The Ten Plagues (scientific Explanations) Essay, Research Paper

The Ten Plagues of Egypt

The Ten Plagues affected the Ancient Egyptians mercilessly. All their water turns to blood, the land becomes infested with frogs, then lice. There is no light for three days. It got pretty bad for the Egyptians. Somehow, it did not affect the Israelites for one reason or another. It is unclear however, when, and under whose reign these plagues took place. There is very little, if any, scientific evidence supporting the theory that these plagues really did take place. Assuming they did occur, this is the scientific explanation to all ten.

The first plague was the plague of blood. All of the water in Egyptian wells, ponds, canals, The Nile, everything, all ?turned to blood,? thus was killing all the animals living in the water. The more realistic theory is that there was an overwhelming abundance of red algae. Red algae reproduces and respirates. Had this particular season been a good one for the red algae population, it could have reproduced at an exceedingly high rate, therefore taking up room and consuming all the oxygen in the water. This would have led to the dying off of all the water animals.

The second plague was of frogs. There were Millions of frogs, in houses, on the ground, all over Egypt. They were sent by God to get in the Egyptian?s way and make life difficult. Or?the abundance of red algae, which led to the death of all the marine life, which then led to an increase of the fly population. Since nature has a way of balancing things out, more frogs were born to take care of the fly population. An exaggeration of the seriousness of this plague through time makes up for the frogs literally everywhere.

The third plague was an epidemic of lice. They, life the frogs, were all over. These lice varied in size. There were big lice, small lice, and odd lice or two. What must have happened here, was mainly an exaggeration, but also due to the dead animal scene. The Egyptians had no idea how to rid themselves of the lice, so they stayed for a while dying of one cause or another.

The fourth plague was that of wild beasts, lions, tigers, wolves, etc. these must have also been brought on by the dead marine life. The animals catch wind of an ?all you can eat buffet? ant they come a running. Once the free food source had dried up, the wild animals left.

The fifth plague was pestilence. The cattle, sheep, donkeys and all else, were overcome with disease and unable to reproduce, give milk, stay alive, etc.

The cause of this was most likely due to the presence of lice. They spread disease from animal to animal. Thus causing everything to get sick and therefore bringing on the next plague.

Skin disease, was the next plague in a line of many. Bumps and boils broke out among the people. This was most likely brought on from the eating of poorly-kept and diseased meat. What do you eat when all your livestock falls victim to disease? The answer is the least infected meat. Least infected doesn?t mean clean. In short: the people ate, the people got sick.

The seventh plague was of hail. It poured and poured and didn?t let up. This is caused by atmospheric pressure changes. Even though it is a hot desert area in Egypt, It has been known to hail, same deal everywhere else in the world. This hail destroyed the Egyptians crops and houses, killed livestock, people, and anything else that would die.

Plague number eight was that of the locusts. God called upon them to devour the city alive. Locusts are swarming, flying creatures whose only purposes in life are to eat, make babies, and die; all of which they are very good at. Locusts become a problem annually, but it?s only for a short period of time. In this small amount of time however, they will literally eat the clothes off of your back. This is not a godly feat, this sort of thing happens all over the world all the time.

The ninth plague was darkness. It was completely dark everywhere. The Egyptians didn?t know weather it was day or night. This can most likely be blamed on a total eclipse. This would make it so there was no moon to be seen, no sun to be seen, basically, nothing to be seen. Again, it happens from time to time. You don?t have to make any gods angry for this to happen, you just have to wait a few years.

The tenth and final plague was the slaying of the firstborn children. By the lord?s decree, every first born must die at midnight. In other words the pharaoh wanted everyone to believe in only one god while at the same time decreasing the sick population. This led to the slaughtering of small livestock and here we are back at plague number five. Finally, the Jewish slaves are set free after the pharaoh proves his point and that is the end of the Ten Plagues.

These scientific explanations are only hypotheses of what happened. How the Jews weren?t affected, simple? The Jewish Slaves? food supply was most likely kept separate from the Egyptians? food supply. If you noticed, most all of the plagues somehow related back to the food supply. The Jews probably weren?t permitted to use the easily accessable water supply, so they were forced to retrieve their water from somewhere far from the algae-infested water that the Egyptians got theirs from.