Deliver Us! (The Chosen Season 4 Promo)
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Deliver Us! (The Chosen Season 4 Promo)

Updated: Feb 8

A new promo for The Chosen Season 4 was released on Monday January 9 during the College Football National Championship. The Season 4 Promo once again spotlights the death/resurrection of Lazarus, the situation in Herod's court, and other moments we've already seen in either the Teaser or the Official Trailer, but it also contains some moments we haven't come across before and an ear-catching rendition of "Deliver Us!" (a song originally featured in Prince of Egypt). I'll be focusing today's analysis on these new elements.


Lazarus being raised in The Chosen Season 4
Lazarus being raised in The Chosen Season 4

Additional Biblical Events/Content Confirmed for Season 4

The Season 4 Promo contains only a few biblical scenes that haven't already been featured in earlier trailers:

  • Not Peace But a Sword: The Promo begins with Jesus questioning whether his disciples have a correct understanding of why he has come. The content of his speech is adapting a famous saying of Jesus: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:34-39, ESV). This moment is yet another instance of the disconnect between Jesus and his disciples, which appears to be a key theme in Season 4.

  • Jesus Debating Pharisees/Elders at the Temple: We catch a brief glimpse (0:37) of Jesus and two religious leaders debating in front of a crowd at the entrance of what appears to be the Temple. This event could represent either one of Jesus' early festival visits to the Temple in the Gospel of John (e.g. John 7-9) or one of the debates between Jesus and the religious leaders that takes place after his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday (e.g. Matthew 21:14-17).

  • Jesus Healing a Blind Man: We also see Jesus heal another blind man (0:59). The Gospels record several instances of Jesus healing the blind, but my bet is that this is either the healing of Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52) or the healing of a man born blind (John 9). The Bartimaeus story could fit given the timeline (it immediately precedes the Triumphal Entry) but the story from the Gospel of John seems even more likely. As I've noted, the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees that we also see in the trailer could be adapting the John 9 narrative. Also, the presence of Little James is worth noting. The catalyst for the John 9 story is a debate between the disciples over why the man is blind (his sin or his parents' sin). Jesus explains that neither explanation is correct - the man is blind in order to reveal the glory of God - a point that resonates with Little James' story. Finally, the John 9 story uses the man's blindness as a metaphor for the difficulty that people have understanding Jesus - a key theme in Season 4.

  • The High Priest: So far, opposition to Jesus in The Chosen has mostly come from the Pharisees. However, we know that eventually the High Priest will play a major role in the actual arrest, questioning, and condemnation of Jesus. The promo gives us our first glimpse of Caiphas (0:16).


Other Important Insight into The Chosen Season 4

In addition to the biblical scenes featured in the trailer, I just want to flag a few other significant insights that the Promo offers:

  • Faux Triumphal Entry: In my analysis of the Official Trailer, I noticed what appeared to be Jesus' Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday. The same scene appears in the Promo (0:28), but this time I noticed that the person the crowds seem to be cheering for isn't Jesus - it's a warrior riding on a horse. My new theory is that this isn't actually Jesus' triumphal entry. It's either an Old Testament flashback to a Davidic King arriving in Jerusalem or the arrival of another figure during one of Jesus' earlier visits to Jerusalem. The point of the scene is to provide a point of comparison/contrast for how Jesus will enter Jerusalem, not as a warrior on a war horse but as a humble man on a donkey.

  • Shmuel Wavering: When Jesus encounters Shmuel at the end of Season 3, the outcome of their conversation is left open-ended. In the Season 4 Promo (0:39), we hear Shmuel telling Yanni about the encounter in a way that suggests that he may be having a change of heart. This would be a massive development in Shmuel's story and a very interesting twist. Imagine if you were the one responsible for initiating opposition to Jesus but then repented of your opposition - and yet you couldn't stop the opposition that you set in motion. Of course, based on how the scene is cut, it's also possible that Shmuel hasn't had a change of heart and the trailer is simply engaging in misdirection.

  • Deliver Us: As I noted, the trailer contains an excellent rendition of "Deliver Us!" from the Prince of Peace soundtrack. I don't want to make too much of this, because trailer music doesn't always reflect the music of the actual show/film, but I did find the choice interesting. Many viewers will immediately recognize the allusion to Prince of Peace, another Bible adaptation which is based on the Exodus from Egypt. The Gospels draw numerous parallels between Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection and the Exodus and so it'll be interesting to see if Season 4 begins drawing more attention to these connections.



What do you think of the Promo? Notice anything that I missed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!


 

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If you liked this post, you might want to check out some of my other posts on The Chosen and Bible adaptation. I have Bible studies/discussion guides for each episode of The Chosen Seasons 1-3, blogs exploring how The Chosen adapts key biblical figures, and articles exploring the controversial nature of adaptation. I hope you enjoy them!


The Chosen Season 4


The Chosen Season 3


Adapting Biblical Characters Series


Artist Interviews (The Bible Artist Podcast)


Exploring The Chosen with Youth or Small Group [Discussion Guides]

Season 3

Season 2

Season 1

Specials


The Chosen Controversies Series


How to Discuss The Chosen - and Why


Themes & Theology of The Chosen [Exclusive for BMC Members]

Season 4


Season 1

Specials


Mailbag Q&R


The Chosen Thematic Viewing Guides


Beyond The Chosen


Other Bible Adaptations

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