What Sheep, Moses, Joe Eszterhas Have in Common

This week I learned a lot of things -- all to do with the interpretation and misinterpretation of the Bible and of grace.

First, I learned about sheep. Chuck, the visiting minister, explained how working for a time as a shepherd taught him what the references to sheep actually meant in the Bible. For instance, the passage in Psalm 23 about how "He makes me lie to down in green pastures." What it meant is that the sheep, who graze all day, have to be led to lie down and regurgitate and rechew their cud, or they will continue grazing and the grass won't digest well and nourish them as much otherwise. Leading to still waters has

something of the same meaning (drink water, you fool sheep!), though I think with humans it's more about the tranquility of the stillness.

The passage on sparing the rod and spoiling the child, well, that has to do with sheep, too. The rod is a stick or curved cane, as we picture it, that the shepherd uses to guide the sheep. It is NOT used to beat the sheep. Therefore, the passage is about gently guiding children, instead of leaving them to roam around and get into trouble. Funny how that one got misinterpreted.

Moses, too, was not exactly portrayed properly in the Hollywood version of things in The Ten Commandments. I watched a History Channel program, Battles, BC, that explained how things probably happened in reality when the Pharoah went up against the Jews who were intent on going back to Canaan, the Promised Land of their ancestor Abraham.

First of all, the account explained that Jews were in Egypt initially as a tribe of well-paid mercenaries hired to keep the other savage tribes from attacking or otherwise wreaking havoc on Egypt. Once Egypt had gained enough power not to need the tribe, the Pharoah decided to hire them on as construction contractors for his pyramid projects, to keep them from otherwise causing problems. When the Jews began to outnumber the Egyptians, and when he was informed by a soothsayer that a Jewish child would rise to power, he became worried and decided that something had to be done. After he ordered the massacre of the male babies, things fell apart and the Jews had to be "enslaved" under a militia to keep them from going to battle.

After Moses made his move and got permission to leave with his people, they plundered the homes of the wealthy, taking animals and gold to enable them to resettle elsewhere, and that's when the Pharoah decided to send his army after them. The pilar of fire was a giant bonfire lit by the Jews to be able to watch for the army at night.

The historians describe the parting of the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) as the tide going out, the wiping out of Pharoah's army was the tide coming in. It all makes sense, even if you ascribe supernatural occurrences to it. How would Moses know when to go? Of course, none of that is as dramatic as the film version.

Now on to Joe Eszterhas, the writer/director of such sex- and violence-filled flicks as Basic Instinct, Flashdance and Showgirls. He wrote in a Washington Post piece about how when he asked God to save him from larynx cancer, he was completely healed in seven years. He wrote a book about his conversion called Crossbearer. What I learned from that is that Eszterhas felt he was saved because God loves him. But more specifically, he was saved because of grace, delivered through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Now Eszterhas, who was able to quit drinking, smoking and drugging with the help of God, and whose throat cancer has completely healed, is an ardent Christian who literally carries a cross in his church in Ohio during services.

The irony is that Eszterhas's conversion is a dramatic story, and it has no sex or violence in it. It's a story of survival and redemption, an age-old story with a modern twist. His fame and fortune can now be used for good, and perhaps his talents will make a difference to other lost souls in the end.