BEN-HUR
By Carol Wallace (based on the
bestselling novel by her great great
grandfather, Lew Wallace.)
Lion Fiction. 409 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 782 642 244
The book is about a Jewish boy whose best friend is a Roman. Judah Ben-Hur is the son of a Jewish prince.
Messala is his Roman friend who leaves to join the legions. Ben-Hur is sent to row on the galleys after being falsely accused of attempted murder and he is sent there by his old friend Messala! The two have grown apart and a bitter hatred is between them.
Galleys and chariot race
On the way to the galleys Ben-Hur is exhausted and thirsty, and a young man called Jesus gives him a drink. Three years later, Ben-Hur saves a hugely powerful navy commander in a sea battle with pirates. The man adopts him and Ben-Hur inherits his fortune. Messala thinks him dead.
Ben-Hur meets a desert sheik called Ilderim and a trader called Simonides who was a great friend, but also a slave of his father. Simonides gives Ben-Hur his vast inheritance and Ben-Hur uses it for his misguided views about Jesus.
The famous chariot race comes to a conclusion with Messala crippled and Ben-Hur victorious; the battle is finally settled, but Messala continues to attempt to murder Ben-Hur.
Ben Hur’s mother and sister are locked up in a cell and infected with leprosy. When they are released they go to Jesus and he heals them, much to Ben-Hur’s joy. He realises that Jesus might not be the military conqueror he expected.
Realising who Jesus is
Throughout the story runs Judah Ben-Hur’s misguided views of Jesus’ plans. He uses his inheritance to build up a massive army in the desert to go to Christ’s aid. But later, when watching Jesus die, he realises that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and is not there to relieve them of the Roman rulers by force.
There is also a contrast between the aggression of Ben-Hur and Messala and the love and peace of Christ. Slowly, after a number of meetings with Jesus and when his wife becomes a follower of Jesus, he realises that Christ’s way is one of forgiveness and peace.
