ACT OF GOD by Graham Phillips REVIEWED

 
The popular book, An Act of God, was written by Graham Phillips.
 
It argues that the narrative of the plagues of Egypt and the Israelites crossing over the sea are true. Thankfully, it does not say that these events are miracles but quite the opposite.
 
The book says that the Thera eruption that destroyed the mythical land of Atlantis caused a huge fallout cloud that made Egypt dark for three days (Exodus 10:22).
 
The plague of the hail is interpreted as a hail of debris from the explosion. This happened after Krakatoa blew itself to bits. The plague of the boils is interrupted as being due to the acid in the fallout. The volcano would have thrown iron oxide all around Egypt which rusts in the water and turns it read and kills the fish. This is Phillip’s explanation for the plague of the water becoming “blood” and the fish dying.
 
The problem with this is that the Bible puts the plagues in different chronological order. And pellets of hardened lava are not the same as hailstones. And the Bible says the water was not just turned red by some pollutant but really became blood. The Egyptians would have known if the water was not really blood. This was a miracle because the water in people’s houses turned to blood too (7:19).
 
It is wrong to say that the tenth plague which took the lives of the firstborn of Egypt was not a miracle (page 311). What kind of natural plague kills only the oldest?
 
It is good that we are told that the parting of the Red Sea is not in the Bible for Yam Suph means Sea of Reeds and is not the Red Sea. The Israelites could have walked through it for in that case it would be shallow. It might be objected that the Egyptians could not have drowned in shallow waters but a tidal wave could have caused a sudden flood. I think the walls of water mentioned in the Bible could have been the waves which were seen coming as the Israelites were emerging from the sea. This must be right for suppose the Hollywood image of the people walking through a deep sea with water held back miraculously so that it forms a wall on each side were correct, the Egyptians would not have followed them into the sea. It would have seemed obvious to them that the God of Israel would do anything to guard his people from the threat Egypt posed. They would have known it would be too risky to go in the gap after Israel had passed through. Pharaoh had a hard heart but no king ever gets away with being too unreasonable. If what happened at the sea is a miracle then we have another ridiculous miracle.