Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls DVD {a Crew Review}

The Dead Sea Scrolls. What do you know about them? Before this review, I didn’t know much. In my mind they were perfectly rolled scrolls with dark red ribbons securing them that had been discovered somewhere near the Dead Sea. After viewing Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a Christian DVD by New Liberty Videos, I realized I was more than a bit wrong! I watched the video first by myself and then invited two of my children (12 and 15) to watch it with me. The films are rated for a general audience, however, I believe it would be best suited for ages 12 and up. The subject matter is a bit too grown up for anyone under that age. Not that it is inappropriate in any manner, it would just be over their heads.

 

Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls is broken into three parts and is filmed live in front of a small audience.

Part 1 – Dead Sea Scrolls with Joel Lampe (about 20 minutes)

In this segment Mr. Lampe discusses how the scrolls, or more accurately the 19,000 pieces of the scrolls, were found by a 12 year old shepherd (isn’t it great how God uses people, even little people? J ) in the caves of Qumran. The 19,000 pieces have since been reassembled into 800 different scrolls, 600 were non-biblical and the other 200 were Old Testament scrolls. Thanks to the advancement of infrared, scholars have been able to verify the pieces have been put together correctly and read pieces that were unreadable before. The archeology, history and geography discussed in this segment is very fast-paced but also very interesting. I greatly enjoy history in all forms. Mr. Lampe has several visual aids to help you grasp the concepts. Albeit quick, it’s very informational and well done.

Part 2 – Hebrew Word Pictures with Dr. Frank T. Seekins (about 10 minutes)

Mr. Seekins reviews the Hebrew language and teaches his audience how to read and speak some of the language. The main concept of this segment is that the Hebrew language does what no other language does, it can be read or written in two ways- sounds and pictures. Learning about the beautiful-relationship based language was intriguing. I had no idea Hebrew was like that! The segment definitely left me wanting to learn more!

Part 3 – The Forbidden Book by Craig Lampe (about 30 minutes)

This segment begins with Constantine and his ending of the Christian persecution in the 4^th century. Did you know he refused to build a church on Roman ground because of the paganism? Instead, he chose to build a church on the very ground which Andrew, the apostle, was martyred. That city became known as the Byzantine Empire. Mr. Lampe goes through the history of the church from the 4^th century to the 16^th century. The dark ages and its tyranny is covered in detail.

After the tyranny was over, John Wycliffe set out to write the Bible in a language everyone could read and use- Middle English. To say the task was impossible would be putting it lightly. He had only corrupted Latin texts to work from. He did the best he could and when he did finish Bibles, they were so expensive that only the wealthy could purchase them. Wycliffe so wanted the people to hear the Gospel he would write scriptures on sheep’s skin and send boys into the market place to read what he had written. Wycliffe’s most prominent message was “The just shall live by faith!” (Hebrews 10:38)

Much more is covered in this segment, ending with Martin Luther, Tyndale and Christ.

Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls is available for $19.95 (plus $4.00 domestic shipping)

My bottom line

The film is extremely informational. The speakers do a great job of conveying their topics in the time allowed. I do wish there was more about the actual scrolls and the history that goes along with them, but overall we enjoyed the film very much and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about these ancient history topics.

 

Thank you New Liberty Videos for this opportunity!