The First Plague

The First Plague

Recent archaeological evidence has been unearthed, however, that lends validity to the account of the plagues in ancient Egypt, although they have been attributed to natural, environmental phenomena rather than to a deity. Due to the time frame of these phenomena, scientists postulate that they occurred during the reign of Ramses II.

• Plague 1 – water turned into blood
• Plague 2 – frogs everywhere
• Plague 3 – lice, gnats, fleas
• Plague 4 – flies
• Plague 5 – diseased livestock
• Plague 6 – boils
• Plague 7 – fiery hail and thunderstorms
• Plague 8 – locusts
• Plague 9 – darkness for three days
• Plague 10 – death of firstborn males

The location of these plagues was Pi-Ramses, the capital of Egypt during the reign of Ramses II, who ruled from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. Located on the Nile delta, Pi-Ramses was apparently a thriving metropolis, but it was abandoned for no apparent cause.

The First Plague

During most of the reign of Ramses II, the climate of Pi-Ramseswas wet and rather tropical. Inexplicably, the climate became dry and desert-like toward the end of his reign. This could have triggered the first plague, which was the Nile turning to blood. This climate change has been documented by a study of the stalagmites in local Egyptian caves, which provided a record of the weather patterns of the time.

A German biologist, Dr. Stephan Pflugmacher, believes that the Nile changed from a swiftly flowing river into a sluggish, muddy stream due to the arid conditions. Burgundy blood is a toxic algae that thrives in warm, slow-moving water; it turns the water red when it dies. Dr. Pflugmacher believes this is the scientific explanation for the first plague.

According to another biologist, Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, a dinoflagellate (a one-celled aquatic organism) called Pfiesteria piscidia caused a similar condition in North Carolina in 1996, so the scientific precedent and evidence exists for this type of event.

The Second Plague

The onset of the first plague, according to scientists, led to the onset of the other plagues. Tadpoles that were present in the Nile became stressed because of the change in their environment; stressed tadpoles quickly develop into frogs. The water was toxic due to the burgundy blood algae and this caused them to jump out of the water. The word for frogs also includes toads, and some toads lay thousands of eggs at one time. With no fish to eat the eggs, they would have swarmed the land in overwhelming numbers.

From the Third to the Sixth Plague

As the frogs and toads died due to the arid conditions, flies, mosquitoes, and other insects flourished. Since insects, such as mosquitoes, carry diseases, the next plagues, which were boils and diseased livestock, were a natural consequence. Glanders is a bacterial infection that affects humans and some animals, such as pigs, horses, and sheep; it was used in biological warfare in World War I. Glanders causes boils and is transmitted through body fluids or direct tissue contact.

The Seventh Plague

The fiery hail that was the seventh plague could have been due to the eruption of a Mediterranean volcano located in Santorini, that erupted about 3500 years ago. Since it was one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded, it could have interacted with thunderstorms in the area and produced very dramatic hailstorms.

Excavations of Egyptian ruins have unearthed pumice, which is formed when volcanic lava cools, although there are no volcanoes in Egypt. Scientists have analyzed the pumice stone and determined that it came from the Santorini volcano when it erupted. This proves that ash from the eruption could have reached Egypt and precipitated the next plague, that of the locusts.

The Eighth Plague

The presence of volcanic ash, such as from the Santorini volcano, disrupts the environment and causes weather anomalies such as rain and elevated humidity. These types of conditions are favorable for locusts, and could therefore have precipitated their arrival.

The Ninth Plague

Volcanic ash can remain in the atmosphere for years, but the immediate effect of an enormous volcanic eruption is to darken the entire sky, which is recorded as the ninth plague.

The Tenth Plague

The tenth plague, the death of all the firstborn male children of any age, could have been attributed to a fungus that poisoned the grain. Since the firstborn males would have eaten more of the grain, they may have consumed more of the fungus and therefore succumbed to the fatal effects of the fungus.

This explanation, however, seems to lack substance and no scientific evidence has yet been found to explain the death of all the firstborn males in ancient Egypt. Bible scholars are reluctant to ascribe the plagues to natural causes because that loses the point of them, according to Dr. Robert Miller, who is from the Catholic University of America. Biblical scholars maintain that the purpose of the plagues was to point out that the Israelites came out of Egypt by the hand of God.