There is an interesting report in today’s Telegraph that says that the plagues which are mentioned in the book of Exodus really happened, because a scientist says so.
Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.
But rather than explaining them as the wrathful act of a vengeful God, the scientists claim the plagues can be attributed to a chain of natural phenomena triggered by changes in the climate and environmental disasters that happened hundreds of miles away. (Read the whole story.)
I must admit that I can’t really get very excited about this, though it is an interesting read. The problem is that though the plagues may have enormous spiritual and social importance, they were actually rather limited in their effect and scope. To try and say exactly what happened and why in a few cities in Egypt thousands of years ago is pushing science to its limits. No doubt some other scientists will come along soon and offer another theory. It’s all very interesting, but it’s not the sort of science you would want to base your life on.
The other problem is that these reports are inevitably presented as a sort of conflict between science and belief, as the second paragraph in the quote above indicates. Because the scientists can apparently find natural causes for the plagues, this rules out divine action. As if God wasn’t able to act through nature, if He so chose.
The bottom line is that this research doesn’t actually prove anything. It is an interesting hypothesis which suggests some causes for some events in Egypt. This doesn’t contradict the Scriptural record, but then again it doesn’t prove it either. Our confidence in Exodus has to come from the text of Scripture itself, not from the latest musings of the scientific community.
‘Move on now, there is nothing to see here!’