Was it divine intervention that saw viewers choose this Amazon series?

First there were the Ten Commandments. Now there are the ten episodes. Naturally, God plays a part in both.

This Friday, Amazon Prime debuts a new 10-part series entitled, “The Hand of God.”

The show’s title was inspired by the directives “from Above” that fill the mind of Pernell Harris, a corrupt and philandering American judge portrayed by Ron Perlman (“Sons of Anarchy”).

Judge Harris suffers a breakdown and his mental distress is so severe it leads him to trust the disturbing visions and messages he perceives as an outright imperative for justice. The commands come as a voice-over that the viewer hears and images the viewer sees — as if they are real.

The messages appear so clearly to Harris that he embarks on a twisted vigilante quest to exact justice upon the unknown perpetrator of a violent sexual act against his beautiful daughter-in-law. The attack already fractured his family and darkened his life before the events portrayed in the pilot.

The judge’s life unravels as the series continues, and his mental state deteriorates along with it. His ability to “control his environment, which has been pristine up until this time, is now is being undermined by events that are beyond his ability to change,” Perlman told the LA Daily News. Driven by his thirst for revenge, the powerful judge enlists a white supremacist to assist him in his mission.

“This is a challenge of life for me,” said the Jewish Perlman, 65, who is also a producer on the series. “It’s the big kahuna. I don’t think I would’ve been ready for it at a younger age.”

Besides Perlman, the streaming series’ Jewish cast members include Herzliya native Alona Tal, an Israeli-American and IDF veteran who portrays the fictional Harris’ daughter-in-law Jocelyn — with a perfect American accent. Tal, who also sings, got her start on a children’s musical video and later appeared as the lead in the Israeli film, “Lihiyot Kohav/To Be A Star.”

American-Israeli actress Alona Tal faces off with her father-in-law, played by Ron Perlman, in ‘The Hand of God.’ (YouTube screenshot)

Tal told Deadline.com that her character, who is repeatedly raped during a home invasion, lifts herself “back up” after the attempted suicide and hospitalization of her now-comatose husband. Rather than identifying as a victim, she summons her inner strength to address much more than the rape, which had led her husband, P.J., who witnessed it, to shoot himself.

It is while his son is comatose on life support that Harris, her father-in-law, believes he begins to receive communiques from heaven that lead him on a path of violence.

The drama marks the premiere of one of a handful of pilots Amazon screened online a year ago that asked viewers for their opinions

Perlman’s and Tal’s characters eventually come to odds over the fate of P.J. Joselyn readies herself to take her husband off life support and allow the inevitable. His father can’t allow himself to let P.J. die, especially after he makes a promise to him, while he remains on a ventilator, to avenge his death.

For support, Harris relies on a young, charismatic and dubious pastor, Reverend Curtis, who baptizes him. It’s then that he begins to see visions and exhibit odd behavior. He disappears for three days and shows up without clothing in a public fountain speaking in tongues. He declares himself born-again.

Harris’s dismissal of an inmate’s criminal charges based on religious grounds, his massive donation to the previously unknown preacher and his bizarre public behavior call his increasingly odd convictions into question.

The drama, created by Ben Watkins for Amazon Studios, marks the premiere of one of a handful of pilots Amazon screened online a year ago that asked viewers for their opinions.

The original THOG pilot, which opens to reveal the judge in tenuous mental state, and includes language, violence and adult content, remains available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRHQbn96Vc

Last year, viewers had conflicting opinions about the storyline: whether the protagonist is delusional and behaving improperly under the guise of a supernatural event or if the events are actually supernatural. It’s clearly left up to interpretation, with plenty of suggestion that it may actually be what’s happening.

The opportunity to work with Amazon’s innovative streaming services has great appeal for Perlman.

“This is the most exciting period I’ve ever seen in television and most exciting place to be if you’re a storyteller is television,” Perlman told Deadline.com.

“Ten years from now it will all get f****d up, but right now it’s a beautiful place. Right now, I’m coming from the dream factory called FX,” where the “Sons Of Anarchy” aired. He added he was hoping “lightning could strike twice” and described working at Amazon Studios as “a love affair.”

Once the full series airs, it shall soon reveal what else sayeth the Lord.