Wallace felt ashamed that he did not know more. Though Wallace wasn’t particularly religious, he felt Ingersoll was wrong. This story was spurred by a conversation Wallace had on a train with noted atheist Robert Ingersoll. The only words Christ speaks in the story come from the Bible. This was the first novel with Jesus as a major character, and though Wallace made up scenes, descriptions, and actions involving Christ, as an author he respectfully did not put words in Jesus’s mouth. Some twenty years later, the lone surviving magi, Balthasar, came back to Judea to see the now adult King take His place. Then they journeyed together to find the newborn king. The story actually begins with three wise men meeting in the desert, discussing their backgrounds and how they came to faith in the one true God and were led by a star. Although Christ is physically in the plot a short amount of time, He is a subject of consideration for much of the book. The subtitle of Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace is A Tale of the Christ. But Judah also pondered Jesus’s teaching and wonders who he really was.

Judah threw all his influence and training into getting an army ready for the day Jesus would announce himself as King. A few thought the Messiah’s kingdom would be a spiritual one. Most thought the kingdom would be an immediate physical one, unseating and defeating the Romans. Some thought Jesus was the promised Messiah, arrived to set up his kingdom. In his travels, Judah heard of a man named Jesus who was the source of much controversy. He found opportunity to face Messala in a chariot race. Judah had two aims in life: to find his mother and sister, and to exact revenge on Rome in general and Messala in particular. Arrius adopted Judah as his son, had him trained in Roman fighting, and left him all his wealth. When a sea battle wrecked the ship, Judah saved the life of Arrius. He was stunned to learn that Judah was the son of someone he had known, a prince in Judea. Arrius noticed Judah and asked about him. In Judah’s third year as a galley slave, Quintas Arrius took over the ship to combat pirates. Judah’s mother and sister were seized and taken away, the Hur home was confiscated by the Roman government, and Judah was made a galley slave in a Roman ship. The guards stormed the house, and Judah was accused of attempted assassination by none other than Messala. As Judah and his sister leaned over the parapet to watch, his hand accidentally loosened a roof tile, which fell and hit the official, knocking him off his horse. A procession of the Roman governor and his guard passed by Judah’s house one day. One was a Roman, Messala one was a Jew, Judah Ben-Hur.īut their parting signaled more than the loss of friendship.

Their culture, religion, education, and training pitted them against each other. They had been close childhood friends, but now they realized they must come to a parting of the ways. Two young men sat in a garden in first century Judea.

Ben hur carol wallace