Old page (a decade old!), but it does a good job of laying out some bare historical facts and estimates on the background of the “creeping death” plague from Exodus:
As in many of the skeptical questions I get, the conclusion they end up with is often correct in some basic sense (i.e., ‘we should not worship a vengeful God who slaughters innocent children’), but the reasoning which leads up to the conclusion doesn’t indicate that the conclusion applies to the biblical God. In other words, their ethics are okay, but their exegesis (and sometimes hermeneutic or theology is mistaken).
The key concept here is context. Remember: at that time there was no scripture, no theological framework on which to reference. Moses, growing up as Egyptian royalty, was probably educated in what those Hebrew slaves believed but there wasn’t much written down. God more or less had to work directly with people, which means most anything He did or commanded was very personal and situational.
I disagree somewhat with Glenn Miller Orchestra’s conclusion. He said God was working well within “propriety”. But he’s answering the wrong criticism. God may have been working within “propriety”; we don’t know what He said to pharaoh though I think there was some communication going on there, but it’s a strange suggestion. God literally doesn’t give a damn about propriety but perhaps, in a sense, would play the game when convenants are concerned.
On a lighter note, enjoy Metallica’s rather accurate thrash-narrative of the Exodic plague cycle.