"Ten Egyptian Plagues: Death of Pharaoh's Firstborn", painting by Alma-Tadema
Almost everyone who at least once held the Bible in their hands probably remembered the story of the massacre of the Egyptians, who did not want to release the people of God from slavery. The Old Testament book of Exodus details the incredible calamities that God brought to Egypt. Recently, however, a group of German biologists and climatologists announced that a scientific explanation for the biblical tradition has been found, according to The Daily Telegraph
Scientists, once again tried to prove that nothing supernatural happens, and tried to find reasons and explanations for the seemingly inexplicable. At first glance, the fantastic story of the punishment that befell Egypt seems to have been connected with the natural disasters of those times, and has quite adequate background.
It is worth recalling that history tells how God unleashed disasters on Egypt as punishment for Pharaoh's refusal to free the Jews from slavery. Among the ten executions were the following: the water in the Nile turned to blood, followed by an invasion of toads, midges and dog flies, then a pestilence of cattle, further worse - the bodies of the Egyptians were covered with ulcers and boils, then a hail of fire fell on the country, an invasion of locusts, after the country fell impenetrable darkness, and in the end in Egypt all the firstborn died, except for the Jews. After that, the pharaoh all released the Jews to the Promised Land.
Based on the analysis and study of stalagmites in caves in the Nile Delta, scientists have quite serious reasons to assume that this biblical tradition is based on a series of natural disasters in Egypt in the 13th century BC. During the study of this topic, traces of a sharp change in climate were found in historical places, which led to natural disasters.
Scientists call the root cause of the incident a drought, due to which the Nile became shallow and slowed down. Oscillatoria rubescens algae multiplied in the dirty, slowly flowing water, which made the river the color of blood. Algae-induced changes in the Nile ecosystem have resulted in an extraordinary proliferation of toads, midges and flies. This, in turn, led to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, due to which the death rate of both animals and people increased sharply.
Scientists explain the most interesting passages of biblical history - the hail of fire and the Egyptian darkness - by the eruption of the Santorini volcano, located on the island of the same name in the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, the reason for the emergence of a series of natural disasters remains a mystery - perhaps God was really angry with the Egyptian pharaoh …
Anna Krostenskaya
Promotional video: