Unleashing the Beast

256 / U NLEASHING THE B EAST

were devastated (see Exodus 9:25, 10:15). These plagues were God's judgment being unleashed against the unbelieving, idolatrous Egyptians who held the Hebrews in captivity. Numerous secular historians wrote of strange and horrible plagues that struck the earth about the same time that the exodus was under way in Egypt. Some scholars point out that a massive comet passed by the earth about the time that God opened the Red Sea. In Natural History , Pliny wrote that it was "a terrible comet . . . (that) was twisted like a coil and it was very grim to behold." The Jewish Talmud reports that stones fell in Egypt and were very hot. An Arabian writer from the ninth century named Masudi related the tradition of this catastrophe and told of swift clouds, ants and other signs of the Lord's rage when many perished in Mecca. In Ages of Chaos , author Immanuel Velikovsky writes about "plagues of insects, drought, and earthquake in the night . . . clouds sweeping the ground, (and) a tidal flood carrying away entire tribes. These disturbances were experienced in Arabia and Egypt alike." Whatever method God used to judge the Egyptians, the impact was felt as far away as Arabia. Astronomers seem to think the Egyptian catastrophe was rooted in some form of a heavenly activity, perhaps by a comet passing close to the earth's orbit. In early history, the planets were considered wandering stars. Modern science acknowledges the existence of nine planets, but the early Hebrews recognized only seven planets. The seven-branched candlestick in the ancient Jewish Temple was a picture of