I watched an extremely interesting and thought provoking program the other night.  It was a two hour special called “The Exodus Decoded”.  This program was co-hosted by Filmmaker James Cameron and Canadian Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici.  The program , and the theory, was the work of the latter.  It was first presented in April of 2006.

This theory begins with what is known as the Santorini Eruption (or the Thera or Minoan Eruption).  This eruption occurred in the Aegean Sea, north of Crete, south of Greece and west of Turkey.  The Google Earth ruler puts it at 535 miles as the crow flies northwest from the Nile Delta.  The Santorini eruption is dated by Carbon Dating to 1645-1600 BC.  Archeological Dating arrives at a different date – namely 1550 BC.  The earliest Biblical date for the Exodus, however, is 1450 BC.  Jacobovici’s theory puts the exodus and the eruption date smack in the middle – at 1500 BC.  No explanation is given for the setting of this particular date.

This eruption remains one of the most powerful eruptions in the last 26,500 years.  On the VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) it is rated a 7.  It is thus classified an Ultra/Plinian or Super Colossal explosion.  To give you an idea of the size of this eruption, Mount St. Helens is classified a 5 and Krakatoa a 6 on the scale.  Furthermore, there have been only 5 eruptions of this magnitude in the last 10,000 years.  Jacobovici’s  contention is that this eruption was the source for all of the plagues that fell on Egypt as well as the subsequent escape of the Jews across the Reed Sea. 

Jacobovici contends that the Jews were expelled during the reign of Pharaoh Ahmose I. He also says that Ahmose in Hebrew means “Brother of Moses”. Ahmose I’s reign is typically dated from 1550-1525 BC. Jacobovici gives no explanation for the later date of 1500 BC he claims. Also, Ahmose’s name in hieroglyphs is translated Yahmes which means “Moon Born”.

Jacobovici claims the Hyksos expulsion from Egypt was the work of Ahmose around 1500 BC. Other authorities place the expulsion under Ahmose as well only closer to 1530 BC.  He also states that the Hyksos and the Jews are one in the same people.  There is a bit of validity to this statement as Josephus also identified the Hyksos expulsion with the Jews.  The Hyksos were a Semitic peoples and were eventually driven out in a war and settled in southern Canaan.  The difference, biblically speaking of course, is that the Jews left Egypt peacefully, only encountering conflict after stopping at the Red Sea.

There are many archeological and scientific debates surrounding this theory, but we only need compare what the Book of Exodus says about the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea to get a handle on the reality of Jacobovici’s claims.

Jacobovici’s theory attempts to explain the miracle of the ten plagues of Egypt without mentioning the first miracle done there by Moses and Aaron.  This miracle had nothing to do with a volcanic eruption.

The Book of Exodus states that the first sign to Pharaoh that he is dealing with God would be for Moses to tell Aaron to cast down his staff and it would turn into a snake before Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron did just that but Pharaoh’s magicians duplicated the feat by casting two staffs down and turning them into snakes.  Moses snake then promptly ate the magician’s snakes. (Ex. 7:8-13)  God also gave Moses the ability to place his hand in his cloak and bring it back out leprous.  Once he had done that, he put his hand in again and it returned to normal. (Ex. 4:6&7)  Though we have no record of this being done before Pharaoh, Moses was, apparently, given the ability.  Now, let’s take a look at the Ten Plagues in relation to Jacobovici’s theory.  These plagues are listed in order of occurrence according to the Book of Exodus.

Jacobovici -   The Filmmaker claims that the Nile turned red as a result of the release of high concentrations of iron oxide deposits in the water.  A great disturbance of the river floor would have happened as a result of the volcanic eruption and this would have accounted for the red blood color of the Nile.

Book of Exodus 7:19-24 – The Bible recounts that when Aaron stretched Moses’ staff out over the Nile, not only did the Nile turn to blood but water stored in vessels that had been previously drawn from the river turned to blood as well.  Verse 24 states that the people had to dig into the bank of the Nile to get fresh water. Jacobovici does not deal with this aspect of the plague in his program.  Also, the disturbance Jacobovici needs to bring the iron to the surface in his theory is not slated to happen until the last plague.  (release of trapped gas from the riverbed)  Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate this feat and so Pharaoh remained unimpressed.

Jacobovici – Jacobovici ties the next three plagues together as being the result of the first one.  He claims the iron oxide deposits and gas killed all the aquatic creatures in the Nile. Jacobovici says the frogs emerged on land because of this, being the only creatures in the river with legs.  When all the frogs had sufficiently invaded the towns, they began to die.  The piles of dead frogs drew the swarms of gnats and flies that were the next two plagues.

Book of Exodus 7:25 – 8:32 – Jacobovici’s explanation for the plague of frogs is a good one at first glance.  The Book of Exodus, however, states that the frogs did not come up from the Nile until 7 days after the plague of blood.(7:25)  One would think that the frogs would have appeared much sooner since they would not have been able to breathe due to the gas.  Pharaoh’s magicians were able to duplicate this feat as well.  When the plague of frogs ended, there were piles of dead frogs everywhere – so much so that they stank up the land.  One would think that the flies would have been the next plague.  But the Book of Exodus tells us that Aaron struck the ground with Moses staff and gnats came on the land.  This is the first plague that Pharaoh’s magicians were unable to reproduce. 

The Book of Exodus tells us nothing about the fate of the gnats, going directly to the plague of flies.  Moses threatens Pharaoh with this plague while he is down by the Nile, as he did for the plague of blood.  This time there will be a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelis.  Flies will swarm everywhere except for the Land of Goshen where the Jews live.  Moses also told Pharaoh that it would happen the next day.  The next day it happened exactly as Moses said; flies everywhere but the land of Goshen.  Pharaoh finally relents and tells Moses his people can go.  Moses prays to God and the flies are gone the next day.  In stark contrast to the plague of frogs, the Bible says there was not one fly left in the land.  Jacobovici fails to explain this part of the plague.  Pharaoh changes his mind again after the flies are gone and brings the next plague on his people.

Jacobovici - The Filmmaker claims the death of the livestock and the boils on the people are the direct result of the release of gas from the riverbed.  This gas rose up after the riverbed was disturbed by the explosion at Santorini.

Book of Exodus 9:1-12 – The Bible states that the plague on the livestock would kill all the livestock of the Egyptians, but not harm one animal of the Jews.  Attributing this kind of selectivity to a gas rising from a river seems a bit of a stretch to me and Jacobovici does not attempt to explain it.   The plague of boils was a separate plague but must be lumped together with the death of the livestock in order to accommodate this theory.  Pharaoh’s magicians could not even heal themselves of this plague, much less others.  If Jacobovici were correct, then the timing of both of these plagues should have happened simultaneously with the death of the firstborn, since he attributes those deaths with this same phenomena.  But the Bible disagrees with this chronology.

Jacobovici – Jacobovici’s contention is that a terrific storm covered Egypt, once again, due to the explosion at Santorini. The phenomena of fiery hail is attributed to debris mixed with hail from the storm.

Book of Exodus 9:13-35 – The plague of hail described in the Bible is from a ferocious storm the likes of which Egypt had never seen nor ever would again. However, the idea that fiery debris could co-mingle with hail after a 500 plus mile trip across the Mediterranean Sea is less believable than that it came straight from the hand of God. Once again, the Land of Goshen was spared this plague. This was a selective storm indeed.

Jacobovici – Jacobovici says the locusts were already in Egypt, but had gone to ground because of cool weather.  When the heat of the remnants of the volcanic eruption reached Egypt, they came up in swarms. 

Book of Exodus 10:1-20 – The Bible tells us that Moses called the invasion of locusts the day before it happened.  The swarm was so great that not a green thing was left in Egypt.  When Moses called off the swarm, it was swept away to the Red Sea by a strong wind.  Not a single locust was to be found in Egypt.  It is the ridding of Egypt of the swarm that remains unexplained by Jacobovici’s theory.

Jacobovici – You guessed it – volcanic storm.  This plague is explained as being brought on by dense clouds from the Santorini eruption.

Book of Exodus 10:21-29 – This darkness lasted for three days.  Either the volcanic cloud parked over Egypt for three days or it was one big cloud.  The Bible states that no one could see their hand in front of their faces; no one except the Jews that is.  They did not experience this darkness.  Again, selective storm.

Jacobovici – Jacobovici contends that gasses from the volcanic eruption disrupted the riverbed and brought forth not only iron oxide to turn the Nile red, but CO2 from underneath the bed. This gas then laid low on the ground as it travelled through Egypt robbing anything in its path of breath. The Filmmaker states that this was also the source for the boils and death of the livestock as well. He then explains why only the firstborn died in this plague. The firstborn of Egyptian households slept in a place of honor in their houses. They were placed each night on a small bed that was extremely low to the ground while the other family members slept either on the roof or in wagons outside the home. This would explain why only the firstborn died since the gas would only kill whatever was low to the ground. For an example of this, Jacobovici points to the disaster at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa.

This event happened in 1986 and caused the deaths of 1700 sleeping people as well as animals. This kind of event is known as a Limnic Eruption and while rare, has been known to happen. Lake Nyos is an extreme example. A Limnic Eruption is when gas pressure at the bottom of a lake becomes great enough to make the lake unstable. This gas usually develops because of volcanic activity but may build up because of biological degradation as well. In the case of Lake Nyos, there is a pocket of active magma under the lake. Eventually the lake becomes unstable and an event such as an eruption or landslide causes the lake to release the gas in mass quantities rapidly. This is what happened at Cameroon in the middle of the night. Jacobovici contends that the low travelling gas would not have harmed anyone had they been upright or sleeping at a higher elevation.

Jacobovici also points out at this time that Ahmose had a son. After forensic testing of the mummy of Ahmoses son, researchers determined his approximate age as 12 years old. This, contends Jacobovici, is further proof that Ahmose is the Pharaoh of the Exodus since his son died at such an early age.

Book of Exodus 11:-12:30 – The Bible states that not only the firstborn of the Egyptians died but the firstborn of all livestock as well.  This made me wonder about the Biblical chronology of the events since all of the livestock were killed in plague number 5.  However, the Bible does not define which livestock and the Jews had been spared plague number 5, so one possible explanation is that it was the firstborn of the Jewish livestock since they could not take their animals into their dwellings under the blood.  Also, the firstborn of prisoners in dungeons died as well.  I would think a low level cloud of toxic gas would have killed all the prisoners in a dungeon. 

The kind of Limnic activity described by Jacobovici is specific to a body of water like a lake and not a moving body such as a river.  This theory also requires the gas to travel underground over 500 miles before releasing in the Nile.

Jacobovici – The Jews left Goshen and went to a place called Yam Suph, which in Hebrew means Reed Sea.  This area today is known as the Manzala Causeway.  This area is open to the sea but in ancient times there was a corridor across that would have allowed passage.  The Nile Delta, being overstressed from the volcanic disruption, lost a part of itself here in a tremendous landslide that raised the bed of the marsh.  Moses crossed over this to the other side.  After crossing over, Pharaohs army was swept away by a Tsunami from the Delta landslide.  There was water on either side of Moses and his people when they crossed and the Tsunami accounts for the complete destruction of the Egyptian army.

Book of Exodus 13:17-14:31 – When the Jews left Goshen the Bible states that they did not go by way of the Philistine country, which is exactly the opposite of this theory.  Instead, they were to turn back and camp by Pi Hahiroth directly across from Baal Zephon.  This puts the Jewish multitude well south of the place the theory does.  Also, when the Jews crossed the Red Sea, the Bible plainly states that there was a wall of water on either side of the Jews.  The waters were literally divided and not just present on either side.  This makes a Tsunami unnecessary.  The Bible says that in order to divide the waters, God made a strong wind blow from the east all night long.  The wind would have been in the face of the Israelites as they waited to cross over.  The volcano would have been to their left and behind.  The Egyptians were present by now, but kept from the Israelis by a column of smoke and a column of fire for the entire night.  These same columns held off the army until Moses could get everyone on the other side.

Jacobovici’s program is convincing at first blush with its 3-d simulations and bits and pieces of corroborating evidences from Greece as well as Egypt.  And I sympathize with his desire to convince us that God manipulates our environment in order to do his miraculous works.  I myself ascribe to this belief that a miracle to a believer looks like an explainable phenomena to an unbeliever.  Otherwise, how could the Pharisees watch Jesus perform miracles and still call Him a blasphemer?

But I disconnect from Jacobovici’s desire to place all his eggs in one basket (vis-à-vis the Santorini eruption).  The many details given in the Biblical account simply don’t line up with his theory geographically or chronologically.  And while there are some thought provoking parts to this theory, it is after all a bringing together of various theories from various points in time to create a whole cloth.  Many of the same points have been made by others, but it is Jacobovici that brought them all under one umbrella. 

Jacobovici himself is Jewish and I believe it is his desire to bring glory to God while presenting an explanation for the Exodus that makes sense to the unbeliever.  Perhaps we should be sure that this same theory makes sense to the believer first.