December 19, 2008.

Exodus Decoded.

Rating: 5
Excellent. As a Conservative Evangelical Christian I would take issue over his interpretation of the plagues but from an historical point of view proving that Moses and the Biblical Exodus are historical fact the video 'hit the spot'.

December 30, 2008.

EXODUS.

Rating: 5
The show was very interesting. If you enjoy history and believe in the Bible it is must see viewing.

December 25, 2008.

Eh. Interesting, fun to watch, thin on facts and scientific process, could be better.

Rating: 3
Exodus Decoded is titled far more assertively than it delivers - it's more "Exodus sort of looked at in a different way than most others have done while still leaving a lot of questions and some loopholes in process."

The production values are certainly of the highest quality here - the computer graphics are whizbang, look very cool, and actually do contribute to the arguments and narrative that Jacobovici is offering.

Unfortunately, the level of scientific facts do not succeed in achieving the same heights of excellence as the whizbang graphics.

I'm not as willing as some other reviewers to call this entirely nonsense, but I'm also not as willing as some others to just accept everything here as absolute fact and go running around proclaiming "See! The Bible is historically perfectly true!"

The truth is, we really don't know when (or even if) the Exodus happened, and if it did happen, don't really know how. Other than the account in the Bible, there isn't much secondary proof out there of any of the biblical claims. And trying to piece together anything that far back into history is somewhat of a fool's errand.

Given that we probably will never really know the details, I think Jacobovici offers some compelling stuff to think about, but not a lot to take super duper seriously, or consider as definitely "solved".

Watch this, but watch it with a critical eye and have your hermeneutic of suspicion set on 11 and ready to use at a moment's notice. Who knows? The Exodus could very well have happened in the mid-1400s BCE, as he proposes; the stele could show bas reliefs of the crossing of the Reed See; Sinai could be where he says it is; and so on.

Perhaps the best way to sum this up is to say that is worth watching, so long as you remember that everything Jacobovici says should be preceded with "maybe" or "possibly" or could end with "but I might be wrong".

Unfortunately, Jacobovici rarely offers that kind of humility and academic honesty in this documentary, and offers his statements as finished, completely researched and proven facts.

And that's why I give it three stars, and not five. If he'd said "Here's some cool stuff I'm thinking about, and why - let me show you, and see what you think", I'd like this a lot more. But when people say, especially about history, "Here's what happened", I grow weary and wary.

I am buying a copy to use in my church adult education, but I will be sure to offer it as a possibility and generator of discussion, not as scientific or even scholarly fact.

December 25, 2008.

Caution! Spin doctors at work! There goes the History Channel....

Rating: 1
Where does one start with this abomination?
The Exodus Decoded claims to be a valid attempt at shedding light on the Biblical Exodus, though the arguments presented are laughable to anyone with basic/elementary knowledge of the peoples and the time in question.
This fictional approach has the audacity to claim that Mycenaean gold found by Heinrich Schliemann was actually Egyptian gold brought by Israelites who broke away from the main host (!!!) led by Moses and ended up in the Peloponnesus. Moreover, the documentary alleges that the Mycenaean swords found were brought to Mycenae by those same Israelites. Apart from the fact that if indeed they had been innocent slaves who just wanted to be set free they would not have been armed or carrying somebody else's gold with them which indicates that maybe they were not that "innocent" (and which is a different story altogether), mixing Israelites and Mycenaeans is dangerous and absurd to say the least.
After watching The Exodus Decoded I headed to the Athens Archeological Museum (30 minutes' drive) to see for myself these claims regarding the three piece stonework depicting the charioteer (Pharaoh) and the artifact claimed to depict the Ark. In both cases you have to let your imagination run amuck before reaching the conclusions that this "documentary" is trying to sell.
Presenting accurate and valid sources proving the close relations between the Minoans and the Egyptians and how the Minoans were the only people recognized by Egypt as being civilized has very little if anything to do with the topic apart from throwing in a few truths to make the tale being spun more believable.
This "History Channel" documentary is overflowing with bias and wishful thinking in all its glory. The so-called "passion of Jewish-Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici" mentioned by Tom Keogh in the editorial review does nothing whatsoever to prevent Jacobovici's work and by extension himself personally from being dishonored and discredited.
Is someone maybe trying to give much more significance to certain groups than is deserving or historically accurate??? Why is it that one gets the feeling that this was more the result of poorly conceived and executed propaganda and politics than anything else... The truth, whatever it might be, must be protected at all cost and not be left to be sacrificed in pursuit of political agendas.

December 20, 2008.

The Exodus Decoded (History Channel).

Rating: 5
The service was fast and the program is very interesting. If you think you know when the exodus occured, than this film will have you asking questions,and that is what a good educational program does.