http://www.christianpost.com/news/was-the-historical-samson-black-91661/
Was the Historical Samson Black?
EXCERPT:
As millions tuned in to the second part of the miniseries "The Bible" on The History Channel on Sunday night, some were intrigued by the casting choice for one of the characters.
Samson, the Ancient Near East judge known for superhuman strength and long hair, was portrayed by a black actor, leading many online to ponder aloud what Samson must have looked like. On the discussion board for Internet Movie Database entry for "The Bible," someone posted the question and got five pages worth of responses for and against the idea.
On Yahoo Answers, at least three people posted questions pertaining to Samson's race in response to the episode, with a combined amount of over 20 responses.
The Christian Post asked its Facebook fans what they thought of Samson and received over 400 comments, many addressing the question as to whether or not Samson really looked that way.
Dr. Andrew Vaughn, executive director of the American School for Oriental Research located at Boston University and an expert in the Hebrew Bible, told The Christian Post that while Samson was probably not black it is a minor issue. "Historically, the Bible describes Samson's parents as Israelites from the tribe of Dan, so it is unlikely that the historical Samson would have been so dark skinned. However, for the purposes of the mini-series, I did not find the skin color to be important," said Vaughn.
The actress who played Bathsheba was h-o-t-t.
Where I live they are showing on PBS or some other channel as well are they considering total viewing audience.
Maybe I'm toucht on the subject but I wouldn't want to see the great British Saint to the Irish, St. Patrick played by Morgan Freeman.
And besides...that black guy in the dress with the dread locks was just palin ugly.
I was very disappointed in the way David’s adultry and his repentence were portrayed.
Rather than have David prostrate before God confessing his sin, we see him begging for the child’s life.
Personally I don’t think the Biblical diaglogue could be improved upon.
Very much to my surprise my favorite show on TV right now is Duck Dynasty. I really enjoy that show. It's kinda like “Leave it to Beaver”, only set in Louisiana in 2013. It's great.
Rick Warren, the pusher of Christlam, is pushing it, then no thanks. Warren says that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the same God the muslims worship. I don’t think so.
Based on how the History Channel handled biblical themes in the past, I did not have high hopes, and did not care to watch. Was fully expecting that by the end Jesus would be marrying an alien and flying off to Japan to raise 29 kids.
I urgently recommend listening to the following three radio programs addressing the many and egregious problems with the History Channel miniseries. Then stay tuned for further programs as the series continues to air - through Easter Sunday.
1. THEOLOGICAL ERRORS OF THE HISTORY CHANNEL’S MINISERIES “THE BIBLE” - PT 1
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2013/03/theological-errors-of-the-history-channels-miniseries-the-bible-pt-1.html
2, RICK WARREN LAYS OUT THE (FALSE) THEOLOGY OF THE HISTORY CHANNEL MINISERIES, THE BIBLE
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2013/03/rick-warren-lays-out-the-theology-of-the-history-channel-miniseries-the-bible.html
3. THEOLOGICAL ERRORS OF THE HISTORY CHANNEL’S MINISERIES “THE BIBLE” - PT 2
http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2013/03/theological-errors-of-the-history-channels-miniseries-the-bible-pt-2.html
“Samson, the Ancient Near East judge known for superhuman strength and long hair, was portrayed by a black actor,”
So what? Most pictures of Jesus show him looking very Nordic.
Hopefully It does cause some people to actually
begin to study the Bible.
The show is like reading the “Cliff Notes” for a book.
except with even less accuracy and detail
It appears as if the bible was written for
entertainment.
I’ll stick to the book, thanks.
It didn’t include every detail and had some images that don’t exactly match my mind’s eye when I read the Bible, so I hated it.
Mel Gibson’s story about Jesus did pretty well with audiences, too.
Watched the first one on demand with my son. They kind of lost when they got to “Crouching Angel, Hidden Gemorrah.”
The whole series is horribly produced. The acting is terrible, very amateurish. In the episode with Sampson, the man who earlier had blinded him was holding a metal cup of some kind. You could see the plastic mold seem on the side of the metallic cup and a sticker on the bottom. LOL
Thanks for the thread.
Thought the 1st one was good - nothing heretical or blasphemous.
Not thrilled about the 2nd one - spent waaay too much time on Sampson - it really is just a very brief mention in the OT - I didn’t mind the black Sampson, though - spent a few months in Israel and there are quite a few black Hebrews (but no black Irish). Some people had a hard time with Noah’s Scottish accent last week - I asked if they would have preferred a Bronx accent, or maybe Mexican....
I’ll give it one more shot - see if next week balances a little better. Having read the Bible cover-to-cover many times (in five different translations) I understand it is difficult to cover much territory on the screen - I’m trying to extend a bit of grace to the producers.
I know a lot of FReepers have been dissing this series, but I have watched the first 2 (of 5) installments and speaking as one who is very familiar with the Scriptural passages that have been featured so far, I am reasonably pleased with the quality of the work product.
Was Samson of such a dark complexion? Who knows? I have been to Ethiopia and have known plenty of Ethiopian Jews who are blacker than the ace of spades. So what? The Queen of Sheba (believed by many to have come from Ethiopia) was quite dark in complexion and Solomon was quite enamored of her. It is believed by some scholars that the Shunamite woman described in The Song of Solomon was dark complexioned. Many Egyptians are very dark complexioned. Could Samson have been of darker complexion? Possibly. I wouldn't be inclined to pre-judge.
While there are scholarly improvements I could make, as I am sure others could also, I think these are 2 Hollywood producers who have remained true to their faith and have approach their work with a reverence for Christ, even as detailed in the linked article.
The snipers and critics are all out there, even as one might have expected. Rick Warren is applauding the series, and while I don't care for him at all, I will not judge Burnett's and Downey's work negatively like some will just because he happens to like it.
Burnett and Downey should applauded for building on their success in other areas of entertainment to uplift the Christian message and communicate their faith in "The Bible" series, breaking through the bilge that typically characterizes the work product of Hollywood.
They are standing in their professions in ways that too few snipers who call themselves Christians are willing to do in their own lives and careers. It's just easier to snipe when some have so little to show for themselves by comparison.
Burnett and Downey have prayerfully summoned the guts to take the risk to affirm the veracity of the Bible.
I am willing to keep an open mind as I watch the rest of the series and at this moment I continue to remain thankful for their bold effort.
FReegards!
