Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Ben-Hur soon arrives. He is startled by Esther’s beauty and greets her. Ben-Hur now tells them that, from what he has witnessed of Jesus, he believes Jesus to be more than human. Jesus will arrive the next day and announce himself at the Temple. Ben-Hur describes the humble practices of Jesus and the Apostles, asking, “[W]hat would you say of a man who could be rich by making gold of the stones under his feet, yet is poor of choice?” (380). Ben-Hur relates Jesus’s miracles, including feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves and fishes, turning water into wine, and curing people with leprosy. When Amrah hears that Jesus can cure leprosy, she becomes agitated. Simonides is unwilling to give up his understanding of the Messiah.

Amrah exits the city gates early the next morning to tell Tirzah and Ben-Hur’s mother the story of Jesus curing leprosy. The three women hurry to place themselves in the path Jesus will take to Jerusalem. One of Christ’s disciples comes upon them and tells them that Jesus will soon come to them.

Tirzah, her mother, and Amrah wait for several hours by the roadside until they see a large procession in which everyone is carrying a palm branch. In the center of the crowd, Jesus rides a donkey, seeming to take no notice of the ecstatic dancing and singing of the company around him. As the crowd approaches them, the three women attempt to get Jesus’s attention. The crowd begins to throw stones at them, but Jesus hears them. After they confess their faith that he is the Messiah, he heals them. Ben-Hur is among Jesus’s retinue and decides to see the people whom Jesus has cured. He is shocked to discover that they are Tirzah and his mother. The family embraces one another, crying with joy. Ben-Hur’s mother is convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. Ben-Hur explains to her that besides expected Roman opposition, the rabbis and priests of the temple also oppose Jesus for preaching that Gentiles are as worthy of salvation as Jews. Ben-Hur settles his family in a cave for the night and hastens into the city to prepare for his family’s official return.

Ben-Hur brings his sister and mother to a priest who can certify that they are free of leprosy. When the two women relate the story of their imprisonment, Ben-Hur’s hatred of Rome reaches new heights. Ben-Hur hungers to unleash vengeance upon Rome but is concerned that Jesus will not issue a call to arms when he reveals himself as the Messiah. That evening, impatient that Jesus has not yet announced himself, he leaves Tirzah and his mother to ride into the city which is thronged with celebrants on the first night of Passover.

Arriving home, Ben-Hur calls for Malluch and asks where Balthasar and Simonides are. They are being carried to the Temple for the celebration, but Iras is still at home. She emerges, and Ben-Hur is shocked at the complete change in her demeanor. Where before she had tried with all her charms to beguile him, now she radiates contempt toward him. She indicates that she will be leaving the next day; she is furious that Ben-Hur has placed his faith in Jesus, who is clearly not a warrior who will smash Rome. She has seen Jesus and mocks him as effeminate and weak.

After some more verbal jousting, Iras reveals that she knows Ben-Hur’s history and his secret preparations for war and threatens to expose him to the Roman authorities. Finally, Iras reveals her real purpose, begging Ben-Hur to forgive Messala’s debt from the chariot wagers and not let him be reduced to beggary. Ben-Hur refuses and asks if Messala asked her to do this. She admits that she has been working for Messala the whole time, and Ben-Hur escorts her out.

Ben-Hur is dejected by his discovery of Iras’s treachery and, going over his memory, can see the warning signs he previously missed. He realizes that he was never in love with Iras. He finds Esther asleep in Simonides’s chair and realizes that Seeing Simonideshe loves Esther. He leaves her to sleep but resolves to tell her of his feelings later.

Ben-Hur steps out into the festival crowd and sees a mixed crowd of Temple elders and Roman soldiers passing. Ben-Hur sees one of Jesus’s disciples, Judas, among the crowd and follows him. The mob travels out of the city gates, arriving at an olive grove where Jesus and his disciples are. Ben-Hur realizes that Jesus has been betrayed and that this is the very moment for which he has been preparing himself. He finds himself unable to act, partly out of the desire to see how, or if, Jesus will defend himself. Jesus identifies himself, and the crowd hesitates to move toward him until Judas steps forward to kiss him. When Jesus is apprehended and bound, Ben-Hur still does not act.

As Jesus is dragged away by the mob, Ben-Hur gets close enough to ask Jesus if he is allowing himself to be arrested willingly and if Ben-Hur should bring help. He receives no answer, and the mob attempts to seize him. He rides out to where the men of Galilee are camped and decides to try to talk to Jesus again the next day. His visions of a free Judea are dashed, and he begins to ponder bringing Esther to live with him in Arrius’s estate in Misenum.

Ben-Hur is awakened by his officers who tell him that they must leave immediately if they wish to liberate the Messiah, because a crucifix has already been erected at Golgotha. Ben-Hur orders a mustering of his legions, but the officers inform him that all the men have sided with the priests; only Ben-Hur and these two officers remain loyal to Christ. The three men set out for Golgotha. They wait along the path that will be used to bring Jesus to Golgotha. Simonides, Esther, and Balthasar come to wait with Ben-Hur and his officers. They see Jesus bleeding from many wounds, barely able to walk at all. Members of the crowd dart forward to hit him with sticks. As Jesus passes Ben-Hur and his fellows, Christ looks at them, leaving them a silent blessing.

As Simonides continues watching the procession going to Golgotha and realizes that the conditions of prophecy which he cited to Ben-Hur earlier have been fulfilled: The Messiah’s mission is spiritual, not political, highlighting the theme of The Meaning of Christ in Christianity. Ben-Hur finds a group of his soldiers among the crowd and exhorts them to help him liberate Jesus, but they refuse, having decided that Jesus is not the Messiah. They instead offer to take up arms against the Romans on Ben-Hur’s behalf. Ben-Hur finds himself unable to respond due to divine intervention, turns, and follows Simonides and Balthasar toward Golgotha.

Ben-Hur and his companions arrive at Golgotha. When Ben-Hur sees Jesus, he is touched by a religious ecstasy but is shaken out of it by the sound of the crucifixes being hammered together. As the soldiers begin to hammer Christ to the cross, Simonides becomes very agitated. Ben-Hur, acting out of the knowledge imparted by his ecstasy, tells Simonides that it is God’s will, that the Messiah must be resurrected.

The crucifix is erected with Christ hanging by the nails through his palms. It is getting on toward noon, but the light seems to dim to twilight. The darkness continues to deepen while the assembled priests and mob taunt Jesus in his torment. Jesus dies slowly over the next several hours. The priests and rabbis begin to grow concerned at the darkness; they know enough of astronomy to recognize that this cannot be a lunar eclipse. Ben-Hur, Esther, Simonides, and Balthasar continue to bear witness to the crucifixion. Simonides at last believes that Jesus is the Messiah.

The soldiers bring jars of diluted wine and rags affixed to poles to wet the mouths of the condemned. Thinking of the water which Jesus had given him many years before, Ben-Hur rushes forward to bring the rag to Jesus’s lips. He has no sooner done so than Jesus dies. The ground begins to shake, and the darkness lifts. People in the crowd flee in terror, but the earthquake knocks them down. Ben-Hur discovers Balthasar has died, probably at the very moment of Jesus’s death. The group returns to Ben-Hur’s estate, bearing Balthasar’s body with them. Ben-Hur goes to personally inform Iras about her father, but he discovers that she is gone and that none of the servants have seen her that day.

Five years later, Ben-Hur and Esther live at the estate in Misenum as husband and wife. Esther is watching her children when Iras calls upon her. The years have not been kind to Iras, and she tells Esther to inform Ben-Hur that she has killed Messala and that she has been punished thoroughly for her attempt to betray Ben-Hur. Iras turns to leave, but Esther invites her in, offering Iras Christian friendship. Iras declines but kisses Esther’s two children and departs. Ben-Hur is unable to find her again.

Simonides dies happy and prosperous a few decades after the Crucifixion. Ben-Hur and Esther are visiting him in Antioch when news comes of Nero’s persecution of the Christians in Rome. Malluch appears with a message from Ilderim’s son, also named Ilderim. A small document with the letter shows that Ilderim has gifted Orchard of Palms to Ben-Hur. Simonides tells Ben-Hur that it is now time to decide what to do with his great fortune. Ben-Hur wishes to use it for the sake of Christianity but does not know the best way to do so. Simonides suggests that he build churches in the catacombs of Rome and entomb dead Christians there so that the Romans will not disturb the churches. Ben-Hur and Esther leave to aid the Christians in Rome.