Movie review: Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
New Patterns of Evidence film tackles tough questions
Published: 4 March 2019 (GMT+10)
Tim Mahoney’s first film, Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus (see CMI’s review), examined the evidence for the historical Exodus. Did the historical records outside the Bible and the archaeological evidence bear witness to events that the Bible describes? The film took us on an eye-opening and fascinating journey that ultimately ended in satisfying, Bible-affirming answers. So, we were excited to review the next film in the series, Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy.
The first five books of the Bible, known collectively as the Torah or Pentateuch, explicitly claim to be written by Moses—a claim which is affirmed by later biblical authors and even Christ Himself when He said “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46). But most mainstream Bible scholars do not believe that Moses—or any one person—ultimately wrote the Torah. Instead, they claim that various groups of people accumulated oral traditions that eventually were compiled into the final versions of the five books during the time of the Exile. This is known as the documentary hypothesis, and it is mentioned unfavorably in the documentary, but in our opinion the film would have been a bit stronger had they spent more time on refuting the arguments often put forward for this view.
The documentary hypothesis would mean that the Bible is wrong—and even Jesus would be wrong, because they believed Moses wrote about the sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus as an eyewitness. This is not a ‘side issue’—as he noted, among the scholars he consulted, those who rejected Mosaic authorship became much less likely to believe in God at all. This is made all the more poignant because these scholars for the most part came from conservative homes where they were taught to believe the Bible. It’s a sad but logical consequence. If the Bible is not real history, as we’ve pointed out with the origins issue, then what is Christianity ultimately based upon?
Click to view the trailer
A hot topic
The issue of the origin of the Hebrew language, and its implications for Mosaic authorship, is not widely known to the average Christian, but it is very controversial in scholarly circles. One argument against Moses being the author of Genesis is that the original language of the Torah—Hebrew—is thought by most scholars to have been developed from Phoenician in the tenth century BC, far too late for Moses to have used it to write the Torah around 500 years earlier. So, Mahoney breaks down the problem to ask: was there a language that existed in Moses’ time that was available to him to use, that had an alphabetic script, that could even be called a very early form of the Hebrew language?
Some experts note that there is a very early language known as proto-Sinaitic, or proto-Canaanite, that seems to have modified some hieroglyphic symbols to represent consonant sounds. In other words, it represents a leap to alphabetic language. The inscriptions can be read as a very early form of proto-Hebrew, and one can even trace how the symbols might have changed over time to become paleo-Hebrew, Phoenician, and other early ancient forms of written language.
Mahoney leads us on an investigation of possibilities and interviews experts from different camps, unbelieving and believing, with a range of views on the issue. Some believe that the account of the Exodus in Scripture has almost nothing to do with a historical event, while others believe that it is historical and was written by Moses himself. He asks one expert, “Is the Bible a literal story of God acting in history?” The scholar answers, “It purports to be, but whether it is or not is a question of belief, it’s not something that can be proven.” Even as Mahoney weaves together a possible explanation for Mosaic authorship of the book of Exodus, he includes the opinions of unbelieving scholars who disagree with him in the strongest terms. This gives the documentary balance and makes it apparent that Mahoney has done his homework.
Yet in other areas he seems to take huge leaps of logic, then runs with them in a way that seems less than fully thought-out. For instance, the idea that God literally inspired the alphabetic writing system seems both unnecessary and unsupported by Scripture itself. This also seemed to be a contradiction given he had just shown compelling evidence as to the origin of this proto language coming from Egypt and then spreading to all ancient Semitic languages.
Concerningly, the documentary also includes images of the debunked 'chariot wheels' in a certain location said to be the true location of the Red Sea crossing. This was not explicitly endorsed or refuted, but it is important to note that this is not sound evidence, as these are only coral formations that look superficially like wheels and/or axles, but have not been proven to be real chariot wheels. Please read the linked article for more details.
Faulty Egyptian chronology is linked to secular views about Scripture
One strength of the documentary is that he highlights the assumptions secular scholars are making. For instance, they assume that the standard method of dating the Egyptian Pharaohs is correct, meaning they don’t consider certain things as evidence for the Bible, which changes if the standard dating needs to be adjusted. And their assumptions about how languages are related to each other leads them to reject other possible lines of evidence. (See our Egyptian chronology article cautioning accepting secular dates and why).
Ultimately, this is a documentary that gives very viable options, but not final answers. It will be helpful in allowing people to see the evidence, which we suspect most will not be aware of, and the range of opinions that will allow people to come to their own conclusion. However, while we recommend this documentary as worthwhile viewing, we caution about dogmatically accepting some of the conclusions. This is a documentary that has a wide range of potential audiences, including teens, non-Christians, Christians who want a deeper grasp on their faith, and anyone interested in ancient history or archaeology. The overall quality of the film is excellent and is highly recommended to add to the already overwhelming weight of evidence we have in support of the Bible’s history.
Readers’ comments
This world accepts a person who is full of pride w/the ability to tell tall tales about the things they have done to make the world a better place. Even when it is found out that they are liars the world makes excuses for their actions and still holds them in high esteem. They do this because he or she is one of them.
On the other hand The True and living God has left evidence in creation, history, and in the dust of the earth. He has even given us proof by telling us about things that would happen in the future, and has done this by giving small specific details as well as big specific details of these future events. He has done this in His Word as well as in deed where there is no denying that He Is God and there is no other. One of many examples would be The Psalms which are known to be writings from "the days of old" by giving the world details about His death on The Cross as well as the small details that would take place during that event.
Then today we have Israel and their history. How many nations in history were so destroyed by another nation and yet came back to be a powerful nation thousands of yrs. later, how many nations were turned into dust and yet today that land has come back to life to be a prosperous world player. These are things The Lord God said He would do in "the last days" before His return. There are many, many more examples that prove He is "The Great I Am".
The Living God of Israel has proven Himself in WORD and DEED. The world is without excuse. "Those who wait upon The Lord will not be ashamed".
TY guys for the work you do.
In todays world where miracles and other occurrences in the Bible among many, have to be explained rather than believed, it is harder and harder for well-educated men and women to have faith like a child. But Jesus said: “ ... Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark. 10:15).
Does this mean that you have to "check you brain” when you read the Bible? No, we are welcome to poke and probe It as much as we want, as a matter of fact, the Lord encourages it, but we must always remember that God said His Word is perfect, and we are not, so when we can’t figure something out in the Bible, our faith should not for a minute be shaken. Reading a wonderful webb-sight like this one, will always help.
In my view, even though Moses did not write in the Hebrew of the Masoric text (which dates to a few centuries after Christ), and may not have even written in Paleo Hebrew, he and the Israelites certainly spoke a language from which Hebrew is descended. Hebrew, Phoenician, Canaanite, and other Semetic languages descended from the same mother tongue whose origin was by God at Babel. I have no doubt that since he was well educated, Moses wrote in some language that the Israelites could understand, which eventually became Paleo Hebrew, and then Hebrew.
The creation of languages at Babel was not a curse, though it certainly was a punishment from God for a) not obeying his command to fill the earth and b) for trying to make a "name for themselves" instead of glorifying God's name. But God's command to fill the earth, subdue it, and rule over it was also a command to create culture and language. Undoubtedly, languages would have diversified if humans had followed his command, although probably not to the extent of what happened at Babel. But amazingly, God's judgment, while causing people to have to separate, brings a blessing: cultural diversity which will return to him in praise and worship in heaven (Revelation 21:24). At Pentecost the Holy Spirit started this process, not by unifying languages, but by bringing the Gospel into many languages. Language is a gift and blessing from God.
The article was otherwise very good and I love when movies like this affirm Biblical history.
What is so remarkable is that God contrived to be a God who hides himself (Isaiah 45:15; 1 Corinthians 1:17ff), whilst at the same time, providing the believer with sufficient evidence to see that His word is true. Am I undermining CMI's good apologetic work? By no means: because, in an age such as this, God has mercifully provided us with a reasoned and sufficient rebuttal to the huge welter of apparent contradictions, just enough to encourage the saints to have peace that the 'mystery of the faith' (1 Timothy 3:9) is also eminently reasonable, factually based and indeed, is very truth. Concerning the book of Enoch, my hunch is that there were fragments that were genuine, that have been subsumed into the canon of scripture, but much of the rest is dubious and probably added at a much later date - certainly not worthy of inclusion in God's inspired word, being too caught up in the activities of fallen angels, and needlessly pandering to our fleshly minds.
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