THE RED TENT: VOICE OF DINAH

THE RED TENT: VOICE OF DINAH

Promotional Poster of the movie

“The Red Tent” is a sweeping tale that takes place during the times of the Old Testament, told through the eyes of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob.

 Starring Minnie Driver, Morena Baccarin, Rebecca Ferguson, Iain Glen, Will Tudor, Debra Winger

Here is a link to the teaser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTyYUR_nugM

Jacobs Wives

I have become very vigilant in any movie that comes out that has a Biblical story line. I am those people who get very mad when the facts are not portrayed the right way. So when I came across this mini-series The Red Tent, I was on it. I had already watched Noah and Exodus: gods and kings and I can just put it in one word Blasphemy. The Bible is a historically accurate book, if you want to make a movie and have no respect for Christian Faith then at least do it accurately for the purpose of History.

The novel

Anyways, so I watched The Red Tent, is based on a novel by Jewish Author Anita Diamant.

From what I saw it does follow the Biblical account with a few twists and there is no mention of God or how He worked in their lives. The author seems to feel that God was a god to men and not women. The women in the movie worshipped idols and had their secret practices.

The truth is I can see how that can be true to some extent especially when Rachel hid the idols.

Passing knowledge on heritage

 Genesis 31:34- 35 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel's saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing. And Laban felt through all the tent but did not find them. She said to her father, "Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is upon me." So he searched but did not find the household idols

Dinah and Jacob

From the movie I got a different perspective. Maybe the women really did not follow what their husbands believed and that is why it was crucial for a Jewish man to marry a Jewish girl. The women were there to serve men basically and bare children. They barely had a role beyond that in society.

Women barely had an existence outside the men in their lives so I can only imagine how Dinah felt when her brothers killed off the family of the man who married her despite the wrong they had done. How was she supposed to exist?

Dinah

The author tries to tell the story in Dinah’s perspective and what her life may have been like since there is no full account of it in the Bible.

It is amazing how we can sometimes overlook the female Biblical Characters but the impact they have is enormous. Very few are fully featured in the Bible as the men are but it is very clear, God used women just as much as He used men [will feature some in a later blog]

Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, Bilhah

There are many lessons I learnt from the story either way.

I do thank God that Jesus came and women were treated with a lot more dignity. There are still cultures today that do not approve of women doing more than childbearing and caring for the home but I am still grateful it is not as widespread as it used to be and eventually things will turn around.

Leah and Dinah

Either way there is still a lot women need to overcome then and now

Rachel and Dinah

·         We need to be there for each other more. We have become so much against each other. As a young woman there is barely an older woman who has ever reached out to me and ensured I am living and not existing. I can say I do so for younger ladies but for me, no one.

·         We need to believe as women that even when someone hurts us we are still worthy of love because when that happens our self-esteem and self-worth are the first to suffer.

·         We women are not defined by what we do but who we are. It just takes some of us longer to figure that out.

·         We cannot run away from our past or hide it, it will eventually catch up with us. We need to accept it, learn from it, and move on.

·         Do not loose who you are, God still has a purpose for you and a great plan for your life

I encourage you to watch the movie either way, it’s a good one with an interesting perspective.

More about Dinah from the Bible

Genesis 30:21

Genesis 34

Genesis 46:15

Pictures courtesy of lifetime.com and www.redtentmovie.com

Book available on http://www.amazon.com/The-Red-Tent-A-Novel/dp/0312427298