"In 1400 B.C., a group of nervous Egyptians saw the Nile turn red. But what they thought was blood was actually an algal bloom, which killed the fish, which prior to that had been living off the eggs of frogs. Those uneaten eggs turned into record numbers of baby frogs, who subsequently fled to the land and died. Their little rotting frog bodies attracted lice and flies. The lice carried the bluetongue Virus, which killed 70% of Egypt's livestock. The flies carried Glanders, a bacterial infection, which, in humans, causes boils. Soon afterward, the Nile River Valley was hit with a three-day sandstorm, otherwise known as the "Plague of Darkness." During the sandstorm, intense heat can combine with an approaching cold front to create not only hail, but also electrical storms, which would have looked to the ancient Egyptians like "fire from the sky." The subsequent wind would have blown the Ethiopian locust population off course and right into downtown Cairo. Hail is wet; locusts leave droppings. Spread both on grain, and you have got Mycotoxins. Dinner time in ancient Egypt meant the first-born child got the biggest portion, which in this case, meant he ate the most toxins, so he died. Ten plagues. Ten scientific explanations."
Also, I'm going to take this opportunity to bring up how the Butterfly Effect is explained in this explanation of the biblical plagues. An algal bloom kills the fish who previously kept frog populations in check. In this case, an algal bloom killed off an entire species in this particular habitat, which in turn, caused a spiraling effect of an insane number of frogs. This massive outbreak of frogs had to have had an effect on the populations of whatever these particular frogs ate. Also, what came from all of this? Disease. This disease killed all kinds of livestock and made the Egyptians ill and killed off some of them. No one knows how that algal bloom occurred. It could have been natural or caused by human interaction with the environment. Who knows? But the point is, a lot of crap can happen when an ecosystem is disrupted, so let's try not to disrupt any ecosystems through our actions!
By the way, I read on one website how the algal bloom supposedly occurred. Between 1500 and 1650 B.C., a volcano erupted in Greece. The subsequent ash landed all over the place, including in Cairo and the Nile River. (This ash has been tested and is proven to have come from this particular volcano.) The plagues supposedly occurred between 1400 and 1550 B.C., so this fits perfectly with the eruption of this volcano. The ash from this volcano changed the pH of the Nile River, allowing the algae to bloom. BOOM. There's your explanation for how the algae "miraculously" started blooming there. Another myth potentially busted, but this time, there's actual scientific tests that prove that this theory is quite possibly correct. Also, this myth-buster has a fair timeline for further potential proof. It's pretty cool to think about. But I'm just glad humans weren't the reason for this disaster. Usually when you hear about a Butterfly Effect of events that destroyed entire ecoystems, humans are the initial cause. Ha.
One explanation that I found online, however, had a slightly different explanation than Katherine's explanation in "The Reaping." According to the author of this web page, the "Plague of Darkness" came from the volcanic ash, which also is what caused the hail and red lightning (or "fire in the sky") due to chemicals from the ash. Also, this author explains that the locusts came around due to the dampness of the area, to which locusts are attracted. Also, the explanation of the death of the first born is more understandable through this author, as he/she explains that the first-born was "king" in families, because he was the one who would head the family after the death of his father. Not only would the first-born eat first, but in times of famine, sometimes he would be the only one to eat. Since the locusts ate pretty much everything in sight, these were definitely times of famine. Boy, this sure was an ironic "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation - to eat or not to eat; that is the question! If you eat, you die. If you don't eat, you die. Well, sh*t.
Here is another theory I found online: Instead of the first-born children being killed, it was the first crop that was killed, and something was lost in translation when the Bible was written and translated into English from Hebrew and all kinds of other previous languages in which the Bible was written before it made it to English. This is an interesting theory and is neat to think about. I don't necessarily think it has any merit, but it's pretty cool to think about. I mean, supposedly God told Moses to tell all of the Israelites to put lamb's blood over their front doors, and this would cause the angel of death to pass over their house. I don't know where in the world that would come from if they really meant the first crop died and not actual children.
Now I read all kinds of criticisms of the above theories, and the best criticism is this: Why in the world hasn't something like this ever occurred in other days and times? I mean, most of the time the earth has been around has not been recorded, but since we started keeping records, why haven't we recorded something insane like this occurring in other instances? I mean we've seen such algal blooms in other places, but they haven't had quite such a major Domino Effect on the ecosystem living there. Or have we? That's for other people to give me information on. As I'm standing here, I can't think of anything. But that's not to say that there wasn't something coincidentally special and unique about this particular algal bloom in this particular ecosystem that made it uncharacteristically disastrous. Furthermore, why haven't we heard of anything happening during this exact same time in the surrounding areas of Egypt, such as Greece, for instance, since that's where that particular volcano supposedly erupted. Surely, these surrounding countries would have seen a lot of similar disasters as the ancient Egyptians, right? Sure. But this one I actually have an answer to. The only people in that area back in this day and age that had written records were the Egyptians. So even if something did happen in the surrounding countries, which I'm sure did, we wouldn't have any record of it.
Here is probably the best criticism: The frog eggs survived in the polluted water and turned into frogs, but the frogs couldn't live in the polluted water, so they fled the water and ended up on land. How could these frogs survive babyhood in polluted water but couldn't survive the water in adulthood? Well, this is just speculation from my Environmental Science background, but there are a lot of toxins that affect animals in their adult states but not in their larval states. That's just a speculative theory. I haven't put any research into that answer, so that's a decent criticism.
Here's another one: How do we know the Red Tide is the algal bloom that occurred, and is it toxic? Also, is it able to live and grow in that region of the world? Answer: We don't know if that was the exist algal bloom that is supposedly the initial cause of these plagues. There are all kinds of algae that contain different colored pigments, including the color red, and can turn water red. However, it is commonly believed that the Red Tide is what did this, and yes, the Red Tide has occurred in many places at many times and not done as much damage, but that only depends on concentration. The Red Tide is only toxic to fish at high concentrations. As for whether or not the Red Tide could grow here, the Red Tide usually shows up in the Atlantic area, so it makes sense that it would potentially show up in Egypt, which is extremely close to the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, the growth of the Red Tide is, at least in the second theory, is attributed to the pH level change that came from volcanic ash after the volcanic eruption. This is really what the Red Tide growth depends on in order to grow, rather than geography - the pH level change.
Here's an interesting criticism: One guy asked, "How do you explain how Moses knew which plagues were coming before they came and warned the Pharaoh of them?" Simple. Anyone who doesn't buy this story will tell you that part of the story was just a story. Either it was added in to add to the moral of the story, or someone added that in there to show the power of God and enhance the reader's belief in him. Or, I have another explanation for this for those of you who believe in God and the Bible below.
Ok, now I'm going to blow your minds. What if God does exist, and he used the laws of the earth that he created to cause these plagues? This means that it's possible that God told Moses these plagues were going to happen, and then he made them happen through the laws of the earth. This scientific explanation could probably more readily be used to exemplify God's power, rather than to debunk his existence. I'm not saying what I believe, but any of this could be used for the argument of both beliefs - the one where God exists and the one where he doesn't. Anyway, that brings us to the question of why God would do such a thing. I mean, think about it. Who was he against? The pharaoh. Why? Because he enslaved his Egyptian people. Who did God punish with the plagues? The Israelites who were enslaved! How does that make any sense? Why would he punish the innocent victims in order to teach the evil dictator a lesson? That just makes no sense and is cruel. And to children, no less! Yes, he told Moses to tell the Israelites to put lamb's blood over their doors, and that would make the angel of death pass over their houses, but to my knowledge, some Israelites didn't do this, which means their children were killed based on the parents' decision. That's not fair! And even if he gave the Israelites this chance to save their first-born, why would it be necessary in the first place? Why didn't he just send this plague, and all of the plagues for that matter, to the Pharaoh? Why did any of it have to affect the innocent Israelites? I could go on and on about how the stories of the Bible seem to show a ruthless, cruel God, rather than a merciful one. Check out my previous note "Dodger Logic #21: Metaphors and Inconsistencies (Oh, dear. What Am I Getting Myself Into?)" for more examples of this.
What is really cool about this story is that it is scientifically possible, and scientists have actually concluded that the 10 plagues of Egypt did, in fact, actually happen. That's what's so cool! And now we have a scientific explanation as to how it happened. And think about it. The fact that these plagues actually did occur is potential proof that the Bible is true, since it has an accurate record of at least one event in history. However, anyone could argue that that came from ancient Egyptian written records that were used to write that Bible story, and that humans enhanced the story of this event for their own personal agenda and added it into the Bible as they were writing it. I don't care what you guys choose to believe, but this is some cool stuff to think about.
This is what the algal bloom of these theories looks like. It's called the Red Tide, and the algae that causes this are actually a kind of phytoplankton called Dinoflaggelates. Now, these guys are only toxic to fish in high concentrations, so it's possible that this is, indeed, the algal bloom that occurred back then, but it is also likely that it is a different algal bloom that occurred, but this seems to be the one a lot of theorists point to. However, there are many algal species that can turn the water red, as lots of algae contains different pigments for different colors, including red.
This is just one example of an awesome-looking electrical storm. Is this the "fire from the sky?"
Yea.. but here's the thing. It does not matter if it has a scientific explanation or not. I mean, who's to say God doesn't use science, Moses never said that God was going to send these plauges by special delivery. He just said they are coming. And they did. He never said that the angel of death was going to fly into every window and touch each child individually. He just said they were going to die. And they did. Moses' prophecies all cane true. Right when He said they would. That's the magic. Weather it was science or magic. It still happened, right when it was foretold it would. It looked like magic to them, I'm sure. But what is magic other than science that has not been explained yet.
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