Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls DVD (Crew Review)
Imagine facing execution for teaching your children how to say the Lord’s prayer in the language you speak at home. As I watched Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls from New Liberty Videos, I learned that back in the Dark Ages, mothers faced this very threat. Though many Christians today have multiple Bibles on their shelves, we sometimes forget that most people who have followed God over the ages have not been so fortunate. The Scriptures are a treasure with a fascinating history, and this DVD offers viewers a glimpse at the Bible’s intriguing past.
What is it?
Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls ($19.95) contains video footage from 3 lectures. Contrary to what the title indicates, only the first segment is actually about the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, all three are about different topics related to the Bible, its history, and how it came to be passed on to us over the past few thousand years. Each segment is only about 20 minutes long, so while none of them go into great depth about their topics, they do provide enticing introductions that leave the viewer wanting to learn more. The format is simple, without flashy graphics, but the information is fascinating enough all on its own.
This DVD would be most interesting to teenagers and adults, so I didn’t watch it with my children (though they did sit with me as I watched the final segment and appeared to be paying attention). I watched each of the three segments separately since they are all on different topics.
1. Dead Sea Scrolls
In the first segment, Joel Lampe teaches all about the scrolls found at Qumran: the contents, the materials used in creating them, the languages used, as well as a bit about the geography and history of the region. Did you know that only about 25% of the writings found were from Scripture? The scrolls contained many other writings, but there were pieces found containing writing from every book of the Old Testament except Esther.
When I hear the word “scrolls,” I picture large pieces of parchment rolled up, but in actuality, the Dead Sea Scrolls consist of 19,000 pieces that scholars have had to carefully reassemble into scrolls. Lampe tells about the work that has been done on the scrolls since their discovery back in the late 1940’s. As technology has advanced, scholars have been able to learn more. For example, infrared technology has allowed them to study writing that was previously impossible to make out, and DNA technology has allowed them to match fragments of the same animal skin parchments rather than relying on visual clues alone to piece together this enormous puzzle.
2. Hebrew Word Pictures
The second segment on the DVD is lecture by Dr. Frank Seekins that provides a fascinating introduction to ancient Hebrew. He’ll have you reading several Hebrew words in minutes. Hebrew characters represent both sounds (like our alphabet) and pictures (like Chinese characters), so not only do they tell you how to pronounce the word, they also tell you about its meaning.
As he gets deeper into the meanings of the characters, he shows how truths of the gospel were foretold even in the creation of the Hebrew language long before Christ, as well as focusing on words that talk about the relationship between man and woman. Dr. Seekins is obviously passionate about what he studies, and anyone with an interest in learning about the Scriptures in the original language will finish this portion of the DVD hungry to learn more.
3. The Forbidden Book
The final lecture on Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls is about the history of the English Bible, taught by Dr. Craig Lampe. Starting back in the time of Constantine, Dr. Lampe traces the history of the Bible from the original Greek text. He tells of how the Bible was first translated into Latin, which eventually became the only legal language for the Bible, even when it was no longer spoken by most people. Through the work of men like Wycliffe, Erasmus, Luther, and Tyndale eventually the Scriptures were translated into other languages, allowing thousands to be blessed by the Word of God.
My Thoughts on Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls
I was eager to review this DVD because I love learning more about the Bible. The only thing that left me disappointed after watching it was that each segment was so short. I truly appreciated the passion each lecturer showed for his subject, and I felt that 20 minutes from each really only scratched the surface. I look forward to seeking out further resources to explore the topics further.
New Liberty Videos has many interesting titles available, and other members of the Crew got a chance to review different DVDs, so be sure to visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to find out about those!
As I said, the Activities area is where you find the core of the curriculum. Here the student first selects a topic (see above), which opens up a list of activities within that topic (see below). There isn’t any instruction, so if the student doesn’t know how to find the answer they’ll need to click on the help option to know what to do. (I think this is the main reason the program is considered supplemental.) When they achieve at least 95% on one of these activities, they earn a gold bar.
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One of the treasures I brought home from the Great Homeschool Convention last month was a bag full of goodies from 
