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Os Dez Mandamentos on Univer Vídeo

The worldwide hit Os Dez Mandamentos is now on Univer Vídeo. Discover the history of the Hebrews in Egypt, Moses and the Ten Commandments.

7 min readBy Editorial team

The series Os Dez Mandamentos has arrived on Univer Vídeo after becoming a worldwide success.

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Os Dez Mandamentos was broadcast in 30 countries and was a ratings success in Brazil. But what is the story and context of the Hebrew people leaving Egypt for the Promised Land?

The first Israelites who migrated to Egypt

Before discussing the story of Os Dez Mandamentos, understand the circumstances that led the Hebrew people to leave their lands in Israel and migrate to Egypt.

Egypt was a superpower very different from Israel, first because it did not believe in only one God. Many different gods were worshiped, including Pharaoh himself (the ruler of the time) and the sun god.

The Egyptians regarded incest, orgies, idolatry of pagan deities, extensive eroticism and nudity as natural—in other words, the exact opposite of the Ten Commandments.

In this terrible context, so different from that of Israel's people, a young man named Joseph was sold by his brothers to become a slave in Egypt.

Joseph in Egypt

When he arrived, he was chosen by Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, to be a slave in his home.

Genesis 39:2 says that the Lord was with Joseph and that he was a prosperous man. Of course, this striking quality of having God by his side was visible to everyone, including Potiphar, who was impressed by the young man and put him in charge of everything he owned.

Even though this happened many years before the Ten Commandments existed, Joseph already had within him a spirit different from the Egyptians' promiscuity.

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He did not need the Ten Commandments written on a tablet to do what pleased God. After some unjust events in the young man's life, Pharaoh called him to interpret the dreams that troubled him. After seeing God's power through Joseph, Pharaoh appointed him governor of all Egypt.

This meant that, below Pharaoh, no one was more powerful than Joseph the Israelite.

With a severe drought ravaging Egypt and affecting all the lands as well, Joseph's father (who thought his son was dead) sent his brothers to Egypt in search of supplies.

Arriving in Egypt, the brothers discovered that the governor was Joseph. After a great reunion, Pharaoh permitted and warmly welcomed Joseph's entire family to come to Egypt and settle there.

Of course, at that moment, the Hebrew people were very happy in Egypt. All the circumstances helped make it so.

But with Joseph's death and the (great!) growth of Israel's people, the Egyptian lands filled with Israelites.

A new king who did not know Joseph

Following this account of the Hebrew people's arrival in Egypt, the story of Os Dez Mandamentos officially begins at this point.

When Joseph's family arrived in Egypt, there were seventy people. When this king who did not know Joseph arose, there were more than six hundred thousand men, not counting women and children!

This new king feared that the Hebrews would rise against Egypt and, being stronger, win a possible battle. In Os Dez Mandamentos, the first Pharaoh in the story is Seti I. This ruler, who did not know Joseph, mercilessly enslaved the Hebrew people.

The more they multiplied, the more Pharaoh ordered the slaves' workload increased. The Hebrew people built much of what Egypt became, including two store cities called Pithom and Rameses.

Do not think that these slaves were those who served in their masters' homes. In Os Dez Mandamentos, you can clearly see the difference between servants and slaves, who were beaten while they worked.

Servants versus Slaves

A servant was an employee who did everything with excellence but could leave whenever he wished.

During Os Dez Mandamentos, some characters working in the palace even ask to return to their families' homes (no spoilers), either because they were Hebrews who no longer wanted to live as Egyptians or for some other reason.

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They could leave, knowing, of course, that they would not be accepted back so easily. But not everyone had that great privilege.

Another obvious distinction between slaves and servants was that slaves were readily subjected to punishment. They were the lowest class in society's pyramid and therefore suffered more. And, of course, the Hebrews belonged to that class.

The fear that caused many deaths

Fearing the possible consequences of the Hebrew people's expansion, Pharaoh ordered all newborn boys to be thrown into the river to kill them.

In Os Dez Mandamentos, newborn babies were forcibly taken from their mothers by soldiers to be killed. Can you imagine these people's suffering?

After being enslaved, their burdens increased because of Pharaoh's fear. Then they had to face the fact that if their baby was a boy, he would die.

It was in this context that Moses was born in Os Dez Mandamentos. With his life in danger, his mother hid him for three months, until the day she could no longer do so and had to make a difficult decision.

She placed the baby in a manger and left him by the riverbank. Though she did not know what would happen and suffered greatly over her decision, God was already caring for the future deliverer of the Hebrew people.

Moses the Egyptian

By coincidence, Pharaoh's daughter found the baby in the river, and in Os Dez Mandamentos, Pharaoh agrees to let the princess raise the baby, even though he does not much like the idea.

His lack of affection for his grandson becomes clear at certain moments in Os Dez Mandamentos. Although this is not described in the Bible, it is not difficult to imagine what Moses suffered while in the palace.

Growing up surrounded by privileges, Ramses, Nefertari and Moses lived together, learning all about Egyptian culture. Moses never knew he was a Hebrew, but in Os Dez Mandamentos he has some conflicts about worshiping many gods.

Reality comes to everyone, and Moses was no exception: he discovered his Hebrew origins while still living in the palace.

Os Dez Mandamentos presents the situations Moses experienced. Because of them, he decides to flee the palace and Egypt, returning only after Pharaoh's death.

Moses' return

Moses returns completely changed. He is no longer an Egyptian prince but a deliverer for the Hebrew people, the result of their cries for help.

But, of course, securing the Hebrew people's freedom would not be easy. After so many years of having them as slaves, the new Pharaoh refused to let them go.

Every command from God has a consequence if it is not obeyed. For Pharaoh, God sent ten plagues upon Egypt, depicted in great detail in Os Dez Mandamentos, which caused suffering not only for him but for all his people. Only the Hebrews were spared.

With the last and deadliest plague upon Egypt, Ramses orders the Hebrews to leave. From there, they begin a journey to Canaan, and along the way the people would receive the Ten Commandments to follow.

The Ten Commandments were necessary because those people, although Hebrews, had spent more than four hundred years in Egypt.

Who wrote the Ten Commandments?

God Himself established the laws of the Ten Commandments and wrote them on tablets for Moses.

In Exodus 20, you can read in detail about the creation of the Ten Commandments.

Where can you watch Os Dez Mandamentos?

As I said at the beginning, Os Dez Mandamentos has arrived on Univer Vídeo.

The series Os Dez Mandamentos has many lessons. I will list six of them here for you to notice as you watch:

  1. Jochebed's faith in placing her baby in a manger and trusting God;
  2. Moses refusing to ignore the Egyptian soldier's injustice toward the Hebrew;
  3. Moses needing to overcome his fear and return to Egypt;
  4. When the ruler is evil, the people perish. Because of Pharaoh's stubbornness, the people perished through the ten plagues;
  5. The people's grumbling and lack of faith when they grew hungry;
  6. The people's fickleness: when Moses went up to receive the tablets of the Ten Commandments and returned, the Hebrews were practicing idolatry.

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