MYTHS OF THE BIBLE : GOD SENT TEN PLAGUES AGAINST EGYPT

How ancient scribes invented biblical history

THE MYTH 

And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him,Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. (Exod. 9:13–16)

THE REALITY  

The plagues in the Bible are ordinary events described in typical Egyptian literary metaphors. When Moses returned to Egypt to confront the pharaoh, the two of them engaged in a duel of wills. Time after time, Moses would make a threat against the pharaoh and the pharaoh would disregard it. With each rejection, Moses brought down a terrible plague upon the Egyptians, and after each plague, the pharaoh would agree to Moses’ demands, provided he withdrew the affliction. Over time, the horror of the plagues escalated until eventually every firstborn child of Egypt was killed.

The give and take between Moses and pharaoh corresponded to the contest between Horus and Set before the tribunal of the gods.Set would challenge Horus to a contest to resolve their dispute over who would succeed Osiris on the throne and Set would agree to abide by the result. Horus, through magic and skill, always defeated Set, and after each defeat,Set reneged on his promise to let the winner have the throne.

What reads to us like a series of escalating plagues brought upon Egypt by Moses actually presents an exaggerated account of the trials and tribulations of life in ancient times.That the biblical author drew upon common scribal practices in Egypt can be seen from a comparison between the biblical account of the ten plagues and events set forth in an Egyptian document known as the “Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage,” also referred to as the Ipuwer Papyrus.Although the papyrus itself may date to the Nineteenth dynasty, the writing style embraces Middle Egyptian, an indication that the text was copied from a much older document.

Among the biblical plagues unleashed by Moses were:
1)  blood in the Nile;
2)  frogs;
3)  gnats;
4)  boils on the skin;
5)  flies;
6)  destruction of cattle;
7)  thunder, hail, and fire in the fields that destroyed crops;
8)  locusts;
9)  darkness;
10) death of Egypt’s firstborn children.

Keep these in mind as we compare the incidents in the “Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage” with the biblical events.

The papyrus tells of an era of great anarchy, perhaps the First Intermediate Period (c. 2200 B.C.–2040 B.C.). Some of the events described bear a remarkable similarity to the effects of the plagues unleashed byMoses. Consider these comparisons:

Bible: And all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood…. The Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. (Exod. 7:20–21)
Papyrus: Indeed the river is blood, yet men drink of it. Men [shrink] from human beings and thirst after water.

Bible: [T]he fire ran along upon the ground. (Exod. 9:23)
Papyrus: Indeed, gates, columns, and [walls] are burnt up…Behold, the fire has gone up on high, and its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land.

Bible: And the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field. (Exod. 9:25)
Papyrus: Indeed, trees are felled and branches are stripped off.

Bible: And there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the fields, through all the land of Egypt. (Exod. 10:15)
Papyrus: Neither fruit nor herbage can be found…everywhere barley has perished.

Bible: And there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt. (Exod. 10:22)
Papyrus: [The land] is not bright because of it.

Bible: And all the cattle of Egypt died. (Exod. 9:6)
Papyrus: Indeed, all animals, their heartsweep; cattle moan because of the state of the land.

Bible: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die…. (Exod. 11:5)
Papyrus: Indeed men are few, and he who places his brother in the ground is everywhere… Indeed [hearts] are violent, pestilence is throughout the land, blood is everywhere, death is not lacking, and the mummy cloth speaks even before one comes near it.

Reading the two sets of passages side by side, one might conclude that Egypt in the First Intermediate Period was not very different from Egypt during the ten plagues of Moses. From a literary standpoint, the Bible and the “Admonitions” each described Egypt under similar circumstances but in different time frames.To the extent that one believed that the Hebrew god caused these bad times, one was inclined to let him take the credit. But there was nothing miraculous about the conditions described, nor do we have any evidence from Egyptian records that the firstborn child of each Egyptian family died on one night. Such an event would not have gone unnoticed.

By Gary Greenberg (President of the Biblical Archeology Society of New York) in "101 Myths of the Bible",published by Sourcebooks, Inc.U.S.A, 2000, excerpts p.205-207. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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