Wisdom of Kahana: Evil of Our World

Wisdom of Kahana:  Evil

Many times, I have been questioned regarding my disbelief in ‘Satan’ as the demigod of evil that is preached within so many other religious circles and factions. And though we do have mention of Satan in Job and Zechariah, that in no way infers that there is anything more to his existence than as a herald or servant of YHWH. As Karaite, my beliefs are based on the Tanakh and if it is not stated within those books, then I am not about to extrapolate and manifest some Hell-world with a lord of Darkness as other religions have done. But the world has built an entire industry based upon this heavenly servitor as being evil incarnate and the real question posed to me should have been phrased, “Why have we created a Satan,” and then I would have responded thusly:
If we examine the references to Satan as being the enemy of humanity, and his avowed purpose to destroy all virtue, then we automatically assume his opponents are the friends of humanity and the upholders of virtue. We accord them great tribute and recognition far beyond the status of normal men. Those that adopt the mantle of being opponents of Satan in turn become the source of our tranquillity and happiness because we take comfort in knowing that they are our shield against harm. In return over the ages we have given them our silver and our gold, to buy protection from the threat of Satan and many still continue to do so. And while the people huddled through history in their thatched wooden homes, with the winter’s draft seeping deep to the bone, those that amassed this fortune in gold and silver dwelt in the lap of luxury, sitting warm by their blazing fires and feasting upon the food wilfully donated to them by those same evil fearing people.

The Industrialization of Evil Inc.

Yes, without Satan, these religious teachers, those Priests, Rabbis, Ministers, Imams and Ayatollahs would not have prospered and benefitted from their wisdom and knowledge in the counteracting of Satan’s threats. Satan was the weapon of choice upon which they defended their careers and by which they could justify all their deeds. Without Satan there would be no fear of the unknown and man would no longer require an intermediary to intercede on his behalf with God. For then each man would know the extent of his own sin and recognize that each of us was responsible for our own actions and no longer could excuse our unacceptable behaviours on a being that we created to bear the guilt of all our transgressions by leading us astray through lies, guile and possession.

No longer would the people buy their beads, blessed objects, talismans and sacred scriptures to ward off the external evil that no longer existed. How many would lose their livelihood when the manufacturing of these items was deemed unnecessary? What would those people do, whose only vocation was to benefit from the fears and anxieties of those unclear about the true path to God? Then we would see a world in turmoil because it has only been through that fostered fear that man has made some of his greatest achievements. Monumental structures that extend the limits of architectural science that are built for one purpose only, so that we can find refuge from Satan’s evil. Spires that reach to the heavens, bells that ring melodious through the extent of the countryside and provide the excuse for communities to compete for bragging rights as to which sanctuary was larger or more beautiful or more expensive in its construction than the other.

And in those golden houses, built with the sweat and coin from those that feared the coming of Satan, they would raise their voices in consternation, begging to be protected from the evil force that despised man with every breath. They would plead with God to answer why Satan detests mankind to such an extent and those that pocketed their donations would answer, “Because God chose to love you more.” But sadly none would ever ask, “More than what?” for therein lies the ruination of their argument and the demise of their gilded empire. It matters little if YHWH loved humankind above the other spiritual beings he created. In His power and His wisdom, He would have accounted for such a contingency and would surely protect that which He loved. Nor would He have denied us freewill because that would have meant enslavement and since He loved us that would not have been permissible. The choice of which path to follow has always been our own and man has always been the master of his own destiny. Only through ignorance did we blame all the evils that befell us on an entity known as Satan. We gave him credit for the storms that destroyed our villages, for the rain that caused our floods and the sun that baked our lands so that they cracked and splintered until famine overtook our countyside. The plagues that felled us in the millions or caused our cattle and sheep to wither and die, we cast at Satan’s feet. The pestilence and the quaking earth we prayed would pass for we never intended to sin, only that Satan had led us astray in a moment of weakness. The wars, the hatred, the wishing on our part for a fellow human being to be laid low and to die, those stem from within our own existence, and can be seen throughout the animal kingdom. They are innate responses that have always existed within us since the dawn of time and it is only by our own will that we can suppress them. Not all the prayers within these golden cathedrals or all the money we can cast at those that claim they will deliver us from Satan’s clutches will eliminate that which has always existed within that part of our brain that is feral. Only you have the ability to do so for yourself. Far easier for those that fail to exclaim, “Satan made me do it,” than to acknowledge their own weakness.

Our Evil Within

Do not place your guilt into the hands of those who claim they are a weapon against Satan. The guilt is yours alone to bear, for the evil is something that you manifest on your own. It sprouts like a tree in a fertile garden if you permit it to do so for evil if given the opportunity will find other evil. For every place erected to supposedly fight such evil there is an equal institution built and dedicated to exalt and perpetuate mankind’s willingness to follow that other path. Once again, entire industries to provide the wanton pleasures of the hedonist, the sadist, and those enamoured by the darker pursuits. One merely has to scan the Web to appreciate how Satan has been used as the provocation for man’s originality of thought. Facebook and other social pages have become a tell all tales of incredulous aberrations for no other reason that some people do take pleasure in performing wicked deeds. Satan does not have an internet connection, man does. Eliminate Satan from the equation and we acknowledge that evil is not some supernatural force but instead a natural product of mankind.

Do not pray to God to be delivered from evil, but instead ask that you are given the strength and wisdom to overcome your own evil thoughts and intentions. Give not your gold and silver to the hollow dens of Satan-free Zones, but instead find comfort in the homes and gathering places of those of similar mind that wish to encounter God face to face upon their own terms. For often there is more evil plotted and committed in those gold gilded palaces than in all the neighbouring dens of iniquity. Acknowledge that we are all sinners, we are the source of evil upon this world and then you will fully understand why you are standing before God and praying for forgiveness. Appreciate that you exist in order to achieve an existence free of vice and sin and then you will have found purpose in living. Know that it often appears to be a never ending battle and you will find hope in knowing you gain strength with every skirmish. Perceive that it is not an easy task but nor is it impossible and not all the money in the world will free you from this Business of Evil.

Avrom Aryeh-Zuk Kahana

Historical Evidence fo the Ten Plagues of the Exodus

The last article established some basic considerations that are hard to refute.  For your recollection, these were: 1. The Exodus occurred in the last two years of the reign of Amenhotep III, 2. Moses was a Crown Prince of Egypt and in fact was the renegade Thutmose, 3. Monotheism was already becoming a contentious issue in Egypt and was challenging the existing pantheon of gods. 4. The city of Pi-Ramses was actually Avaris and over a twenty-five year span, Amenhotep used slave labour comprised of the Hapiru, the same people it is believed were the Hebrews.   All this sounds very convincing but it is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  There is far more evidence which is about to be discussed which helps cement the case solid.  Once again, I repeat  my belief that the more scientific, archeological, historical evidence that can be provided to support the Exodus story, even if it does not actually portray the events exactly as they are described in the Torah these are vital to the overall teachings of the Law Giver, proving that it was not the story but the lessons that must be learned by all.  Again, this is the essential pillar of Karaism, that the teachings and the law supersedes all else.   And if clarifying the means by which these teachings are portrayed helps to create believers of those that have lost their way, then so much the better.     Because teaching is what not only being a Karaite but being Kahana is what our purpose in life has been since the beginning.

Dating the Plagues

The matter of the plagues has already been discussed in the article http://hubpages.com/hub/Rediscovering-the-Exodus and therefore rediscussing each individual plague doesn’t serve any purpose in establishing the time line since none were ever recorded by Egyptian historians.  But this article did serve the purpose of demonstrating that such events could occur if there was a major eruption.  And the reality of an eruption of this magnitude was thoroughly discussed in http://hubpages.com/hub/Rediscovering-the-Exodus-2 where we see there were a series of major volcanic eruptions occurring in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries BC, the Thera eruption being the most catastrophic and the one which occurred during the reign of Amenhotep III.
Now the first of those articles looked at the plausibility of the plagues occurring but the question has always been why was there never any record of them in Egyptian history?  And as mentioned previously, Egyptian Pharaohs had no desire to list their disasters for posterity, concentrating only on their successes.  Unfortunately, this meant that even if they did occur, there purposely would be no record of them as proof and that is where most investigators leave off their pursuit and classify the event as impossible to prove.  Had they thought beyond the black and white they would have seen that there was circumstantial evidence to suggest the plagues actually did occur and they happened in the last two years of Amenhotep III’s reign.
For every action there is a reaction.  We have all experienced this law of mankind.  If someone was to hurt us, we would take action to protect ourselves from it ever happening again.  There is always a response to an adverse event and Amenhotep was no different from any other human.  He had been hurt, his country had suffered, his firstborn was lost to him forever, and he would rely on the gods to ensure that he would never suffer such a catastrophe again.  There was only one god of Egypt that he would turn to.  The goddess of disasters, Sekhmet and in the last two years of his reign, the Pharoah dedicated to Amun and Ra at his birth was suddenly history’s biggest advocate of this small time goddess.  He began erecting hundreds upon hundreds of statues all over the country.  The temple at Ashur that he was building for the chief goddess Must was suddenly dedicated to this second string goddess, Sekhmet.  Many of these statues can now be found in museums all over the world because he erected so many.  At Luxor alone he erected seven hundred Sekhmet statues.  So despite history’s recording of Amenhotep III’s reign as being a period of stability, prosperity and expansion, there was obviously something that occurred that sent shivers down his spine and made him start trying to appease the goddess of disasters almost to the point of madness.  If we examine Egyptian Mythology and realize that Sekhmet according to legend tried to destroy all of mankind and only through the intervention of her father Ra was mankind saved, then we have a gauge of the degree of madness he was experiencing.  As far as Amenhotep was concerned, he was saving his people, his country, his kingdom from total destruction; the weapons of mass destruction known as the Ten Plagues.  He was desperately trying to appease the goddess of disaster so that she would stop the plagues being visited upon the land by this unknown God of his son, Thutmose.

Summary

Now we have a date.  The last two years of Amenhotep III"s reign which places the events somwhere between the years 1350 to 1360 BC since we don't actually know the actual dates of Egyptian Pharaohs within more or less  of a decade.  Even though the historical records do not say that the plagues were visited upon Egypt at this time, we have enough evidence in the form of statues to suggest that a major catastrophe did occur that terrified the Egyptian monarch beyond any nightmare that we could imagine.  But then again, we don't have to imagine it because the Torah provides us with a pretty accurate description of what occurred.  I'm not about to stop here, there is more to my investigation yet to be revealed but that will have to wait until the next article.  So until then, Peace be with You.
Avrom Aryeh Zuk Kahana

In Search of The Real Exodus: Chapter One

One of the most pivotal events in Jewish history is the Exodus.  No other event played such a defining role in the establishment of a people.  Yet, the entire story appears to be absent from the cultural histories of those nations in the immediate vicinity at the time the event likely occurred.  This has led many to claim that the plagues and the actual events of the Exodus never occurred otherwise this vacuum could not exist.  Faith can take one only so far before doubts begin to creep into one’s belief system.  But without the Exodus, the justification for monotheism, the rational origins for Judaism, Christianity and Islam are suddenly placed in a precarious situation.  And as bizarre as this might seem to religious fanatics, we may have to rely on science to prove that the events of the Exodus.  What has always been perceived and accused of being the anathema of religion may in fact prove to be its savior.   By understanding what science has recorded and teaches us about the time period, through means of extrapolation we can rediscover the Exodus.

The Ultimate Scientist

There are those that no matter how you try to explain to them that events of Torah were described through the perceptions of people that lived during the time and therefore we of a more modern and learned time must interpret their words carefully but they were biased by the limitations of their knowledge and they refuse to accept this.  Their response is that everything in the Torah has to be accepted literally and if you cannot accept this, then you are not a true believer.  These are the same people that if you show them a uranium dated rock as being three billion years old, accuse you of being in league with the Devil as their world is only less than 6000 years old.  Interestingly enough, the Devil isn’t in the Torah but they’re willing to accept him as being so.
The reality is that their reliance, and our reliance shouldn’t be based on the words of men, for as I stated, those perceptions could only be manifested through their current level of knowledge which we know was minimal at best, but instead based upon that which God has taught us.  As we begin to understand the universe that God created, we begin to appreciate the beautifully designed plan that He worked from.  God created the rules of physics, the laws of nature, to achieve His master plan.  Like an architect, He had a blueprint from which He designed everything around us and only now do we even have an inkling of how He achieved this great design.  It is in this context that we must view the events of the Exodus, as naturally occurring events which followed a sequence of events dictated by physical laws.   And as we now know, energy can be converted into physical mass.  In other words, that which did not exist as a solid object, can be created when enough energy is released and converted.  Had we had the equipment at the time of Moses, we would have been able to measure the EDMs and EMPs that probably preceded each event.  One could even suggest that Moses was given the gift of sensing these energy spikes prior to the event, like the rheumatism in one’s bones making them sensitive to an oncoming storm.  Only Moses would be able to say for certain, but nevertheless, the fact that we know enough now about energy transformation and conversion, and can appreciate that God is pure energy and the source of all that is, then science does tell us that everything was possible.

Chronology of the Plagues

From Exodus Chapter 7 we read:
לְעֵינֵי פַרְעֹה, וּלְעֵינֵי עֲבָדָיו; וַיֵּהָפְכוּ  וַיַּעֲשׂוּ-כֵן מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה, וַיָּרֶם בַּמַּטֶּה וַיַּךְ אֶת-הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר בַּיְאֹר, כָּל-הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר-בַּיְאֹר, לְדָם. 20
And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
וְלֹא-יָכְלוּ מִצְרַיִם, לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם מִן-הַיְאֹר; וַיְהִי הַדָּם בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם  וְהַדָּגָה אֲשֶׁר-בַּיְאֹר מֵתָה, וַיִּבְאַשׁ הַיְאֹר 21 And the fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt
As strange as this first plague may seem to be, rivers turning to blood on demand, it is not that unusual.  We know from events like the eruption of Krakatau, when there is a major disturbance to the bedrock, there is often the release of corrosive toxins such as iron oxide.  It is iron oxide which give Mars the nickname, the Red Planet.  As with Krakatau, fish died in the hundreds of thousands and this devastation extended for hundreds of miles.  If there was a major earth shattering event that made Krakatau look like a relative non-event, the release of iron oxide in Egypt would not have been that unlikely. 
Since an event of this nature also occurred during the eruption of Mt. Saint Helen’s where fish were found floating dead on the surface of the riverways hundreds of kilometres from the volcano, and that the drinking of water in the area was forbidden until such time that the impurities could be filtered from the reservoirs, then we have on a much smaller scale, a repetition of biblical events. 
And from Exodus Chapter 8 we read:
- אֱמֹר אֶל-אַהֲרֹן נְטֵה אֶת-יָדְךָ בְּמַטֶּךָ, עַל-הַנְּהָרֹת עַל-הַיְאֹרִים וְעַל-הָאֲגַמִּים; וְהַעַל אֶת וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה -הַצְפַרְדְּעִים, עַל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
1 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Say unto Aaron: Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.'
 , הַצְּפַרְדֵּעַ, וַתְּכַס, אֶת-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וַיֵּט אַהֲרֹן אֶת-יָדוֹ, עַל מֵימֵי מִצְרָיִם; וַתַּעַל.
2 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
  וַיַּעֲשׂוּ-כֵן הַחַרְטֻמִּים, בְּלָטֵיהֶם; וַיַּעֲלוּ אֶת-הַצְפַרְדְּעִים, עַל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
3 And the magicians did in like manner with their secret arts, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt
As soon as the water became contaminated by the metal toxins, amphibians have a choice to make. Either stay in the water or run to the next water source in the hope that it would be cleaner.  If they chose to stay they would die, and even the most primitive of neuro-responders have built in fight or flight receptors that tell them when they in dire consequences.  So the swarming of the frogs over the land would have been a normal sequelae and the Egyptian magicians would have been able to think they could reproduce it as well since they could walk to any water source and see similar events unfolding.  In modern times we have seen a similar event though are memories are short lived and people seem to forget.  After Mount St. Helen’s erupted, the toxins from the volcano had settled into most of the water courses and as a result, there were frogs stretching throughout Washington State that were making a run for it but with nowhere to go.  People reported that they could not drive down the roads without literally squashing them in the thousands and this became a driving risk as the roads became slick with frog blood and remains.  In the local newspapers the stories talked about people finding their lawns covered in frogs, and in their search for water, the amphibians were invading the houses. 
Later in Chapter 8 we read:
וְסָרוּ הַצְפַרְדְּעִים, מִמְּךָ וּמִבָּתֶּיךָ, וּמֵעֲבָדֶיךָ, וּמֵעַמֶּךָ:  רַק בַּיְאֹר, תִּשָּׁאַרְנָה.
7 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.'
  וַיֵּצֵא מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן, מֵעִם פַּרְעֹה; וַיִּצְעַק מֹשֶׁה אֶל-יְהוָה, עַל-דְּבַר הַצְפַרְדְּעִים אֲשֶׁר-שָׂם לְפַרְעֹה.
8 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried unto the LORD concerning the frogs, which He had brought upon Pharaoh.
  וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוָה, כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה; וַיָּמֻתוּ, הַצְפַרְדְּעִים, מִן-הַבָּתִּים מִן-הַחֲצֵרֹת, וּמִן-הַשָּׂדֹת.
9 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields.
 וַיִּצְבְּרוּ אֹתָם, חֳמָרִם חֳמָרִם; וַתִּבְאַשׁ, הָאָרֶץ.
10 And they gathered them together in heaps; and the land stank.
The significance of these four sentences is paramount to our understanding of events.  What we read in sentences 8 through 10 are in contradiction to what Moses stated he would do in sentence 7.  His promise to Pharaoh was to make the frogs depart, essentially return to the river where they would be confined once again.  But even as he prayed to God, the resultant solution was not as he had promised but instead was massive deaths of the creatures.  Moses did not have complete control nor full understanding of the events occurring.  Because the fact was that the water was still contaminated and the frogs could not return to the waters.  And as we all know about amphibians, without water to maintain their hydration, the oxygen diffusion skin ratios, etc., they die.  And they died in such numbers that the Egyptians made mountains of their remains.  And rather than burn them, it would appear that they permitted these corpses to remain in their piles until they stank.
כָּל-עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ הָיָה כִנִּים וַיַּעֲשׂוּ-כֵן, וַיֵּט אַהֲרֹן אֶת-יָדוֹ בְמַטֵּהוּ וַיַּךְ אֶת-עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ, וַתְּהִי הַכִּנָּם, בָּאָדָם וּבַבְּהֵמָה: , בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
13 And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and there were gnats upon man, and upon beast; all the dust of the earth became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
I prefer this translation of the next plague being that of gnats, and not lice as some versions have been translated. But even more so, I would suggest that the Egyptians made little distinction between gnats or mosquitoes and subsequently there are few words to describe these insects in the ancient hieroglyphics.   For an appreciation of the event as translated being gnats then we merely have to look at more recent situations such as the volcanic eruptions of Mount Pelee in 1851 and again in 1902.  After the eruptions, swarms of flying ants descended upon the villagers and viciously attacked the people.   The ants caused the people to flee, consumed their plantations and were reported to have killed babies through their bites and acid stings.  Gnats fly, lice don’t.  Either way, gnats or mosquitoes, their lives were made miserable.  Of course we also know, that mosquitoes in Egypt bring other plagues, such as malaria, Nile Fever, etc.  Something to consider.
, מִפְּנֵי הֶעָרֹב וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוָה, כֵּן, וַיָּבֹא עָרֹב כָּבֵד, בֵּיתָה פַרְעֹה וּבֵית עֲבָדָיו; וּבְכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם תִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ.
20 And the LORD did so; and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses; and in all the land of Egypt the land was ruined by reason of the swarms of flies.
The flies should be seen as a natural consequence of rotting corpses of all the frogs, fish, and everything else that may have been affected from the toxic nature of the water.  And as any entomologist will inform you, flies go through cycles in which they become active biters as well, a carnivorous phase when they are seeking out living creatures on which to feed. 
The events of Chapter 9 become far more serious:
וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוָה אֶת-הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה, מִמָּחֳרָת, וַיָּמָת, כֹּל מִקְנֵה מִצְרָיִם; וּמִמִּקְנֵה בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֹא-מֵת אֶחָד.
6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died; but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one. 
The loss of all the Egyptian cattle is contradicted in sentences 19 and 20 of the same chapter and therefore we realize that the events of sentence 6 was intended as an exaggeration, emphasizing that the Egyptians suffered more than the Israelites but then it was unlikely the Israelites had as extensive a farming industry as the Egyptians, and being in Goshen, the ocean breezes and the fresh moving river waters as they came into the basins of salt water would have meant that the insect populations were far less than those inland.
וַיִּקְחוּ אֶת-פִּיחַ הַכִּבְשָׁן, וַיַּעַמְדוּ לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה, וַיִּזְרֹק אֹתוֹ מֹשֶׁה, הַשָּׁמָיְמָה; וַיְהִי, שְׁחִין אֲבַעְבֻּעֹת, פֹּרֵחַ, בָּאָדָם וּבַבְּהֵמָה.
10 And they took soot of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it up heavenward; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast.
וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מַטֵּהוּ, עַל-הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַיהוָה נָתַן קֹלֹת וּבָרָד, וַתִּהֲלַךְ אֵשׁ אָרְצָה; וַיַּמְטֵר יְהוָה בָּרָד עַל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
We can assume that whatever the clouds were that were passing overhead they definitely weren’t raincloud.  In fact the plagues to follow next suggested that the Egyptians were looking a volcanic ash and far more of it than that which was spewing from the volcano in Iceland that grounded all European air traffic for a week.  It may have come in waves, it may have come all at once, but whatever the case, its high acidic content caused severe rashes and burns to all that it touched.  This is right in line with reports of hundreds of people following the eruption of Mount St Helen’s that had to be taken to the hospital for treatment of acid burns from the fallout.  And just as Moses suggested, it was a contact dermatitis because if the farmers took their beasts inside and sheltered them, then they did not develop the sores. 
It is when we start discussing the plagues associated with the soot and the hail that people start to reject the concept of a geophysical event, since they appear out of order with the locusts and darkness that follow afterwards.  But the question I will raise is where does it insist that the events as they were being retold were guaranteed as being chronological?  As a retelling of the plagues, God wanted us to remember what devastation he had brought down upon Egypt but I see no insistence that they must be recalled in a specific order for a specific reason.  Nor is there anything to suggest that events could not have overlapped in some respects.  It is only the third party narrator that says Moses went back and forth between events to pray to God thereby separating the plagues into distinct timeframes, but who’s to say that each time he prayed represented, a day or days, or even weeks. Perhaps these intervals of prayer were several times within a single day.  The point of the redactor was to emphasize that as intermediary, Moses communicated often with God and God would speak directly to him.  Timing was not the issue here but the evidence of divine intercession.
23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down unto the earth; and the LORD caused to hail upon the land of Egypt.
Without a doubt we are looking at the fire and ash that one associates with a volcanic eruption.  What the Egyptians perceived as thunder could have just as easily been the massive rumblings of a distant volcano.  The obvious question would be why a people so famous for their historical recordings would not report such a major geophysical event?   I will deal with the answer to that question in the next article because there is a logical explanation. 
Chapter 10 becomes the clean up mission prior to the Exodus.  By clean up I mean anything that hasn’t already been destroyed was not being destroyed, leaving Egypt with nothing of value.
וַיַּעַל הָאַרְבֶּה, עַל כָּל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, וַיָּנַח בְּכֹל גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם: כָּבֵד מְאֹד--לְפָנָיו לֹא-הָיָה כֵן אַרְבֶּה כָּמֹהוּ, וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא,  יִהְיֶה-כֵּן.
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such
As I mentioned, there may have been alterations to the chronological events as it was not necessary to record them in the exact order, but also, the possibility of locusts swarming after a major devastation of crops from the ash and fires would not be out of the question.  So in fact, this third plague of insect might be in its proper place.
 וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-יָדוֹ, עַל-הַשָּׁמָיִם; וַיְהִי חֹשֶׁךְ-אֲפֵלָה בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים.
22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days
We already saw earlier that there were clouds of acid ash descending upon people and the beasts.  Initially it would have looked like snowflakes but as the clouds of volcanic ash and debris increased in their magnitude and extent, they would have eventually formed an ash cloud that blotted out the sun.  Three days of darkness gives you an appreciation of just how large this cloud had to be and just as the ancients would panic about an eclipse that lasted for minutes, that fear would also be intensified as each of those days appeared to stretch on for an eternity.
The final and greatest plague occurs in Chapter 11:
וּמֵת כָּל-בְּכוֹר, בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם--מִבְּכוֹר פַּרְעֹה הַיֹּשֵׁב עַל-כִּסְאוֹ, עַד בְּכוֹר הַשִּׁפְחָה אֲשֶׁר אַחַר הָרֵחָיִם וְכֹל, בְּכוֹר בְּהֵמָה
5 and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle.
We are all aware of the story of how fresh blood was to be painted on the lintel and door posts of the homes where the Hebrews dwelled.  Whereas the emphasis has always been placed on the ‘sign’ perhaps it should have focused on the blood itself.  Having suffered through what may have been days or weeks of catastrophic events, the penultimate plague could be nothing less than death.  Epidemiologist will tell you similar stories of how people were able to thwart plagues carried by insect vectors by similar means.  Insect vectors will be attracted to the easiest food source available.  The path of least resistance so to speak.  Moses through the word of God, knew how to avoid this last plague but not necessarily why.
What was unique about this last plague was the enormity of the events which followed, the apparent knowledge by one man of exactly how everything would play out, and the predictability of Pharaoh’s behaviour.  Firstborn is a common expression for those of the aristocracy and here it is most likely suggesting that the princes, nobles and wealthy of Egypt were not immune from the plagues.  This is further emphasized with the mention of the maid servant to emphasize that this was not merely the death of the poor and helpless.  And further emphasized when the term is used again for cattle.  Cattle don’t have firstborn.  Calves are usually born singly and as they mature are either put into production or slaughtered.  Therefore there is nothing recorded to identify what was the first calve of any cow, so it is obvious that the reference to firstborn means something else.  Once again, the reasonable suggestion is a reference to something ‘elite’.  In this case, a prize cow.  As we recall from the boils, Moses had suggested that all the farmers bring their prize cattle in doors and that would protect them.  Here the event is being contrasted to that earlier plague.  In other words there was nothing that could be done to protect the cattle from certain death. Even if brought in doors, without the blood on the entryway, they would surely die.

To Be Continued

But there is far more to be considered from a scientific perspective than just the plagues. There is geology and archaeology that still has to be considered in the backdrop of these world changing events. Because although the written word of mankind can be lost, altered or never written in the first place, there will always be a record of events recorded in some other manner. These I will explore in the next article and I hope that by the time I’m finished, there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Moses and the Exodus are far more than an interesting story of mythical proportions. For me to present the scenario of a volcano or similar being responsible for the Greatest Story ever told, then there has to be some proof of an eruption of enormous magnitude occurring at the time. There must be events to suggest that such catastrophes didn’t occur just in Egypt but in numerous other areas around the Mediterranean around the same time. Be assured, I would not have raised this topic if I didn’t have far more to say on this matter to support this train of thought. It’s just time to take a break and begin writing the next article.
Avrom Aryeh-Zuk Kahana