YHWH’s First Nuclear Bomb

June 21, 2009, 6:32 am by dc-agape.

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Exodus Chapter 7:13-24

Because YHWH has hardened the heart of Pharaoh (Exodus 7:3) the last bit of simple sorcery did not work (7:11-12).  Now the Tall Tale gets even Taller.  Moses and Aaron leave, but YHWH tells them to return to the Pharaoh the next day.  Again, why would a ruler of close to 4,000,000 people even see someone that belongs to the slave ranks and second has already had their case dismissed as lacking any merit. 

The very first of YHWH unjustified plagues nearly kills everyone in Egypt including the Israelites, the first proof that this is a Tall Tale.  Moses tells Aaron to turn all the water in Egypt to blood, even the water stored in the homes.  To make matters worse, all the fish in the Nile also die.  So the innocent people, including the Israelites have lost two sources of sustenance in a desert nation: water and fish.  This, of course, would also ruin the crops for the entire season.  So in one miraculous act, YHWH has basically wiped out the Israelites and the Egyptians, neither of which have been treated justly by YHWH.  Two additional things about this make it quite clear that this is a Tall Tale.  But here is where the Word of God has an error:

Exodus 7:22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their secret arts, and the Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord said.

If Aaron had already turned all the water into blood, how could the magicians repeat the act?  There was no water left to turn into blood!  But here is the second thing that makes this a Tall Tale:

Exodus 7:24 And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water from the river.

As we all know too well about water pollution, it seeps into the ground water!  The Egyptians and the Israelites could not have dug along the Nile for water, for this too would have been tainted with blood.

Is there anything about this Tall Tale that actually makes YHWH look good?  From the Atheist point of view the answer is a resounding: No!  YHWH has already chosen to perform these acts, by of all things, removing freewill from the Pharaoh.  Worse, he punishes millions of people, including the Israelites, with his very first plague.  How many people died from this single cruel action?  Their food supply was either dead (the fish) or ruined (the plants).  To top that off they had no water to drink…in a desert environment!  If this is not complete fiction, YHWH is a worse tyrant than any of the old polytheist one combined.

Posted in Exodus, Inerrancy - My Ass, Tall Tales, Freewill, Readings | Print | 5 Comments »