The novel intertwines the life of Jesus with that of a fictional protagonist, the young Jewish prince named Judah Ben-Hur, who suffers betrayal, injustice, and brutality, and longs for a Jewish king to vanquish Rome.
Characters. Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince of Jerusalem who is descended from a royal family of Judaea, son of Ithamar, enslaved by the Romans, and later becomes a charioteer and follower of Christ. (See article Judah Ben-Hur for a discussion of the name etymology.) Miriam is the mother of Judah Ben-Hur.
Although Judah Ben Hur is a fictional character created by General Lew Wallace in his novel, there was a Ben Hur in the Bible. In First Kings 4:1–19, there were chief officials appointed by Solomon, king if Israel, to supply provisions to the court.
(at around 3h 10 mins) Christ is always seen from the back, but when He is condemned to death He is facing Pilate and His face is obscured by a shadow added optically in post production when William Wyler determined that actor Claude Heater's face was too clearly seen, even at a distance.
A man walks up to John, and asks to be baptized. Judah recognizes him as the man who gave him water at the well in Nazareth many years before. Balthasar worships him as the Christ. During the next three years, that man, Jesus, preaches his gospel around Galilee, and Ben-Hur becomes one of his followers.
According to Rabbinic tradition, Hur was the son of Miriam, thus Moses and Aaron's nephew. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 69b & Sotah 11b) states that Caleb, a descendant from Judah, married Miriam and fathered Hur. This is based on the Targum to I Chron. 2:19: "...and Caleb took for himself Ephrath and she bore him Hur".
Did Charlton Heston really drive the horses in Ben-Hur?
Yes, in close-up shots, that's really Charlton Heston (as Judah Ben-Hur) and Stephen Boyd (as his rival Messala) driving the chariots. They trained for months to learn how to drive the four-horse teams. In long shots, however, the chariots are driven by stuntmen.
Several actors were offered the role of Judah Ben-Hur before it was accepted by Charlton Heston. Burt Lancaster stated he turned down the role because he found the script boring and belittling to Christianity. Paul Newman turned it down because he said he didn't have the legs to wear a tunic.
However, the film failed to generate the same kind of excitement as the Heston epic. The filmmakers had some success attracting faith-based consumers, but couldn't grow the audience beyond the devout. Kids stayed away, critics lobbed bombs, and secular consumers took a hard pass.
It's a name thought to be derived from words for liberty, nobility, whiteness, or a hole or cavern. ( harar - a central source of heat) it has a different meaning in Arabic. Hur is one of the two men who held up Moses' arms during the Israelites' battle against the Amalekites.
He is sent to be a slave, and his mother and sister are imprisoned. Years later he returns, wins a chariot race against Messala, and is reunited with his now leprous mother and sister. The mother and sister are cured on the day of the Crucifixion, and the family is converted to Christianity.
Although Judah Ben Hur is a fictional character created by General Lew Wallace in his novel, there was a Ben Hur in the Bible. In First Kings 4:1–19, there were chief officials appointed by Solomon, king if Israel, to supply provisions to the court. Each chief was responsible for one month of provisions.
Though Christ's life is traced from his birth, to his hidden life, to his public ministry, to his passion and death, we never see his face or hear his voice. Instead, Ben-Hur is a classic revenge epic leavened with a pious message of forgiveness.
The personal name Ben-Hur means “son of a camel” or “son of Horus.” While ben is the Hebrew term for “son of,” the word Hur is of Egyptian origin. The more well-known Ben-Hur is a fictional character created by General Lewis Wallace, who had served in the Union army during the American Civil War.
In the novel it is clear that hate had nothing to do with Ben-Hur's survival, contrary to Arrius' assertion. Instead, Wallace intended to show God's benevolence through the compassion of strangers—one of the strangers being Christ, who gives Ben-Hur water and hope on his march to become a Roman galley slave.
As filming progressed, Heater was given more time in front of the camera and a few lines, but British law at the time forbid Jesus to speak or his face to be seen if he were a “secondary character.” So, Heater as Jesus appears only from behind, as when he gives water to Charlton Heston's enslaved Judah Ben-Hur.
How many days did it take to film the chariot race in Ben-Hur?
In all, the chariot scene took five weeks (spread over three months) to film at a total cost of $1 million and required more than 200 miles (320 km) of racing to complete. Two of the $100,000 70mm lenses were destroyed during the filming of the close-up shots.
Ben-Hur was shot in Rome, Lazio, Italy. Filming also took place at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in California, USA. Rome, Italy. Photo by Julia Solonina on Unsplash.
Fraser Heston says his earliest memory “is riding the chariot on the set of Ben-Hur with my father.” Charlton Heston's son, a writer-director in his own right, also appeared in Cecil B.
The historian Josephus deems Hur the husband of Miriam (Antiquities 3.54; see Exod 17:10–12). Rabbinic sources give her Caleb for a husband and Hur for a son (but compare 1 Chr 2:19).
One of the most inspiring names of God is Jehovah-Nissi, which means "The Lord Our Banner." This name is mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 17:15, where Moses built an altar and called it Jehovah-Nissi after the Israelites had defeated the Amalekites in battle. But what does this name mean?
