All language subtitles for Moses The Lawgiver (1975) Episode 6 (720p_24fps_H264-128kbit_AAC)

(soft music)

- [Narrator] The children
of Israel dwelt in Egypt,

where the grew and prospered.

Now the Pharaoh of Egypt,
fearing their

great numbers, first
enslaved them and then

slew the firstborn of
their men children.

But the infant Moses was
saved from death

by his sister, Miriam.

He was brought up as a
prince of Egypt,

but was reunited in manhood
with his true people.

And God bade Moses to
demand of the Pharaoh

freedom from bondage for
the children of the Lord,

and the wrath of God
covered the land

of Egypt with plague
and pestilence.

And, last of all, he
sent the Angel of Death.

Then the Pharaoh set free
the Israelites,

and they passed out of Egypt.

Pursued by the Pharaoh's
vengeful armies,

the children of Israel
crossed the Red Sea,

which parted for them by
the power of God

but closed with mighty
destruction upon the Egyptians.

Wondering on in search
of their promised land,

they suffered the agonies
of thirst and hunger

and savage slaughter
at the hands

of the warring desert tribes.

But they became skilled
in the art of defense

and came, at last, to
Mount Horeb.

Moses ascended the
mountain to receive

the laws of Israel from
the Lord God himself.

But, in his absence,
the children of Israel

grew restless and impatient.

Aaron, the brother of Moses,
built them

an effigy out of the gold
of the treasury

of the people, but the
Israelites took this

as a true god and worshiped it.

They paid it tribute of song
and dance and sacrifice.

When Moses returned from
the mountaintop,

he looked with horror on
the sins of the people.

He ordered that they
assemble to be judged

and to be punished.

(gentle music)

- You said you would
accept the covenant,

but you had no faith.

You are a frail and
ignorant people.

And now the tablets of the law

so painfully, so lovingly
inscribed, must be broken.

For what you accepted in freedom

was rejected in freedom.

And for this you must suffer,

since freedom always
has its price.

You must suffer in ways
that you will see,

bear, smell, taste,
feel in the very nerve,

in the very marrow.

But, for the moment,
we must enact the rite

of the breaking of the covenant.

So be it.

(somber music)

This was your god.

What you worship must be obeyed.

What you took unto
yourselves in the spirit,

you must now taken unto
yourselves in the flesh.

What you kissed, you must
eat and drink.

(dramatic music)

(man screams)

I have appointed officers
of my own tribe

of Levites to see that
mouths that cried out

in obscene ectasy shall now
cry out in a different manner.

- Ugh.

(man screams)

(women singing)

- We must start again.

Once more, I ascend the
mountain to take counsel

with the Lord our God,
but, first, will you

promise to worship no
other God but him?

- [Israelites] Yes!

- [Moses] Nor to make
images of things

that are on the earth for
profane and sinful worship?

- [Israelites] Yes, yes, yes,
yes!

(thunder rumbling)

- Rain!
- Oh!

(people laughing)

(heavenly music)

- [Narrator] So Moses went
up the mountain

a second time, and the
tribe of the Levites,

that were his own tribe,
prepared a house,

for the new covenant.

And the children of
Israel waited for Moses

to return to them that
he might carry

the pardon of the Lord
among his people.

- [Child] Ah.

- Yes, son.

- When will Father be coming?

I want to see him.

- He's very busy.

He has Israel to look after.

- Have you missed your father,
Gershom?

- Are you staying with
us, or are you going

back to Israel?

- Oh ho ho, I'm staying.

The Ark of the Covenant,
in your keeping, Aaron.

Aaron the priest.

- Aaron the priest.

How am I to take that?

In manner of a punishment?

- A priest is God's voice.

Could one wish to be
higher than God's voice?

- Once I was your voice.

- Well, take it not in
the manner of a punishment

but in the manner of
a promotion.

- Well then, to my first office.

- God go with you, man of God.

(gentle music)

- Hereon are
inscribed God's laws.

Every word shall be
accounted sacred.

♪ Hear oh Israel

♪ The Lord is our God

♪ The Lord is one

God, who art a god of justice,

be also, we beseech thee,
a god of forgiveness.

If we have sinned once,
shall we not sin again?

If we were perfect, would
we have need of thee?

(celebratory music)

- Again.

It will happen again.

- This is a different kind
of celebration.

They know they're
going to the land.

And you, my sister,
are you feeling better?

Tomorrow we move on.

- I could do, I could do
nothing. (crying)

I have ceased to be
your well being.

(Mirian crying)

(dramatic music)

I shall be glad to move on.

It's the moving on
that's important.

I will never see it.

But it doesn't matter.

The work I was ordained
to do has been long done.

You were my work.

I heard the soldiers
sing their song,

and God was there.

For if they had not
been singing,

they would have heard him cry.

The river, the reeds, the
floating cradle.

Girl, who are you?

Can you get him a wet nurse?

And I did.

I turned him into an Egyptian.

(gentle music)

So many gods, but not
the one true God.

So many thousands of
years for it to come

to the light, and still
they will not see.

And, when they see, they
will say what good is it?

- [Zipporah] Rest, Miriam, rest.

- And when the city is
built, it will be destroyed.

And the temple will
be destroyed.

They'll be made to
wander further,

for there's no abiding
city, only the dark.

I must talk to my brother Moses.

- I am here, Miriam.

- You will not see it.

- Let the soul of this,
thy servant, go calmly

to its haven, where
there is neither

change nor suffering.

Where the mill of the
heart grinds no more

of the bread of tribulation.

(light music)

♪ We go to the other land

♪ Where the hand of the
Lord shall bless it ♪

♪ And the sun fades low
on the soil ♪

♪ And man's toil is a prayer

♪ All thankfulness to the Lord

♪ The mighty all arise

♪ And yet we may
reach other air ♪

♪ We go to the other land

- Canaan.

Beyond those mountains.

- We must spy out the land.

It will still be a long
time of waiting.

- Waiting?

What do we live on?

- We will set up the tabernacle.

(horn blowing)

- Of the tribe of Reuben,
Shamar, son of Zakur.

Of the tribe of Simeon,
Shaphat, son of Hori.

Of the tribe of Judah,
Caleb, son of Jephunneh.

Of the tribe of Issachar,
Igal, son of Joseph.

Of the tribe of Ephraim,
Joshua, son of Nun.

Over there, over the
mountain, the land of Canaan.

Yes, the promised land.

A land so fertile it
is doubtless inhabited

by people of rich flesh
and strong bone.

But whoever now
possess that land

possesses it not by
God's promise.

The land is ours, the land
of our fathers.

But it will not be ours
for the easy taking.

Your task is to spy
out the land,

to see what it is, to
see the people.

Are they weak?

Are they strong?

Are they few or many?

And now, be of good courage,
and bring us

the fruit of that land.

Joshua.

- Let's be going.

(people cheering)
(horn blowing)

- It's always the same.

We start something off
and then we wait.

We wait for months.

- It's like laying the
plates for a meal

when you know there is
nothing to eat.

- Remember the fish we
used to eat in Egypt?

And the cucumbers and the melons

and the leeks and the
onions and the garlic?

- You make me thirsty,
and there'll be no

water till tomorrow.

- Is anything being done?

I mean, magic or
spells or anything,

to get something done?

- Shh, that's against the law.

- [Man] You're coming with us.

- What, precisely, were
they doing on the sabbath?

- They were gathering
palm fronds to set afire.

Harmless enough, it seems,
but knowing that the covenant

is strict on this matter, and
knowing that you yourself--

- Yes?

- Knowing that you
yourself set great store

by the punctilious observance
of the sabbath rest--

- Not I, not I, but God.

This punctilious observance,
as you so grandiloquently

term it, is of the very
essence of the law,

to abstain from work
that the body may

be at rest and the spirit
as one with God.

One day in seven.

Can we not spare one
day in seven

to honor our creator?

- The men in question
were rebuked, naturally.

They did not seem repentant.

What happened was that
one of them was discovered

later in the day gathering
dry sticks, tinderwood.

The rebuke had been of no avail.

- And now?

- And now I seek instructions

as to an appropriate punishment.

- It is God's day.

The sabbath must not be defiled.

Let them be stoned to death.

- Forgive me.

But I don't think I--

- Let them be stoned to death!

- With respect of deference,
but I do not

think that my people
could possibly accept--

- Than you, your people
suggest an alternative

punishment, more rebukes,
tortures, imprisonment?

We are all in prison till
we reach our promised land.

Best be bold and be
done with it.

The law's the law, one
and indivisible.

To kill a man merits death.

To kill the peace of the
Lord's sabbath,

is that a lesser crime?

Let them be sentenced to
death by stoning.

(men screaming)

- Ah, ah.

- This is not justice!

It's murder!

(crowd yelling)

- [Man] Barbarism!

- Barbarism?

You speak to me of barbarism?

You, who to my certain
knowledge, were one

of the leaders of the
ghastliest displays of barbarism

in the history of the
Twelve Tribes?

Count yourself lucky,
Dathan, that you were

not one of the sinners
chosen for punishment

after that abomination
which stinks still

in God's nostrils.

- Very well, Moses.

If I was a sinner, it was
because I was unenlightened.

What excuse can you find?

- Excuse, Dathan.

Do we need an excuse to
sustain the law,

the law which sustains
the life of man?

- It's a strange way of
serving life, killing men.

It was my own
brother you killed.

Do you know that?

- A man who had his
faults like all men,

dead because of some
nonsense about the sabbath.

For it is nonsense, and
all the world

knows it for nonsense.

- All the world.

All the little world
of the stupid

who disdain the vision.

Since we speak of your
brother, let me remind

you that my own sister.

I'll not speak of it.

- It comes clearer now, it
is not the law.

It is revenge.

- No, Dathan, vengeance
is for the Lord God,

in his own time.

Sit down.

For me, it is the law and
the enforcing of the law.

Yes, by murder, if you
will have it that way,

since you believe that
just execution is murder.

Until men cease to be ignorant,

until man begins to
know that his good

is the good of the commonality,

and the good of the commonality
is enshrined in law.

You will learn, Dathan.

You will be made to learn.

Perhaps you are
learning already,

you, the most obdurate of
all my children.

- Yes, yes, I am
learning one thing,

remember thou keep holy
the sabbath day. (laughs)

- Why, of all men that
walk the earth,

was I chosen to lead
them to a fair

land which is none of
their deserving?

Why was I chosen to
bring them the law,

a law which they
despise and spurn?

Oh Lord, I speak to you
from the heart

as I have ever spoken.

I am sick and weary of the
burden of rule.

What would you do if I
were to renounce it now?

Would you strike me down as
you have struck down others?

Well, perhaps I am
willing to be struck down,

to lie at peace in the earth,

I am willing to defy you
as others have.

Am I not free to do so?

Am I not a man like other men,

clothed in the garment
of liberty of choice?

And yet, I cannot
forget the humility

of the servant
before the master.

In humility, I ask it, let
thy servant go.

- [God] Moses, Moses, I
will ride you

as a horseman rides a horse.

In spite of your doubts,
you will bear

the burden till life's end.

You will lead your people to
the land that is promised,

since that is my will.

But you yourself will
never eat or drink

of the fruit of that promise.

I will never let you go, but
I will never let you enter.

Nor will any of your
generation, sick with the doubt

of the Lord's promise,
enter that land.

I have spoken.

- They're coming!

They're coming!

- They're coming.
- They're coming.

(people shouting)

- [Man] They've come back!

(horn blowing)

- We entered the land
as you instructed us,

and, indeed, it flows with
milk and honey.

Here, we took these in
the valley named Eshcol.

- Eshcol, a cluster of
grapes, well labeled.

You see, you see, you
foolish children?

The land is exactly as
the Lord said it would be,

flowing with milk and honey,

laden with all manner of fruit.

And the land is ours.

(people cheering)

- The land is not ours!

There are people dwelling
there in walled cities,

strong people, warlike.

The children of Anak.

- Giants, we saw them.

- The Hittites, Jebusites.

- The Amorites, the mountain
people, and by the sea

there are the Canaanites.

They are too strong for us.

- [Man] We haven't the numbers.

We haven't the weapons.

- This is nonsense!

We moved through the land
like greyhounds.

They never saw us!

- Look, we've been
through all that land.

It's a land that would swallow
us as a toad swallows a gnat.

The sons of Anak are giants.

Giants, do you hear me?

Compared with them, we
are grasshoppers.

- Sounds terrible.

- I don't like it.

- We've come so far
to be killed.

- What about my wife
and the children?

- [Man In Green Scarf]
Nobody told us we were

going to have a war.

- Some promised land!

Better the desert.

- Better Egypt.

(people shouting)

Better Egypt.
- Yes, back to Egypt.

- Moses!

Listen to me, Moses.

We have suffered much
with hardly a murmur.

We were given a promise
that we would walk

into this land of yours
without trouble,

and now you bring us into this
land to fall by the sword,

to see our wives and
children cut to pieces!

I say this to you now, and
I say it on behalf of all.

I would to God we died
in the land of Egypt!

- I vote that we choose
a new captain.

One who will lead us
back to Egypt.

- [Dathan] Yes, a new captain.

- [Crowd] Yes, a new captain!

- Listen to me!

I say this.

The land we pass
through is our land!

- No, it's not our land.

- Do not fear any of
the people of that land!

We can chew them up like bread.

The Lord is with us,
not with them!

- I don't believe you.

- Do not be afraid!

Fight!

- We won't fight.
(people shouting)

Not for anyone.

- Stop!

- I tell you we won't fight.

We don't believe you.

- What I say, I say on
behalf of my peers,

but I do not say it lightly.

- Come to the point.

- This point, that we
are at the limit

of endurance of your tyranny.

Moses, I speak truth, and
you know it when I say,

when I say you made
your claim to rule

through a special holiness.

Well, we're all holy.

We're all equally of Jehovah.

Why do you raise
yourself above us?

Why do you pretend that
you're God's special favorite?

- An empty and filthy
pretense which some of us

have had the courage to explode.

Your rule is over, Moses,
or soon will be.

We have the support of
all the tribes,

including the Levites.

- The Levites are ready.

(crowd cheering)

- And what, precisely, does
this new leadership propose?

- To lead the tribes
back to Egypt,

with the Levites carrying
their banners at the head,

not into slavery though.

To make out of power a
treaty with the Pharaoh.

To demand that the God of
the Israelites

be of equal status with
Horus and Ra.

- Be silent, blasphemer!

Worse than blasphemer,
abomination.

You speak of rule.

My brother was a
prince of Egypt.

If he had wished to
rule, would he have left

his kingdom for this desert?

His palace for a ragged tent?

- High priest, another
pretender to the seat of power!

Well, we will wrest this
power away from you,

this tabernacle you use for
holding the people down.

we can provide our own priests.

(crowd cheering)

- Oh Dathan, Dathan, I
confess my failure.

As a teacher, I have
taught you nothing.

God will.

For God chooses men,
men do not choose God.

God shows us the choice
he has made through signs.

Where are your signs?

- (laughs) Signs.

You mean tricks!

- Where is your sign
of authority?

You murderous trickster,
show us the final trick,

the bellies of the people
crammed with bread,

the sick and the old at
peace in a land

too long promised.

I spit on your authority.

- I have warned you often
in the past, Dathan.

I swear to you that this
shall be the final warning.

Seek not to rise above
the Lord your God.

To all of you I say,
tempt not the Lord.

- Ya!

- Brother!

(people screaming)

- Aaron!

- Prepare to leave for Egypt!

(people cheering)

- Back to Egypt!

(mystical music)

- [Levite Man] Levite officers,
officers of the Levites,

prepare to move out!

Tribal rulers!

Tribal rulers of the
Levites, prepare to move out!

Tribal rulers!

Tribal of Judah, over here!

- [Simeon Man] The tribe of
Simeon, you've got to move

the sheeps and cattle.

Hurry up!

- [Asher Man] Women of the
tribe of Asher,

gather all the children.

- [Benjamin Man] The
tribe of Benjamin.

- [Man] No, there's no time now.

Gather all the children.

- The Lord has spoken.

Thus sayeth the Lord.

None who has seen my
glory and not believed

shall see the land I
promised his father.

Since you refuse the
land over which I raise

my hand that you might
inhabit, you shall not enter.

You shall return to the desert.

Your children, they
will see the land

that you have scorned.

You will not.

Your children, those who
were newly born

when we left Egypt, shall
wander in the desert

for 40 years and bear the
burden of your lack of faith,

while your bodies will be
consumed in the desert.

Pay heed to my words.

You shall know once for
all that God chooses

and men do not.

- The God of the people
speaks through them

that the people have chosen!

What the people have
chosen is wise and prudent,

and we choose to return to
Egypt and enjoy

its peace and its fatness.

Will law of God say nay?

(people shouting)

(earth crashing)

- Yet mercy is infinite, Dathan,

at least let us believe so.

I shall miss your
thorn in my side.

- [Narrator] That
generation that had heard

the word of the Lord
and scorned it,

the generation of the old,
one by one fell in the desert,

leaving their bones for
the sun to bleach.

And their children
carried the burden

of the lack of faith of the old,

wandering in the desert,
missing the way

to the land of the promise.

Soon, there were few
of the doubters

and those who had waivered.

And these few were dying.

- There is no pain.

The leg just feels asleep.

- But the fever's not asleep.

The fever's very much awake.

- I'll be better when we
reach the oasis.

Trees, running water, fruit,
hmm?

Eleazer.

- [Eliseba] Don't talk, sleep.

- Eleazer.

- Yes, yes, father?

- You know what must be done.

- I, I must take your place.

- You must take over my office,
Eleazer, the high priest.

Your mother will be proud.

- [Eliseba] Aaron, please,
do not reproach me.

- No, no reproach.

It is a task and a glory,
which he and his sons

and his sons sons must
perform till the end

of our race, a task and a glory.

- Don't talk like that.

It seems that

we'll all be together in Canaan.

- The journey is not yet over,
Eliseba.

We still face many
bitter enemies,

a land promised to
us by the Lord

will not be granted so easily.

- Try to sleep now.

(gentle music)

- I speak of him as my
brother first,

my very voice, my other heart.

Of the house of Israel,
none was braver,

none more steadfast.

His mouth was of gold,
and the spirit

of the Lord burned in it.

Now, he is gathered
to his fathers.

(Eliseba crying)

- May the Lord grant him rest.

So be it.

Oh Lord, how long can
the race last?

We're dying.

The old men are dying.

Can the young survive?

Can they carry the torch?

(music swelling)

- [Narrator] And the
young did carry the torch,

or rather the sling
and the stone.

And a thunder of stones was
unleashed on their enemies,

for their enemies were
the tribes and nations

that lay ranged between
them and Canaan,

the land of the promise.

Horizon after horizon of
foes to be vanquished.

And then, at last, no foes,

only a mountain and a river,

and a time of quiet
with the dividing

of the land that lay beyond.

- The tribe of Benjamin.

- Here.

- The tribe of Ephraim.

- From Jericho up to Betel.

- Your new home.

- [Ephraim Man] But this
is desert, it's unfair.

- [Man] The lots have been
drawn in the presence of Moses.

- [Woman] Let us in!

We seek justice.

- Women?

What can women want?

- [Woman] Let us in!

- [Eleazer] It is irregular!

- [Woman] We want to see Moses!

- Women should stay with
their children

and their pots and pans.

It is highly irregular!

- Many things are irregular,
High Priest,

including what we are here
to speak about,

if it is permitted.

- You are, are you not,
the daughters of uh,

forgive me, an old man's
memory or lack of it.

- I am Mahlah, and these
are my sisters.

Come on.

We are the daughters of
Zelophehad, now dead.

- Ah yes, Zelophehad, good man,
I think.

He was slain in battle,
was he not?

- With his sons, our brothers.

We are without menfolk,
thanks to your holy wars.

- [Eleazer] Have a care, woman.

- We are women without menfolk.

The name of our father has
disappeared from your records.

What will happen with his
portion of the promised land?

- It is clearly laid down
that the sons shall inherit.

No sons, no inheritance.

- This is injustice!

- It is the law.

- This is always the
answer, it is the law.

It is the law!

And what if the law be unjust?

- [Eleazer] One does not
question the law of God.

- I am questioning it.

- You are
questioning it rightly.

- But--

- Peace, Eleazer, peace.

And my response to the
questioning is this.

If a man die and leave no sons,

then the inheritance
of the father

shall pass to the daughters.

- But this is--

- An abomination?

A heresy?

The Lord does not offer to
strike me dead, Eleazer.

Nor will he.

Daughters of Israel, you
shall have your inheritance.

Who is it?

- It is I, Eleazer, your nephew.

(gentle music)

- For a moment there, I,
I mistook you

for your father, Aaron.

- He was a good father.

I would be happy to be like him.

- You will be, you will be.

Because of him, you
will bring forth

generations of priests
that will continue

for thousands of years to come.

Eleazer?

- Yes, my lord?

- I was the promised land
denied to your father.

The Lord said because
of your sin of doubt.

But, I must confess,
I have never been able

to understand the real
significance of those words.

Aaron, what was our real sin?

Yours, I think I know.

You loved the people too
much, all the people.

And mine, did I love
them too little?

I have always loved the
law more than

mankind, for whom it
was destined.

Oh Lord, I would like to
cross the river

and set my feet on the
land beyond the Jordan.

♪ Hear oh Israel

♪ Hear oh Israel

♪ The Lord is our God

♪ The Lord is our God

♪ The Lord is one

♪ The Lord is one

- [Man] Happy art though,
oh Israel.

Who is like unto thee?

Oh people, saved by the Lord.

The shield of thy help and
the sword of thy excellency.

There is none like unto your God

who rides upon the heavens.

The eternal God is your refuge,

and underneath are the
everlasting arms.

(somber music)

- [God] Now, Moses, I will
show you their inheritance.

Look now, all the land of
Gilead unto Dan.

All Naphtali and the
land of Ephraim

and Manasseh.

All the land of Judah unto
the utmost sea.

And the plain of the
Valley of Jericho.

The city of palm
trees unto Zoar.

This is the land which
I swore unto Abraham

and to Isaac and unto
Jacob saying I will give

it unto thy seed.

I have caused thee to see it,
Moses,

with thine own eyes.

Thou shalt not go over
into the land.

- You're a hard and
unforgiving God.

- [God] Unforgiving?

If you but knew.

I have sworn, and I have
made my covenant with man.

I shall never again
destroy him for his sins.

Yet I shall torment him
with dissatisfaction,

for only in me shall he
be satisfied.

And now, Moses, your
task is finished.

(sad music)

For the Lord thy God
is with thee

wheresoever thou goest.

(gentle music)

♪ Israel

♪ Israel

♪ Israel

♪ Israel

(electronic music)