Search Library

Explaining the Plagues
Contributed by Joseph Zitt

  • TOP HAGGADAHS FOR 2023

Here's a possible scientific explanation for the plagues:

The volcano Santorini, in the Aegean Sea not far from Egypt, had a massive eruption around the time of the Exodus. Much of the volcanic ash would have fallen over Egypt. Ash from the volcano has been found in the Nile River.

Ash falling into the river would have changed the pH level of the water, increasing the amount of algae. A common algae problem, known as the Red Tide, can cause the water of a river to look like blood.

The algae bloom would have killed many of the fish in the river. The fish eat frog eggs. With no fish, an enormous number of these would have hatched into tadpoles and then frogs.

When the frogs died off, perhaps from over-population, lice and other bugs would have fed on them.

The invasion of wild animals doesn't fit well -- but a lot of mostly Christian scholars (according to Wikipedia) translate "arov" as flies, which would fit in the the bugs of the previous plague. (Surprisingly, there was no plague of cats, which would have been ironically appropriate. The Egyptians loved cats.)

So: lots of dead fish and flies are around, plus lice, flies, and maybe other animals invading what had been human space. It's pestilence time.

The next one is pretty easy. The bug bites and pestilence could have led to boils.

Ash high in the air can cause water to freeze around it, causing hail. Legends also speak of fire in the air. Volcanos can cause red lightning.

The hail, once it melted in the hot Egyptian air, would have saturated the ground. Locusts love damp weather, since they bury their eggs in the ground. All that precipitation could have led to a record number of locusts.

Ash in the air from volcanoes has also been known to block out the sun for days at a time. Hence: darkness.

In Egypt, the first born of families got to eat first and sometime were the only ones to eat in a famine. After the locusts ate everything, the only grain left might have been in vaults. With all that dampness and locust droppings everywhere, the grain could have developed poisonous mold. If the first born ate before everyone else, they would have been the ones killed by the grain.

So there could be an explanation for the plagues. But for everything to happen at exactly the right time and in the right order is pretty, well, miraculous.
haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues
Source: Adapted from a haggadot.com page by Jordana Goodman

Featured clips


More clips from Joseph Zitt