By Pamela Rose Williams
Some time ago, I was offered an opportunity to review the full feature documentary film “Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus”. Here is my review of the film.
Background and About the Film
The film takes a look at the Biblical account of the Exodus of the Jews from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. It took filmmaker Tim Mahoney twelve years to develop the film. The film shows both sides of the story and leaves it to the viewer to decide whether or not the Biblical account is true.
Will You Like It?
Whether or not you like the film will have much to do with how open minded you can be. Truth be told, I am not a documentary fan. However, I was very impressed with how the information (fact or not) was presented and then summarized throughout the film. Mr. Mahoney incorporated interviews from very interesting people. This included some leading archaeologists like Israel Finkelstein, Kent Weeks and David Rohl. He even had guest appearances by Benjamin Netanyahu and Shimon Peres. Throughout the film you are constantly challenged with information that you must decide is fact, myth or even fairy-tail, as they say. Since I am a Bible teacher and a Bible student my greatest challenge was to concentrate on the movie before digging into my Bible for more historical evidence. If you love to study the Bible and you love Jewish history, you will love this film.
A Few of My Favorite Things
Even though I am not a documentary lover, there were a number of things in the film that I can say were my favorites, for example:
- I like how Tim Mahoney shared that he was raised Christian and when he began to question his faith he spent years with experts to document what he learned so that he could share it with others who might be on a similar quest.
- Rabbi David Wolfe even challenged historical evidence of the Exodus event. I like how he said “Things that aren’t facts can be truth”.
- I liked how the scientific approach in the film used the details in the Bible to match history all the way back to Abraham.
- I liked how even Egyptologist and Agnostic David Rohl says there are just too many coincidences to rule out the Biblical account as truth.
- I love the Bonus DVD features that include things like interviews and cast bios, some information behind the music used for the film, trailers and even an option to have English closed captioning. Great perks!
My Takeaway
I believe the Biblical account of the Exodus is real and true because God used Moses to record the details for us. Although God did not tell us when it happened, faith tells me it did happen. The important thing to remember is that it did happen…not when it happened. After all “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Overall Recommendation
This film is appropriate for anyone who likes to look at history and learn. It would be a great film to show to your homeschoolers or other students and one that will present an opportunity for great discussions about Egypt, the Israelites, the Passover and the abundance of science and evidence that is in the Bible.
Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing a DVD pack for use in this review. Though I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post the opinions and recommendations expressed here are my own. Read my full DISCLOSURE POLICY.
