The Plagues of Egypt: True History or Religious Sham?

Greta Hort is a scientist that tries to prove that the Egyptian plagues were simply natural occurrences. According to Hort the plague of blood was red algae and a large amount of red earth washed into the Nile from excessive rains. These algae de-oxygenated the water, killing the fish, which created the anthrax virus. The anthrax infested frogs left the river and died. The third plague was mosquitoes that had bred in the floodwaters. The fourth was the biting fly breeding in the plants left by the Nile flood. The dead livestock of the fifth plague was spread by the anthrax frogs. The boil plague was skin anthrax transmitted by the biting flies. The hail and thunder plague was a coincidence. This weather coincidence caused the eighth plague of locusts. The plague of darkness was caused by a Khamsin, a desert sandstorm. This sandstorm blotted out the sun by throwing the red algae into the air. The tenth plague was merely a mistranslation of the word firstborn which was allegedly supposed to say first-fruit.

Hort’s theory, however, is very much flawed. The main components of Hort’s theory are the two algae, Haematococcus pluvialis and Euglena sanguinea. She says that these two algae make the Nile River blood-red, but these algae are not red. In flowing water they are green and could not be mistaken for blood. In the book of Exodus the water immediately turned to blood the moment Aaron struck his staff into the water. The algae would have taken time to turn red if it would turn that color at all. If these algae some how turned miraculously red than all the Egyptians had to do was strain the water or let it stand in a container. Also in over 100 years of research scientists have not found these algae in over 400 species of algae found in the Nile. They are not even found in the 1,000 species of algae in East Africa. They actually are very rare and are found in sub-artic regions. Nor are they a toxic source of anthrax. These algae are actually used in human and pet food. Since the alga is blatantly harmless the fish could not have died from it. They also couldn’t have been killed from lack of oxygen, caused by any algae, for anoxia, lack of oxygen, only happens after algae blooms, which cannot occur in muddy water. Hort says that a blanket of mud formed the plague of darkness when blown into the air. This would have caused underwater darkness, thus killing her algae.

What's more is anthrax occurs in soil, not in water. It wouldn’t infect animals such as frogs or fish. According to the Bible some frogs actually returned to the Nile, this would be impossible if they had all died from anthrax. Biting flies also do not spread anthrax. There are no known cases of anthrax-infected fly bites anywhere on the planet.

Hort requires the flood of the Nile for many components in her theory, such as the flies and frogs. She doesn’t say how all this water could have been dried out by the sandstorm in a few hours. Furthermore if a sandstorm had lasted for three days Pharaoh would have hardly been concerned. He lived in the desert. He was used to them.

As for Hort’s mistranslation of one word in Exodus to validate her theory; she does not explain the next two chapters that describe in detail the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians.

There are those who would say that the plagues of Egypt could never have happened because there are no records of them in Egypt. What they do not know is that all ancient near East rulers sanitized their records so that they would include no setbacks or defeats. This means we should not expect to find any evidence of the ten plagues in Egypt.

Even so there is evidence relating to the ten plagues in the dream stele of Tutmoses IV. The Pharaoh that had the ten plagues inflicted upon him was named Amenhotep II. The next ruler was Tutmoses IV. A stele is a stone monument engraved with an inscription. The dream stele is a monument that Tutmoses IV engraved. To this day it is found between the two front paws of the Sphinx. Tutmoses IV was not planning on becoming Pharaoh. He was a son of Amenhotep II, but he was not the oldest son. According to the dream stele the Sphinx came to him in a dream and said “Uncover me and restore me, and I will make you the next Pharaoh.” We know he did in fact become the next Pharaoh, so what happened to his older brother? According to the Bible he was killed in the events of Exodus.

There is yet more evidence for the ten miraculous plagues of God. An ancient papyrus written by an Egyptian man named Ipuwer, tells an eye witness account of horrific events occurring in Egypt that mirror the story of Exodus. Ipuwer wrote in much detail about the plagues. In one of the papyrus’ he writes “Blood is everywhere.” And written in the Book of Exodus “There was blood throughout the land.” One more papyrus says “All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan.” This describes the plague of cattle where God killed all the Egyptian livestock. Yet another Ipuwer papyrus states “The land is not light.” This is describing the plague of darkness. Other papyruses depict the plagues of hail and of the firstborn.

It is controversial whether or not the ten plagues of the Bible ever actually occurred. Many people choose to believe Hort’s theory in spite of the evidence against it and the components that contradict themselves. Still some believe, without a doubt, that it was God that brought ten miraculous and unexplainable plagues, and freed the Hebrew people from the enslavement of the Egyptians. Whatever one believes they must, at the very least, realize that something happened, something colossal and powerful, which allowed hundreds of thousands of Hebrew people to simply walk out of Egypt with the wealth of the Egyptians on their backs.