These are the 10 plagues of Egypt and scientists explain what could have caused the natural disasters

The Bible tells the story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt in which Moses led them through the desert for forty years before arriving at ‘the promised land’. But before the Jews could start their journey they needed to get the pharaoh’s permission to leave.

However, Pharaoh Ramses II had to be strongarmed into letting the enslaved Israelites go via the ten divine plagues. Scientists though believe they have found some probable natural explanations behind the apocalyptic calamities that made the pharaoh relent.

Scientific explanation of the 10 plagues of Egypt

While there is much debate about the historical reality of the 10 plagues of Egypt, there are two natural phenomena that are theorized which could have been behind them, drought and a volcanic eruption.

Basically, the first plague could’ve set off a domino effect causing some of the subsequent calamities. First though, what were the 10 plagues of Egypt described in the Bible?

Scientists believe that ‘the Nile turning blood’ could’ve been the result of a drought. The evidence for this has been found in stalagmites in Egyptian caves. The lack of rain would’ve reduced the flow of the river and high temperatures would’ve warmed the waters creating the conditions for a bloom of toxic red algae, turning the water red.

This would’ve sapped the oxygen from the water killing off the fish that would’ve rotted producing the horrible smell described in the Bible, along with the algae itself. It would’ve also forced frogs to flee the river thus overrunning Egyptian homes where they eventually died.

Without any frogs around, the next two plagues become possible, an explosion in the population of lice, which could’ve also been fleas or gnats, as well as flies. These in turn spread pestilence resulting in the death of livestock and people getting boils.

Then the eruption of Santorini, one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, could’ve helped to produce the conditions to spawn storms that produced devastating hail. Adding insult to injury, the moisture would’ve helped locusts multiply, which went on to devour any crops that hadn’t been destroyed by the hail.

The massive amount of ash in the air could explain the three days of darkness that were said to have befallen Egypt.

The country in the throes of famine could’ve led to the final calamity, the killing of the firstborn sons. This may have been the result of Egyptian custom of giving them preferential access to food. However, it is theorized that the grain may have been contaminated with a toxic fungus thus the practice helped poison the firstborn sons.

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