The Book of Eli

(SPOILER ALERT: Don't read this if you've never seen "The Book of Eli" and you plan to!)

I'm not much of a movie person. I would much rather sit and jam to music than watch a movie, and when I do I prefer a comedy. However, we watched "The Book of Eli" last night and I was absolutely blown away by its powerful message.

The story takes place after what is referred to as "the flash" and "the war", which one can only assume means a nuclear and/or world war. Very few people survived and the land is barren. Water is a commodity that is traded for other goods because it is so difficult to find.

After the war, only one King James Bible is left in existence and it is entrusted to one man, who has been instructed by God to "go west" and share it with a new, lost world. Those born after the war have never even heard of it. Knowing the entire world was without hope and direction, God places the book in the hands of Eli (Denzel Washington) and promises to protect him from everyone and everything on his journey.

Eli is met with powerful resistance along the way by a thug and his small army who want the Bible to control their city, and to take over control of the rest of the world.

It may seem like I've given away most of the movie, but I assure you... there is so much more to this tale. It is by far one of the deepest movies I have ever seen. There is a lot of violence and profanity, but it is not gratuitous. Unlike many of the overtly "Christian" movies out there, this is true to life. The violence and the profanity showcases both the struggle between good and evil, and, at times, the power and might of God. (Well, maybe not the profanity, but some of the violence.)
It is a reminder that, yes, God loves us, but there will come a day when God will kick evil to the curb in a way that shocks everyone there to see it.

Faced with the decision to give up his copy of the Bible and save his friend, or hang onto it and watch her die, Eli ultimately decides to give to his enemies. He continues west without the book, which his friend cannot understand. When his enemies get back to their base, they discover that the Bible is in braille and only one person there can read it, but she refuses to translate it. His evil empire begins to crumble, with no leader and no biblical authority.

Eli reaches San Francisco and Alcatraz Island, which is no longer a prison but a hub of technology where the few great minds that survived the war are trying to re-start the world. They have copies of most of the great works from "before" - an almost complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Shakespeare, compositions by Mozart, etc. No Bible, however.

Eli read his Bible every day. So when he reaches Alcatraz, he recites the Bible, word for word, verse by verse, as it is copied down onto paper by hand. Eventually, they develop a printing press, and the Bible is copied over and over and distributed the world around.

This movie is a beautiful testament (no pun intended) to the power and hope that is the Word of God.

I am not a movie buff, but this is one flick I will be buying and keeping in my library. I walked away from it cherishing my Bible, and understanding how important it is to know it inside and out, so that it is written on my heart. God's Word doesn't need a leather cover. It just needs a willing person to cling to. Pin It