I have been an avid Bible student since I was 21 years old. Prior to that I lived my life without caring what my Creator thought about my choices. My Bible study has only increased in the 40 plus years since I first started reading the Gospel accounts.
I know the Bible very well and am thoroughly enjoying The Chosen series. Naturally, since I am so familiar with the Bible account, I have some opinions about this series. I believe it is important to point out that less than 10% of each episode of The Chosen is actually from the Bible accounts. Ninety percent of these episodes are embellishments; the producer's ideas of how the Bible characters may have spoken, looked and acted, beyond what is written in the Bible. I have no problem with most of those embellishments. As a matter of fact, I appreciate and enjoy much of the non-biblical inventions by the writers of this series.
I would like to speak about the good and the not so good embellishments created by the writers of this series. I hope you will not be offended by my critique.
Season 5, Episode 5 - Roman intrigue which is not supported in Scripture
Naturally, the beginning of this episode is an excerpt from the final Passover and well done as always. Then we get the embellished, behind the scenes look at the insidious plot of the Sanhedrin leaders. Though not contained in Scripture, the writing of the scene in the Sanhedrin is very well done. Unfortunately the episode then goes off in an unscriptural tangent, presenting the fictional character Atticus trying to intimidate Pilate into being more proactive against Jesus. This is utter nonsense and not even hinted at in Scripture. Rome only cared about collecting their money. They allowed the cultures they conquered to continue to practice all of their religious traditions without interference and Pilate didn't become aware of Jesus until the Jewish religious leaders brought Jesus to him.
The Jews did not speak to or interact with the Romans at all if they could avoid it. They took care of everything 'in house' and only took Jesus to Pilate because he alone had the authority to kill Jesus, which is what they wanted so desperately. There was no Atticus, and Pilate couldn't have cared less about what the Jewish religious leaders wanted as long as they brought in the tax money.
The next scene with the metaphor of the fig tree was very well done and the invented consternation, questions and debate about what Jesus told the Apostles about him being killed was well done. It suggested something about Judas' thinking that is not found in Scripture. That Judas was under the false impression that the Messiah was supposed to destroy Rome and he did what he did to force Jesus to do just that. It is an interesting perspective and I can kind of see how that explanation of what Judas did makes some sense, but it is not stated in Scripture.
I also enjoyed the make-believe reuniting of Mary Magdalene and Nicodemus mashed up with the bringing of Judas to Caiaphas. That was cute.
Biblical content 5% - Luke 22:24-30; Mark 11:12-14, 20-25; Luke 18:31-34.
