I recently watched the two-hour forthcoming documentary Patterns of Evidence: Exodus. It’s outstanding.

(Jason DeRouchie, my Old Testament colleague, previewed it before I did and warmly recommended it to me.)

Evangelicals put this film together, and it presents the evidence in an unbiased way that allows the evidence to speak for itself. The film interviews major scholars throughout the world, both evangelicals and non-evangelicals on the conservative-to-liberal spectrum. It honestly notes the challenges and progressively builds patterns of evidence for the exodus. By the end of the documentary, the mountain of evidence makes you wonder how some scholars can claim that there is no extra-biblical support for the exodus as Scripture presents it.

The film also firmed my conviction that an early date for the exodus (about 1446 BC) is more likely than a later one (about 1260 BC).

People may view the film in select theaters on Monday, January 19.

More info here.

Here’s a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJzqy7-H_34

Update on 11/21/2015: Some reviews have claimed that this documentary lacks academic nuance. They are probably correct—it’s a popular-level documentary after all. See Jason DeRouchie’s follow-up post.