for Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956)--ultimately played by Charlton Heston? 4. What Russian-Jewish artist painted Moses Receiving the Tablets of the Law?
5. In the slapstick movie History of the World: Part 1 (1981), how many commandments does Moses (Mel Brooks) receive from God? 6. A news anchor said in a 1987 commencement address at Duke University: "What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were." Was it Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel or Dan Rather? 7. In the 1991 Simpsons episode, Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment, what does Lisa fear? 8. Who's the voice of Delaura the Butterfly in the children's video, God's Top 10? 9. At a July 18/03 press conference, what sin did Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant confess? 10. Who decided in July 2003 to appeal his Ten Commandments monument case to the U.S. Supreme Court? Answers 1. Long life: "so you may live long in the land the Lord is giving you." Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia began organizing a national day for moms on May 9, 1907. She also fought commercialization of Mother's Day, filing a 1923 suit against New York Governor Al Smith to halt a public event. Central Church of Fairmont, W.V., celebrated the first recorded Father's Day on July 5, 1908, at Grace Clayton's suggestion. But Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash., is usually credited with it; Spokane and Washington state issued the first Father's Day Proclamations on June 19, 1910. 2. Reformation leader Martin Luther (1524), using a 13th-century melody. The first verse in English: "That man a Godly life might live/ God did these Ten Commandments give/ By His true servant Moses, high/ Upon the Mount Sinai/ Have mercy, Lord!" 3. William Boyd, best known as movie cowboy Hopalong Cassidy. Boyd turned down the role, fearing the Hopalong connection would hurt the movie. Heston was chosen because he bore a resemblance to Michelangelo's statue of Moses. The special effect of the Red Sea parting was accomplished by pouring 300,000 gallons of water into a tank and then running the film backward. Some props from the movie--cups, glasses and tableware--later turned up in a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called Tapestry (1987). 4. Marc Chagall. From Chagall by Chagall (1979):"I went back to the great universal book, the Bible. Since childhood, it has filled me with vision of the fate of the world and inspired me...In our life there is a single color, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the color of love." The Museum of the Marc Chagall Biblical Message was dedicated at Nice, France, in 1973. 5. Fifteen. God: Moses, this is the Lord thy God, commanding you to obey my law. Do you hear me? Moses: Yes! I hear you! I hear you! A deaf man could hear you!...What would you have me do for you? God: I shall give you my laws, and you shall take them unto the people. Moses: Yes, Lord! (Thunder) Wow! (Moses is next seen carrying three stone tablets, each with five commandments.) Moses (to the Israelites): Hear me! O, hear me! All to heed the Lord! The Lord Jehovah has given unto you these 15...(accidentally drops one tablet, smashing it)...oy...10...10 commandments for all to obey!" Historically, Moses himself broke two tablets: "When Moses came to the camp and saw the (golden) calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain" (Exodus 33:19). Later, "the Lord said to Moses, 'Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke'" (Exodus 34:1). 6. Ted Koppel, the former host of ABC Nightline. "We have actually convinced
ourselves that slogans will save us. Shoot up if you must, but use a clean
needle. Enjoy sex whenever and with whomever you wish, but wear a condom.
No! The answer is no. Not because it isn't cool or smart or because you
might end up in jail or in an AIDS ward, but no because it's wrong, because
we have spent 5,000 years as a race of rational human beings, trying to
drag ourselves out of the primeval slime by searching for truth and moral
absolutes. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder.
It is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were
not the Ten Suggestions, they are Commandments. Are, not were. The sheer
brilliance of the Ten Commandments is that they codify in a handful of
words acceptable human behavior, not just for then...but for all time.
Language evolves, power shifts from nation to nation, messages are transmitted
with the speed of light, man erases one frontier after another. Yet, we
and our behavior--and the Commandments which govern that behavior--remain
the same. The tension between those Commandments and our baser instincts
provide the grist for journalism's daily mill."
7. Having learned the Eighth Commandment ("Thou shalt not steal") at Sunday school, Lisa fears her family will go to hell because of Homer's illegal cable hook-up. In Homer's dream, Homer the Thief (strikingly resembling Homer himself) is chatting with Hezron, Carver of Graven Images, and Zohar the Adulterer. Moses (the voice of Phil Hartman) then brings the commandments, changing their lives forever. Mark Pinsky writes in The Gospel According to The Simpsons (2001): "The episode 'Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment' has the structure of an exquisitely crafted, twenty-two minute sermon. It could easily have been composed in the finest of seminaries--evangelical or mainline, Christian, Jewish, or Islamic. Good sermons begin with scripture, and this one is no exception." For Roman Catholics who follow the Douay Bible's numbering, "Thou shalt not steal" is the seventh. 8. Radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger. In the puppet video (2003), four forest friends learn how to live the Ten Commandments. When a psychology professor once remarked: "Dr. Laura is about 'I'm right, everybody else is wrong'," she responded: "It's not that I'm right, it's that God is right. I'm just reiterating the Ten Commandments....I'm not even interpreting them. Frankly, they don't need interpretation. They are so clear and so profound...the best blueprint we've ever had for a purposeful and meaningful life." 9. Adultery, as in "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). Bryant confessed after being charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old Colorado woman: "I didn't force her to do anything against her will. I'm innocent....I sit here in front of you guys, furious at myself, disgusted at myself for making the mistake of adultery." 10. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had installed a 2.5-ton Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building in July 2001. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court ruled, on July 1, 2002, that the monument violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment clause prohibiting a state religion. A federal judge ordered Moore to remove the monument by Aug. 20/03 or face a fine beginning at $5,000 and doubling each week the monument remained in the rotunda. Moore refused. From: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Moore): "On November 14, 2003, he was removed from his post as Chief Justice of Alabama by a unanimous decision of the nine member state Court of the Judiciary. The Court found that he had 'willfully and publicly' flouted a court order to remove a monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building, placing himself in contempt of the federal court which had ordered the removal, and thereby breaking his oath of office....He has announced he will seek the Governorship of Alabama in 2006." The monument was put into storage within the state judicial building. Scoring: 1-3 Fair 4-7 Good 8-9 Excellent 10 As wise as Solomon. For further reference: http://www.markpinsky.com/indexA.htm
Copyright 2006 by David Buckna. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Buckna is the author of "The
Pop Gospel", a quiz feature that has appeared in publications including
The Calgary Herald, ChristianWeek and Baptist Press. He reads email at
(solomann@look.ca)
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