Bible Animations

 - The Angel Of The LORD = The Destroyer = JESUS?
   Kinda insulting if you think about it, hahaha. JESUS specifically said: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10, KJV. To call JESUS a destroyer is a stretch. Not to mention that "the destroyer" isn't capitalized.
   I've also read that some think this is the Angel Of The LORD, but again, no capitalization and we're not even told that this is an angel. I did read this article that says that in some of the other Hebrew texts, it is called an angel, but in the KJV it is clearly defined as "the destroyer", so that's what I'm sticking with for the sake of staying true to scripture.



 - The look of the destroyer
   This is one I am still grappling with, because I feel the look they used in The Prince Of Egypt was so well done. Personally, I don't think there was anything visible, so I want to portray something like that. When GOD moves through the land and all the first born die, they die instantly - all. Not all that progressive. So in this case it's a very difficult thing to make filmic.

Personally, I really liked the idea of something fluid and fiery at the same time. In this case, it would be like a mixture of liquid-fabric and fire. I'm very keen to get into it for sure!!! :D

 - Location of the Mountain of GOD and it's current condition
   I have to be honest, when I saw the Google Earth representation (Jebel El Lawz), I was kinda bummed for a few reasons, but I think the biggest reason is the over-romanticizing thing we tend to do as people. We see illustrations like this and think that that is how everything was. We kinda forget these were regular people in the same world we live in, just all those years ago. GOD is huge and majestic, but we have to remember the height of the mountain would've been something that Moses could climb without almost plummeting to his death every 5 mins. Not only that, he had to take some of the elders up to see GOD (what HE was willing to reveal) and later called Moses into a cloud to receive the commandments (where he was for 40 days and 40 nights - remember the ark of Noah?). Lots of climbing going on there. If the mountain was super steep, it is not very practical at all. GOD often meets us where we are (like with JESUS) and lifts us up (through the HOLY SPIRIT).

I do have some secondary issues with the mountain's appearance today, as opposed to back then:
 - A lot can happen in 3000-4000 years
 - Some heavy things have happened after the Exodus, including natural erosion and Elijah standing before the LORD


There are some things that can't be used, at least not today, to ID the mountain and one of those things are the state of the mountain itself. One of the claims I've seen a lot is that the top of the mountain is blackened and so, it is supposed to be the mountain. The only problem with that is if you use Google Earth, you can fly high above the mountains and notice that pretty much 50%-80% of all the mountains in that area are black in some way. This one has gotten people, because it has such a short line of high contrast, facing the possible location of the golden calf altar.

Not saying that discounts this as the mountain of GOD, just saying that most of the mountains in the area are blackened and areas that get burned outside of normal course, don't stay burned and black for very long (usually under a year, much less 3000-4000 years of erosion, earthquakes and yes, even on occasion rain).

Personally, going by what is described with GOD's presence on the mountain, what generally happens through the course of seasons as well as age and other events like Elijah before GOD, the mountain probably does not look the same today as it did back then...

Just for the sake of helping you see what I mean, you can use this link to see it on Google Earth (app or Chrome required). You can easily see why the blackened top is misleading.

So what's the solution?
   1) - Not being super focused on where these locations are - Israel is no longer there and GOD's presence is no longer manifesting in fire on the mountain.
   2) Well, when, GOD willing, it does come up for a future animation, I believe it can certainly be made to be more majestic, without being horribly impractical to climb without special equipment.

 - Fake news about the Red Sea crossing
   Just as there are discoveries being made, there are also non-discoveries being made, such as this story. World News Daily Report, a fake news website, put up a story about supposed skeletons being found in the gulf of Suez. Couple of problems with that, including distance from Goshen, degradation of 3-4 millennia, decomposition, sea life feeding, tides, etc. A friend posted this with excitement, as any believer would be excited about such a find, but unfortunately, this story is a lie - not the crossing, just the story about the discovery.

For the sake of interest, you can check out the Snopes page on this too.

Gotta admit though, this friend was really humble enough to receive it. I was amazed at her level of humility! May GOD continue to bless her ministry and work!! :D

 - Simultaneous ruling of multiple kings?
   According to one website, Tour Egypt, the country was split (which I had read before), but this article does open up the possibility that this might even have been a regional thing, like, in my mind, the US is today - where each state is kind of it's own country, while being under the government of the whole too. I bring this up, because of what I mentioned in the video. In Exodus 12, Moses says that at midnight, GOD moved through the land of Egypt to kill all the firstborn and makes a list of who was targeted (aside from using the word for everyone, he's rather specific):


Notice the phrase when he talks about Pharaoh's first born: "the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne". A bit ambiguous, I'll admit, but it certainly seems to point out an age at which Pharaoh felt comfortable in handing him a serious level of responsibility. I'm also assuming "him" here, because it was very rare for women to rule alone as a queen. There were some, but if you can only count them on one hand, you know it didn't happen often - in fact, I only know of Nefertiti that ruled as a queen in the same status of a king (which is still considered sketchy info). You can check out this Wikipedia article on her.

The point is, since this may very well be the case, it certainly means that Pharaoh's son was at least at an age that he could speak and be trusted with some level of responsibility. Making at least over 6 years hold (hopefully) and probably under 100 (logically). I felt led to put him at about 15-21, but he may have been younger or older.

 - The promised land as well as the location of the land of the Philistines
   I totally have to fix that frame on the promised land, haha. I points to the mountain where they worshiped after the Exodus, instead of modern day Israel (Canaan). If you consider the route that GOD led them, and that HE specifically led them around the land of the Philistines, it means that where they were, would probably be inside of the curve they had to make to get to the promised land. If Ron Wyatt is correct, that means the Sinai peninsula, or at least part of it, was under Philistine rule at the time, because there is a serious gap that could've been a lot shorter to the promised land.

   The problem here is that some websites claim that the peninsula was under Egyptian rule or territory, based on what they say has been found there (mining turquoise specifically). You can read about those findings here and draw your own conclusions. The point is that the Philistines would've occupied at least some of that region to have forced the Israelites to move Southwest and through the Red Sea instead of around it to get to the promised land. This is the case whether you believe Ron Wyatt is correct or not, because you still have a massive detour around the edges of the Sinai peninsula.

   For more on where the land of the Philistines could've been, you can check out this page from Britannica that also suggests that they may have possible occupied on the Northern cost of the Sinai peninsula with the permission of Egypt. And of course, where the Philistines come up in scripture, you can check out this website as well.


 - The first occurrence of repetition from 7-12 and a solution
   I have to be honest, I was really surprised when I noticed the repetition last night! Through all the previous plagues, repetition was strictly avoided, but here at the conclusion and the handing down of the Passover, it becomes extremely crucial to remember every word that GOD spoke to Moses concerning the festival.

   GOD "finds" Moses and Aaron in the same spot, most likely in the same spot, and addresses with them the requirements of the Passover, that they may relay it to the Israelites, but in this instance, GOD is quoted and then Moses and Aaron repeat it to Israel. This means we need a solution, because there is a lot that pertains to this festival, which translates visually as a lot of talking heads that needs to be made visually interesting.

   One thing that we have already talked about was the issue of Moses talking to Pharaoh and then we have the actual event taking place with a slight repetition in narration, that has, like with the frog plague, made it difficult to show the plague, which needed the plague to be demonstrated in the talking about it, more so than the narration, as we were only left with Pharaoh calling for Moses and Aaron after the magicians failed to get rid of the plague (they often just made things worse, hahaha).

   In this case, we may have to do a mix of show and tell and show and tell in various ways. One can be like hieroglyphic and another can be more "realistic". One can be Moses and Aaron just listening (with just a few angle, gesture and facial changes to keep it interesting) and then the demonstration. It can even be a mix of faces, standing and vision-esque visuals, because some of the writing lends itself to that. Something I would really luv is to put visuals with GOD speaking, where Moses and Aaron don't repeat it (assuming of course that they had left out some of the smaller details, because of the repetition). Will, like I said, have to go through the sections that apply, to really see what can be done and trust that the HOLY SPIRIT will show me what I need to do.

 - When were the cakes baked with the unleavened dough?
   Just something interesting to think about, since they had to use the same dough they had made the night before, so of course, I had to just google it to find out. Turns out, it can actually last for about a week or so if you keep it in a very clean environment (source). My guess is that for the Israelites, wrapping it in clothing, it probably had to be used in the same day it was prepared to prevent any diseases from taking hold (anything within 24hours - depending on what journeyed meant to Moses).

 - Loins girded
   This was interesting. Joyce had demonstrated this on her show one morning and I felt it look kinda silly, but it makes more sense with the right fabric. Just look at this site (pretty much the only reference I could find).
   In the case of the Israelites, they had to just be prepared to move. Some traditional sleeping clothes don't have any kind of belt or binding around the middle. It was sort of like a robe - not ideal to be moving in. If you have gotten dressed in your everyday clothing, you would be more prepared for work or in their case, moving out of Egypt. Like I mentioned in the video, the word for girded here, is the word for binding with a belt or simply binding. Therefore, it can be the girding that you find in the reference, or simply someone just wearing a belt and being able to move without their clothes falling off - which brings me to another point - the bowing.

 - Bowed their heads and worshiped
   After Moses and Aaron had relayed what GOD said about how the Passover was to be done, it says that they bowed the head and worshiped. Worship there means to go prostrate or give homage or praise to a deity. For the Israelites, they would probably not go prostrate in this instance, because they were probably standing shoulder to shoulder and kinde bunched up to hear what Moses and Aaron had to say. All you can do in there is bow your head. If you try to go prostrate, it will be a domino effect. The only ones that had the room to do so, were the elders that Moses had called forward. I believe in a practical sense, that possibly only they, Moses and Aaron went onto their knees, while the rest remained standing. What they did beyond that was probably sing. There are quite a few Jewish hymns or chants as it relates to the Passover and I'm sure they had general worship songs, just like we do, that pretty much everyone knows. For example, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone that does not know Holy, Holy, Holy (LORD GOD, almighty) within the church.

Not sure, but it is a very strong possibility as this was a time of really great relief for many of them (at least for those that believed they would actually be freed before seeing it).

 - Sudden switch of point
   GOD gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and then suddenly Moses is great in the eyes of the people and on his way to speak to Pharaoh. It is possible they got gold and jewels more than once, but I don't know for sure - so in this case, for now, I have to make it only once and that in chapter 12. One thing I do know is that they chose to wear what they got. Just look at the whole golden calf incident where Aaron told them to give him the gold earrings they were wearing and so on to make the calf.


Yeah, the majority is certainly not always right, haha.

 - Narration overkill
   I have heard many people knock narration over the years and I think it may be because it kinda makes the audience feel like you think they have to be spoon-fed, unknowingly, and it does not make for easy viewing, especially if what you're seeing draws too much attention, that it makes it difficult to focus on what is being said. For example, in Genesis 1, I have such a situation near the end, where Eve walks up to Adam and GOD is giving instructions about what can be eaten and what not. There are certainly better ways of doing it... One thing that comes up is that GOD can literally walk them through it (they walked with HIM in the cool of the day) and show them, "this is what you can eat, but stay away from that tree over there!"
It would've been much more interesting, but I believe GOD usually gives these things more when we plan things better, because seeking HIM in such a way is with much more intent - like this whole project. HE's given me so much that I probably would not have gotten had I just jumped in. Count the cost ;) !

In this project, I do want to add more narration, but very selectively (using only scripture, not adding anything). There are scenes that I have noticed are so instinctively lacking, that you'd look at it and go: "What was that for?"
With the completion of chapter 12, I also have to re-watch it again and see where I have showed the scripture too vaguely and add narration where needed. My guess is in the overall scheme, I may be adding about 5 or 6 lines of narration, just to give clarity, that it watch easily.

And for the sake of example, here is the Genesis 1 video I was talking about: