The Chosen Episode guide: season 2, Episode 8
S2, E8
This final episode of season 2 leads us right up the Sermon on the Mount. Sadly, rather than showing us Jesus teaching there, this episode presents us with almost entirely fictional material that leads right up to the sermon on the mount without showing us anything of what the Scriptures actually record.
Biblical: What We Find in Scripture
The crowd gathered when Jesus gave the sermon on the mount would have been large. Thousands of people likely had gathered to hear him speak, though no number is recorded in the Gospels (Matthew 1:1). The crowd pictured in this episode is likely much smaller than the crowd would have been.
Unbiblical: What Contradicts Scripture
I want to be careful here, and at the same time I want to admit that I am about to be a little nitpicky. In Matthew, the 12 disciples aren’t recorded until chapter 10, while the sermon on the mount happens in chapters 5-7. However, in Luke 6 the 12 are recorded before the sermon on the mount. Luke is much more strict regarding the sequence of events than Matthew, though Matthew is generally following a chronological approach. I am inclined to think that Luke is probably more specific here in indicating that all 12 had been called prior to the sermon on the mount.
Extra-biblical: What Is Made Up but Doesn’t Contradict Scripture
As seems to be the MO for the chosen, the opening scene, which appears to be a flashback to the previous experiences of Judas, isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. As we have already seen from previous episodes, the Bible doesn’t really provide any detailed background information about the disciples. We might know what they didn’t before they followed Jesus, but almost no other details are given.
The next scene with the disciples chopping wood at camp isn’t in the biblical record. There is also nothing in the biblical record of the disciples trying to find locations for Jesus’ sermons, providing security, worrying about hecklers, etc. The Bible seems to show more that wherever Jesus went, crowds would form. And as the crowds formed, Jesus would heal, teach, and even feed them. The conversation of the women in the tent is also part of what is made up for this episode.
The scene in the pub where Judas is discussing the purchase of the field that has a salt mine in it is fictional. Judas deceptive and greedy character is documented in the gospels, but how that character was formed is not known.
The three disciples who were scoping out a place for Jesus to “preach” aren’t from any biblical account. This includes the subsequent scene in the pub where they are trying to negotiate a price for the place of the sermon on the mount.
Again, while we know that the Pharisees were plotting against Jesus, we aren’t really shown anything in the Bible of their plot except what they did publicly. With rare exception, Pharisees are not named in the Gospels. Shmuel is a fictional rabbi, and all of his interactions with other rabbis are scenes made from the Chosen but are not drawn from the pages of the Bible. Shammai is a known rabbi as recorded in history, but not found in the Bible.
We are never told in the Bible that “notices”, which amount to flyers here in this episode, were ever circulated to announce Jesus coming to an area. In fact, this seems highly unlikely. Paper and ink were expensive commodities, and Jesus and the disciples were quite poor. Also, no indication is given in the Bible that Jesus used Matthew as some kind of Amanuensis. Clearly, this episode is in preparation for the sermon on the mount, but everything so far in this episode that leads up to the sermon on the mount is written solely for The Chosen and isn’t from the Bible.
The words of Jesus as he is practicing for the sermon on the mount are derived from the sermon on the mount. The reason I am putting it here is because we are not given any indication in the Bible that Jesus had a practice session before he gave the sermon. When Jesus closes the sermon on the mount by saying “if people want to find him, that they should look for those groups of people”, that is not recorded in the sermon on the mount at any point.
Matthew 1 seems to indicate that the crowd had already gathered when Jesus decided to go up on the mountain and preach. I’m inclined to think that Jesus’s “sermon” wasn’t pre-written, but rather given as a means of ministering to the crowd that had already gathered.
There is nothing in the Bible that would indicate that the women who were part of those who followed Jesus ever attempted to influence his apparel.
Helpful: What Might Be Helpful To the Watcher
None. While it seems strange to say that there is nothing helpful here, this section is devoted to those things that might help in terms of understanding the culture and times. To that end, there wasn’t anything in this episode that was helpful to that end.
Dangerous: Things That Have Been Added That Might Be Dangerous to Accept as Fact
I believe that there is a danger inherent in every episode and for that reason I’m including this suggestion in every episode guide. The danger is assuming that the things in the episodes of the Chosen that are not in the Bible are true, part of the biblical record. In order to avoid this danger, I would encourage everyone who watches the Chosen to compare it to the biblical record. In part, this is because most of what is in each episode of the Chosen is not found in the Bible. There is more speculation here than actual events recorded in the Bible. If you want a harmony of all of the gospels in chronological order to aid this, then I would recommend purchasing a copy of One Perfect Life by John MacArthur. It is a compilation of all of the gospel records in order of the events as best as we can understand.
Anachronisms and Errors: Things that are out of place regarding the time, etc.
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