Plague of boils: might have been smallpox, which is known to have existed around 1000 BCE based on smallpox scars on mummies. Plague of frogs: there is no real explanation, but there are phenomena involving frogs (or toads), both raining frogs and mass movements of frogs (or toads). Most people could tell the difference between them and blood. River of blood: was this perhaps a red algal bloom? These can be toxic and produce foul vapors. Nonetheless, it may be that real events influenced the people who made up the plague narratives, or that the Biblical story interleaves mythical versions of other natural disasters. This ignores the facts that the plagues aren't the only improbable bit of the story, the lack of detail about the plagues, and how some of the explanations do not accord with details of the Biblical story. Some events, such as plagues of locusts, are common, but others require more creative powers. There have been numerous attempts at providing scientific explanations for the plagues. Īs Gordon Zellaby put it in John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos, "For my part, I regard the plagues of Egypt as an unedifying example of celestial bullying a technique now known as power-politics." Only advocates of alternate historical chronology could possibly use this as evidence. 1900 BCE), long before the New Kingdom, in which the Exodus is said to have occurred (either 1446 BCE or ca. 2200 BCE), and its composition dating to the early Middle Kingdom (ca. Some people who ought to know better suggest that this document describes the G'tach, despite the work describing the fall of the Old Kingdom (ca. Some historians of biblical bent have found much to interest them in the Ipuwer papyrus, an Egyptian poem describing a series of disasters that befell Egypt in ancient times. Of course, that doesn't explain why none of their neighbors caught wind of it. Count in how much influence the Egyptian priests had in that time, when it seem like their gods, who are supposed to be, well, all powerful, do absolutely nothing to stop what is apparently the wrath of a god worshiped by said slaves, it becomes possible that the priests could have outright had it completely denied as ever happening and covered it up in a sort of North Korea manner. It has been suggested that the Egyptians would have been reluctant to record a slave revolt which was pretty much entirely successful, as this would have been a rather humiliating experience. Although different scholars have presented various theories about the historicity of the Exodus, such as identifying the Hebrews with the Hyksos people, the archaeological evidence rather suggests that the story is a narrative which recalls the move from nomadism to sedentism by the early Hebrews. There is no evidence that the Hebrews were ever slaves in Egypt, or indeed that they escaped in a mass exodus, and no records at all of the above series of catastrophes. All first born males of every household (including farm animals) were slain if the household did not mark the door with the blood of a sacrificial lamb ( Passover). Makat Bechorot - the death of all the firstborn males.Choshech - the land was blanketed by unending darkness.Shkhin - the Egyptians were afflicted with painful boils.Dever - a pestilence throughout the livestock of the Egyptians.Arov - Egyptians and livestock were attacked by stinging and biting flies.Kinim - Egypt was infested with swarms of fleas.Tsfardeia - the land was overrun by frogs.Dam - all sources of fresh water were turned to blood.G'Tach is the Hebrew word that collectively refers to the ten plagues visited upon Egypt by God to persuade the Pharaoh to release Moses and his people from bondage.
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