puellaincognita
This documentary provides astounding evidence of the events described in the book of Exodus, as well as key events in Genesis. Key events substantiated include:The existence of Joseph: -A canal which bears his name to this day which was a major achievement of agricultural planning and engineering; -A palatial residence in Goshen, belonging to a high ranking Egyptian official, built over a large Syrian-style home, in a district inhabited by Asiatic/Semitic people; -Joseph's tomb: adjacent to the palatial home, topped with a pyramid, surrounded by 11 other tombs in the same complex. The "Joseph tomb" features architecture reserved for pharaohs, queens, and other extremely high ranking Egyptian officials, contains no Egyptian religious objects, but does have a larger-than-life statue of a man who is portrayed as a northerner/Semitic man with distinct hairstyle and clothing, including the painted remnants of a "coat of many colors." The existence of a large population of Semitic persons in Egypt, populating the Delta region as the Bible specifies, apparently authorized directly by the pharaoh and/or his administration, comprising a distinct Semitic material culture, presence of herd animals in abundance (shepherd culture), which multiplied rapidly and was initially characterized by prosperity.Descent of Semitic population into poverty, impoverishment and short life expectancy, consistent with forced servitude.The occurrence of the Biblical plagues in Egypt, characterized by the sudden decline in Egypt's ability to defend itself, culminating in an effortless takeover by the "Hyksos" or "shepherd kings." An Egyptian document named the Ipuwer Papyrus details, with starting convergence to the Biblical account, a time in which Egypt suffered terrible plagues at the hands of "God" (singular), including thirst due to the Nile becoming "as blood," hunger and destitution in every social class in Egypt, death in every home, lamentation throughout the entire land, AND slaves plundering their former masters, with gold and jewels being worn around the necks of female slaves.Mahoney then cites archaeological evidence for the conquest of Canaan, in which all the cities claimed to have been destroyed in the book of Joshua, were in fact destroyed in the same exact manner. One striking piece of evidence is a tablet recovered from the ruins of Hazor, which references a king named Jabin--the exact name attributed to the king of Hazor (Jaban) by the book of Exodus! Other amazing correlations are found in the details of the destruction of the city of Jericho.All of this evidence taken in sum adds up to an exhaustively evidenced and coherent picture of major events described in Genesis, Exodus and the book of Joshua. The evidence is extremely compelling. The biggest impediment to a complete corroboration of the Biblical accounts is the discrepancies in dating that have plagued modern archaeological attempts to harmonize these events. These issues are complex and knotty, and well over the heads of most viewers, not to mention, very time-consuming to survey. In a rather understated way, Mahoney suggests that his own position is to agree with researchers like David Rohl that what is needed is a radical reassessment of Egyptian chronology. In my own reading and that of my husband, this view is well founded. Mahoney's goal at the end, it seems to me, is not to champion his own view of the harmonization of biblical accounts, history, and chronology, but to reveal the depth of archaeological evidence for the Exodus, give a brief introduction to varying views on how and where to place this event chronologically, and hope that his film will stimulate further interest, awareness and scholarship on the issue. I personally support, to my current knowledge on the subject, the redating route. To read more on this, I would recommend the works of Emmanuel Velikovsky: Ramses II and His Time (brilliantly illustrates a lot of the absurdities of conventional Egyptian chronology and dating) and Peoples of the Sea, in which he probes the question of who the Hyksos were. Another great work on the subject of chronological reassessment is Centuries of Darkness by Peter James.To conclude, I was highly impressed with this film and I can only hope Mahoney will direct a follow-up or even a series of films further probing issues of dating and other side issues of the Exodus. The end of the film was a bit disappointing just because of the lingering uncertainty as to dating with which Mahoney concluded, but I believe this was a very careful and reasonable tone to take with the subject matter. His main points were that there is a plethora of evidence archaeologically for these events occurring as described and that there are many and strong reasons to reassess conventional scholarship in terms of dating these events and even the wider chronologies of Egypt and the Near East. The first point was illustrated very brilliantly and persuasively; the second, I felt, a little less so, mostly due, I believe, to the heady nature of the evidence there and the lack of time to adequately cover such a subject. If this intrigues you, do your own reading! I also highly recommend the online articles of scholar Alan Montgomery, who has done absolutely brilliant work on Biblical, Egyptian and Near Eastern chronology. His view is that Kenyon's Jericho date of 1550 is indeed valid and that that is when the Conquest occurred, following a 1590 Exodus.I am thrilled that this documentary was produced and fervently hope that it will spark further debate, scholarship, and confidence on the part of believers of the Biblical accounts!
Paul A. Lindberg
The real hero of this movie is David Rohl, a British archaeologist and Egyptologist. He uses the Bible, not as anything inspirational or even divinely inspired, but simply as one of the best ancient documents to aid his archaeology. He has spent half a lifetime wrestling with the FACT that the Third Intermediate Period in Egyptian history is extremely confusing and poorly understood by modern archaeology, and the FACT that nothing in Egypt's New Kingdom (the Kingdom of the Rameses Pharaohs) matches the Bible story of the Exodus. He has developed a "New Chronology" for the history of Egypt and the Bible story in which things do line up, stunningly so, way back in the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period (Dynasty XIII). Tim Mahoney in his movie simply looks at the evidence and lets the audience draw their own conclusions.The only criticism I have of the movie is that so much is left out. It cries out for a sequel, showing the evidence found for the Red Sea crossing, the Hyksos, the Amarna period during the Kingdoms of Saul and David, King Solomon and his Egyptian princess... and showing the breathtaking correlations with the ancient Hittites, Babylonians, Syrians, Assyrians... even the later Persians, Greeks, and Romans. It all lines up once you get the chronology right! This ought to stun the world and get everyone started on re-writing the history books!
Rhonda Wilson (acomputerwiznerd)
Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am Adonai your God, who freed you from the forced labor of the Egyptians.G-d has never called on us to only believe in Him, but He always blesses us by showing His works so we may KNOW He is G-d. Tim Mahoney taking us on his journey does just this! Tim walks us through events, timelines and places of the Exodus with many experts giving their opinions regarding the 5 W's of the story. This documentary is fair to all especially regarding the point of view Mr. Mahoney. He is candid about his religious background and desire to have knowledge of this event in history.For a 2 hour and 40 minute documentary time flew as the journey is compelling, well paced and visually enjoyable. The knowledge provided will encourage you to look at the work David Rohl, John Bimson, Eilat Mazar and many other scholars/archaeologist are doing.Thank you, Tim Mahoney, for a job well done!
