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| This is the 1925 Ben-Hur. |
Ben-Hur, by Lew Wallace (1880) is an odd duck of a book to be on my Eager Readers
list, or so it seemed before I read it. But, it truly is a great story, told
with currency and urgency and authenticity. I felt like I was right there with
Ben-Hur in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in the stands at the chariot race. All in
all, it was masterful story telling. And, it made no bones about being a
Christian story, so it could be taken on its own terms. The book Ben-Hur is more concise than the movie, tighter, with less melodrama. Ben-Hur is much younger than the Heston portrayal. The main action is Ben-Hur’s vengeance and quest for his family. Everything is presented in that context.
Judah Ben-Hur is a young Jewish prince living in Jerusalem who is wrongly accused of an
attack on a Roman official. His punishment is to row in the Roman galleys as a slave; his family and fortune are busted up. His childhood friend, Messala, is in
league with the barely wounded procurator to steal everything the Ben-Hur
family ever had. In a magnificent battle scene, Ben-Hur rescues a Roman general and is thereby rescued himself
from slavery. He gains wealth and status from this adopted father.
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| Heston in Ben-Hur 1959, rowing in the galleys |
Still, he
cannot rest. He must find out what happened to his mother and sister. This
quest ennobles Ben-Hur and is a story arc equal to and as important as
Ben-Hur’s connection with “the Nazarene,” as they call the imminent Christ.
The
story of Jesus is the second story arc. The reader travels with the Wise Men as
they find and worship the Christ child. The two arcs are parallel—finding Jesus
is sort of like finding your lost family, in the terms of this book; both are
ways to find that elusive ideal called Home. And the one journey being concrete
while the other is spiritual works very nicely. Ben-Hur and the remaining wise
man (Balthasar) are present at the crucifixion, during which Ben-Hur is
profoundly changed (and Balthasar is taken directly into heaven with Jesus). This transformation then enables Ben-Hur's earthly happiness, as it makes him acceptable to his childhood love, Miriam. The teachings of Jesus also erase the class differences between them and they are portrayed as living "happily ever after."
The portrayal of the Jewish struggle against Roman
domination is a primary theme. Ben-Hur and his friends want a worldly king with
armies and power. The desire to overthrow Rome is noble and necessary. They are courageous in their fight for freedom. But the
Jews are also presented as having Jesus’s blood on them—they betrayed him to
the Romans when he wasn’t the earthly king they wanted. Wallace curses all Jews for all
time for betraying Jesus, an accusation that I do not find justified.
The book is a good read, interesting, engaging. Several
sequences are riveting—the battle scene during which Ben-Hur escapes the
galleys, the chariot race, the transformation of Ben-Hur’s mother and sister. I
held my breath through the chariot race, even though I knew exactly how it
turned out. I was impressed by how detailed it was—I really felt like I was
there. And I wept with Mother and Tirzah as they were healed.
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The 1959 film never showed Jesus' face--you
came to know him by the expression on Ben-
Hur's face--a wonderful film-making decision. |
And, the story of Jesus is much stronger when seen through
the eyes of Ben-Hur than it is when presented directly. Ben-Hur filters it and
represents us in skepticism, wonder, and, finally, faith. What a masterful idea Wallace
had to write the book in this way.
So, this book was great stuff. I remember liking it when I
read it decades ago. And it has held up well. It’s a story of adventure,
revenge, redemption, and love. And, it’s a story about an adult emerging from the turmoil of of a child's point of view. I
highly recommend it.
Sidebar: Ben-Hur and the Hero Journey
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| This diagram is based on the work of Joseph Campbell. |
If you've followed my blog, you know that tracing the role of the hero quest in the literature I'm reading is an underlying theme. I watch out for it because it is specified by Joseph Campbell (one of my personal heroes) as found in the stories and literature of almost every culture. How does a person grow up? The hero quest stories present the journey for us, demonstrating the pitfalls, dangers, diversions, and the great rewards of taking the path to enlightenment/full adulthood. Ben-Hur loses himself--his name and home are stripped from him. He doesn't even own himself, as a galley slave. The book presents his struggle to find himself--by finding his courage, his cause, his family, his salvation. He acquires tools and gifts that he uses to complete his quest. What video game could want more? Christian game designers, what are you waiting for? This hero journey is ripe for the picking.
Sidebar: Lew Wallace
"I know what I should love to do--to build a study; to write, and to think of nothing else. I want to bury myself in a den of books. I want to saturate myself with the elements of which they are made, and breathe their atmosphere until I am of it. Not a bookworm, being which is to give off no utterances; but a man in the world of writing--one with a pen that shall stop men to listen to it, whether they wish to or not."
The following link presents a brief history of Wallace's military career. He was a man of action as well as a writer. (I don't know why I don't think those things go together!):
