Question:   [editor’s note:  This is a series of two questions from the same member of the same topic]

I wanted to know if you know much about fulgurites and the evidence they give to support the reality of the ten plagues in Egypt?   How about this for a bible study?  Studying out about the presence of fulgurites in the area of Egypt during the plague of hail: Exodus 9:23-24 NIV [23] When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt; [24] hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.   See that it says that “lightning flashed down to the ground”?  When this happens, fulgurites are created.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite    Not one of those salvation issues, but for science-oriented folk, this may be yet another evidence that God and His hold word line up with science?

Answer:

First of all, fulgarites are used as evidence of lightning.  That part of this is real science.  When lightning hits the ground where there is sand, a crystaline rock is created. These lightning-produced rocks are called fulgurites. However, in any century in Egypt there would be millions and millions of lightning strikes.   If there was a great lightning storm which produced massive hail—one of the plagues—this evidence would completely disappear in the fulgarites produced over a century’s time.  The greatest storm in history would be a tiny fraction of one per cent of all the lightning strikes in any given century in Egypt.  In fact, the greatest concentration of Fulgurites are in North Africa.  It is inconceivable that fulgarite evidence could tell us anything one way or another about the plagues in Egypt.  It is not possible to date a fulgarite.  Whether it is 1000 or 20000 years old is nearly impossible to tell.   I am afraid that you should not use fulgarites in a discussion of the plagues, at least in my opinion.   Sorry to pour cold water on your idea, but….

John Oakes

Follow-up question:

That’s why I asked. I appreciate your response. I didn’t know you couldn’t find a date on a fulgurite. What about the layers of soil/dirt/sediment surrounding it?

Answer:

In principle, you could get a very approximate date for a layer if it had both fulgurites and organic matter so that a carbon dating could be done or other archaeological items which could give an approximate date.  This is extremely unlikely, but if it did,  it would give the date with a fairly wide error bar.

But this would really tell you nothing, really, because how could you prove that a particular fulgirite was caused by the electrical storm which is recorded in Exodus?   Presumably, the fulgurites from the biblical plague are just like fulgurites from any other lightning storm.   How could you prove that  any particular fulgirite came from the plague?   You might argue that it would be a layer with a lot of fulgurites, but I say that surely the number of lightning strikes in any one single entire year is more than those from the biblical event.   Again, how could you provide any believable evidence that a particular fulgirite or even a group of them came from the biblical event?   I say that it would be literally impossible, and it is therefore not worth looking for this kind of proof.

Just my thought….

John Oakes