Ridley Scott's Gladiator-style production of the Exodus is meant to be epic. And it should be. The Semitic exit from Egypt is the Hebrew Bible's greatest story of divine redemption. It is epic on paper so it should challenge our best CGI techniques to create overpowering plagues and plot twists. It should require extra dialogue, drama, and punishing death scenes to capture this monumental birth of a middle eastern people still fighting for their existence today.

Although the grandeur of gods and kings in conflict will push the possibilities of our production technology, the EXODUS movie script has unfortunately exaggerated the human size of this biblical epic. That's right, not everything should be pushed to extreme proportions.

Does the Exodus story report disastrous numbers of flies, frogs, and locusts? Yes. Does the story have bloody rivers, a solar eclipse, and first-born Egyptians dying everywhere? Absolutely. Does the Exodus recount 400,000 slaves exiting Egypt into the Arabian Peninsula? Absolutely Not. Those numbers make no sense, and every Hebrew scholar knows it.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in personal Bible interpretation? Yep, I'm going there. This question consistently pops up when I teach students how to interpret the Bible. Somewhere between analyzing the literary context and historical context of Bible passages, students wonder if all this work is necessary. Won’t the Spirit just guide me into all truth?

I have found that vague notions about the Spirit's role in guiding you toward truth translates into an excuse for undisciplined and inaccurate Bible study. If you feel the Spirit showed you a special meaning in a verse, you go with it. You excuse the need to use hermeneutical skills or check your conclusion in a community of better-trained Bible users. And why not? Isn't it just me + Holy Spirit = all I need to discern the truth?