The Plagues of Exodus

Phenom · May 9, 2006, 1:07am

In the Bible, the book of Exodus tells of many plagues (blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and on the firstborn) that were brought upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians because he would not allow Moses and his brother Aaron to lead the Israelites into the desert and out of slavery. Now, if indeed the Bible is also a history book, wouldn’t it stand to reason that such extreme “physical world” events would be recorded by others too? So I guess my question is, “are these plagues in other ancient history books as well?”…and if so, which ones? Who else records these events? Anyone?

Gobbo · May 9, 2006, 3:11am

You couldn’t be more wrong on this point.

I think that will answer your question.

Phenom · May 9, 2006, 11:50am

Nothing like a grand statement followed by zero support…what’s your degree in, “opinions”? So we don’t know which Pharaoh it was historically? Moses just pulled the first 5 books of the Bible from his anus?

Gobbo · May 9, 2006, 9:18pm

Man, the bible isn’t a history book… even the christians admit that. Do you also think that God took 7 gregorian calendar days to create the earth? It’s half a metaphor… and that’s the tough part, sorting through the fundamentalist revisions, the different translations, and -then- figuring out what might be factual truth, and what is esoteric theology.

In the case of the plagues… I have no friggin clue.

Donnie_Darko_Fan · May 10, 2006, 4:34am

Plagues come by instinct , i don’t know why people see these sort of things as the work of some higher entity.

Phenom · May 11, 2006, 12:53am

the Bible says that Egypt has never known plagues so great nor will they ever. that’s crap, it should have been written down elsewhere.

Donnie_Darko_Fan · May 11, 2006, 11:24am

Austraila? , i can see that coming now…

Uccisore · May 11, 2006, 4:53pm

Phenom:

Did you have any books in mind? Is there some reliable sorce of Egyptian history from that period in which we would expect to find record of the plagues, but don't?  I don't know much about the historical recording of the time, and am honestly asking what we should [i]expect[/i] to find.

Phenom · May 13, 2006, 12:32am

Uccisore:

Phenom:

Did you have any books in mind? Is there some reliable sorce of Egyptian history from that period in which we would expect to find record of the plagues, but don't?  I don't know much about the historical recording of the time, and am honestly asking what we should [i]expect[/i] to find.

I guess what I’m saying is that you would think that these “major” catastrophic events would have been recorded by someone else in addition to Moses. If these plagues really happened I just think that someone else would have thought to record them. I find it hard to take them seriously without other historical evidence is all.

Since I posted the topic I have been doing some serious digging and have found some archeological evidence of these plagues in the Nile River delta. Also, Pharaoh’s firstborn did indeed die - historical fact. Ahhh the quest continues…

Uccisore · May 13, 2006, 12:47am

Well, the Old Testament itself DOES count as an example of historical evidence for the plagues. What I’m wondering is if there are many historical accounts of that region and time in which the plagues aren’t mentioned. Can you direct me towards the stuff you found?

Dan1 · May 13, 2006, 1:01am

Historicity
The vast majority of scientists and secular thinkers believe the plague stories are simply mythical or allegorical, or inspired by passed-down accounts of disconnected natural disasters. Some, however, have speculated on possible natural inspirations behind the story of the succession of plagues.

Archaeology
There is archaeological material that some Christian archaeologists, such as William F. Albright, have considered historical evidence of the Ten Plagues; for example, an ancient water-trough found in El Arish bears hieroglyphic markings detailing a period of darkness. Albright, and other Christian archaeologists have claimed that such evidence, as well as careful study of the areas ostensibly traveled by the Israelites after the Exodus, make discounting the biblical account untenable. However, their arguments have not persuaded any archaeologists who do not initially assume the Biblical account is accurate.

The Egyptian Ipuwer papyrus describes a series of calamities befalling Egypt, including a river turned to blood, men behaving as wild ibises, and the land generally turned upside down. However, this is usually thought to describe a general and long term ecological disaster lasting for a period of decades, such as that which destroyed the Old Kingdom. The document is usually dated to the end of the Middle Kingdom, or more rarely, to its beginning, fitting the Old Kingdom destruction, but in both cases long before the usual theorized dates for the Exodus.

Immanuel Velikovsky decided that the Egyptian papyrus did, in fact, describe the events of Exodus, along with the major natural catastrophes that he thought preceded it; in his opinion it was the conventional chronologies of Egypt that were wrong by several hundred years.[1] His theory has never gained credibility among Egyptologists, not even those who are evangelical Christians such as Kenneth Kitchen.

answers.com/topic/plagues-of-egypt

Phenom · May 16, 2006, 12:44am

Thank you.