>By now, everyone has heard of Simcha Jacobovici. His special program on the History Channel, The Exodus Decoded, has generated much discussion and controversy. In August 2006, I wrote a post, “The Exodus Decoded,” in which I gave a brief evaluation of Jacobovici’s view.
The best and the most comprehensive review of The Exodus Decoded was written by Christopher Heard. Chris has written 14 posts in Higgaion exposing the fallacies of Jacobovici ’s views. In addition to his comprehensive review, Chris also lists several other sites that are related to The Exodus Decoded.
But the question remains: Who is Simcha Jacobovici? Jacobovici is an award-winning Canadian documentary director and producer and also a well-published writer and lecturer. He has been called a modern-day Indiana Jones who brought together a little of skepticism, a penchant for archaeology, and the passion of an investigative journalist to produce The Exodus Decoded.
A recent article in UKTV.com. provides some biographical information about Jacobovici and his work. As for his view of the Bible and archaeology, the article says:
Jacobovici is not merely out to get stuffy archaeologists to call a spade a spade. He is probing some of the most controversial new theories in Biblical archaeology: that the invention of the alphabet contributed to the Biblical Exodus; that recently discovered Bronze Age ceramic penises may explain why Delilah fell for Samson; and that an African army rescued Jerusalem in the 8th Century B.C. That he can combine such pioneering investigation with more irreverent questioning such as “Where do you stop for a good falafel when you’re on your way to find the real Mount Sinai?” shows that there’s no reason why you can’t learn some amazing history while having a bit of fun at the same time.
Read the whole article by clicking here.
If you desire to read more about many of the fallacies presented by Jacobovici in The Exodus Decoded, I highly recommend that you read Christopher Heard’s posts in Higgaion.
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Archaeology, Exodus Decoded, Simcha Jacobovici
Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>I have written a book on biblical history that you may be interested in. The name of the book is “The Fourth Day: Why the Bible is Historically Accurate”. Presently, biblical history uses the events of the Bible and the theories of secular historians to develop the biblical timeline. I take a unique approach in my book by using only information from the Bible to develop the biblical timeline. By doing this I have uncovered several historical questions. Did the Persian Empire only last 21 years or over 200 years? Is there a 300 year period in Egypt’s history, shortly after the Biblical exodus, in which Egypt did not have a Pharaoh? Was Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, claimed by experts to be Xerxes, actually Cyrus? My book can be viewed on lulu.com at the following address: http://www.lulu.com/dmthompsonThanks,Darren Thompson
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>Darren,Thank you for visiting my blog. I checked the web page that lists your book. Although I have not read the book, I presume that “The Fourth Day” is a reference to Genesis 1 and that your chronology is based on that passage. If you want me to review the book, send me a copy and I will offer my comments on your chronology. Without reading the book it is difficult to evaluate your challenge of the conventional biblical chronology. As you know, there are competing chronologies for the events narrated in the Old Testament, and your chronology has to stand the test of reliability.Thank you for visiting my blog and for your comment.Claude Mariottini
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>Dr. MariottiniYou can view a “free” no-cost e-book version of my book by doing the following. Go to http://www.lulu.com/dmthompson and there you will find this link “The Fourth Day: Why the Bible is Historically Accurate”. Click that link and it will take you to a page where you can obtain the free e-book.I would really appreciate a critical review by someone that has your standing in biblical history. Thanks.
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>Darren,Thank you for the offer. I will read your books and write an evaluation of it. It may take several days before I can read the book since I have other pressing issues that demand my attention.Thank you for visiting my blog.Claude Mariottini
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>I have a hard time taking a "scholar" seriously who uses a phrase, "…If you are desire to read more about many of the fallacies…" Especially if the person was raised in the United States and English is his first language.
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>I have a hard time taking a "scholar" seriously who uses a phrase, "…If you are desire to read more about many of the fallacies…" Especially if the person was raised in the United States and English is his first language.
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>David,Thank you for calling attention to the mistake on my post. I have corrected that mistake for the benefit of future readers.I am sure that if it were not for your editors, many mistakes would also appear in your writings.For your information: English is not my first language; it is my third.Claude Mariottini
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