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Archive for June 24, 2009, 8:21 am

The Exodus Plagues Had No Supernatural Cause

Exodus Chapter 9:1-12

In this post I want to cover two more of the plagues that would have been consequences not of YHWH judgment, but if a form of Red Tide had entered the Nile, destroyed the fish, created rapid population growth of the frogs, the frog population died due to toxic effects of the Nile infestation (or starvation), and creating a gnat and a fly overpopulation from their rotting corpse.  The distinction here between what happens to the Israelites and the Egyptians can easily be explained by hygiene, the Israelites destroyed the frog carcasses, which would in turn minimize the gnats and fly population in the area of Goshen.  As a result, this means that Moses was nothing more than a con man, using a singular natural disaster and it’s after effects to his own personal gain in the process freeing the Israelites, who may not have been slaves, from Egypt. 

Both of the next two plagues would have been from diseases brought by the overpopulation of gnats and flies.  When the carcasses of the frogs start to decompose certain deadly parasites have plenty of breeding grounds.  Cholera, Ebola, and Typhus are all spread after mass die offs.  These diseases would account for the death of the livestock and for the boils.  So again, so far all the plagues that have been caused by YHWH may have had a completely natural origin.  On the other hand, since we know from The Books of Genesis and Exodus that YHWH planned these plagues, the suffering could have been at his direction.  If this is the case, there is no doubt that he is a cruel hateful evil monster.

Interestingly, the livestock of the Israelites was spared.  Yet no indication occurs the Israelites were spared from the boils.  This would make sense.  Cholera and Typhus can be controlled by hygiene, yet nothing stops Ebola.

So this leaves us with an either/or situation.  Moses was using a natural disaster claiming divine intervention.  We have numerous cases of that occurring even today.  Hurricane Katrina, the December Tsunami, and the Australian forest fires have all been used to claim supernatural intervention.  On the other hand, we have the Word of God claiming that YHWH had planned this back in Abram’s day (before he was called Abraham) – Gen 15:13-15.  We also know from the Book of Exodus that YHWH revealed his plan prior to these events to Moses (Exodus 4:21).  So the either or situation is this: either Moses was an opportunist with no supernatural ally or YHWH is a monster that made millions of innocent humans and animals suffer and die. Worst of all is that this is only the 6th plague.  There are four more to go!





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