At the end of March, Netflix released a three-part docuseries called Testament: the story of Moses. A mix of re-enactment and commentary from Jewish rabbis, Bible scholars, Muslims and Christian pastors, it racked up 13.5 million views in the first five days of its release.
I was curious to see it. It had become the second most-watched show on Netflix – and the fifth most-watched here in the UK. However, its acclaim was short-lived, and reception mixed. The audience score on the popular film reviewing platform Rotten Tomatoes sits at just 33%.
I can see why. The messaging is vague – the commentators come from a variety of backgrounds, draw on a number of sources (the Qur’an, the Bible, the Midrash) and the re-enactment holding all these worldviews together has a very secular 2024 flavour.
Rather than serving as an edifying or encouraging watch, this docuseries might serve us best as a warning. It is an example of what happens when we remove Jesus from the Biblical story – and try to make it about us.
Here are three ways Testament fell into this trap:
1. Look for identity? Early in the first episode, Moses falls from being Egyptian royalty to working in Midian. Commentator Jonathan Kirsch concludes from this that Moses has a confused identity, and therefore having more than one identity is ‘possible and inevitable’ for us today, too. He adds: ‘Moses has been reduced from a high and mighty figure to a humble and obscure figure. He’s tending to a flock…’
But if we put Jesus back into the centre, this points less to our search for identity, and more to our Good Shepherd – who left His position at the right hand of the Father to come to earth for us. But unlike Moses, He chose to leave. It reminds us, as Tim Keller said, that Jesus is the ‘true and better Moses’.
2. Be more united? At the parting of the Red Sea, in episode three, the audience are told by commentator Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn that it is a lesson in the power of human unity – as the Israelites decide to walk together between the walls of water. ‘Everyone is going to mess up in life,’ he says, ‘but as long as humans can work and stick together, that’s what God’s waiting for.’
But looking at this part of the story through the lens of Christ, we see this not as a call to be more united, but primarily as a powerful sign of what Jesus achieved on the cross. ‘Has there ever been a more stunning picture of our salvation?’ Marshall Segal from ‘Desiring God’ asks: ‘Soldiers in chariots press God’s people from behind while the seas rage before them. They are lodged between deaths – and then God pulls back the waves.’
3. Manage your disappointment? When portraying the Israelites grumbling in the desert, Pastor Tom Kang comments that, ‘Part of the lesson is, God may give you a vision and a dream … but more often than not it isn’t going to materialise the way you want it to. But it’ll be something better.’
But if we read the Exodus story as an echo of the gospel story, this isn’t just a lesson for us on how to deal with disappointment – it’s pointing to our ongoing relationship with the God who has saved us and remains with us.
At times, the docuseries makes interesting theological points (noting, for example, that the Hebrew word ‘tevah’ used for Moses’ basket is the same word used to describe Noah’s ark). It also raises some big questions (reflecting on the death of the firstborn in Egypt, Pastor Kang asks: ‘What kind of vengeful God would do this?’). But without the framework of Jesus and the gospel story, these points and questions that could have been so powerful, simply hang in the air.
In one review, writer Collin Garbarino commented: ‘On the whole, this Netflix series neglects how the story of Moses points to Christ, turning the great lawgiver into a broad-minded multicultural prototype of ourselves.’
We are reminded that there are two ways to read the Bible. Do we read ourselves as the protagonist, squeezing life-lessons from the pages and adding things to our to-do lists? Or do we read Jesus as the main character, and find freedom in His story?
How wonderful that as Christians we have a God who is our Shepherd, who came for us, made a way for us to be with Him, and remains with us now.
