Son of Rameses to blame for Plagues of Egypt?

The magician-priest, son of Rameses

I CALLED in at the British Museum’s Egyptian sculpture hall in order to pay my respects to Khaemwaset. It occurs to me that Prince Khaemwaset, who according to tradition found the forbidden Scroll of Thoth somewhere in the Saqqara area, may have had a hand in the events of Exodus as they unfolded. Those with a biblical mindset might consider this question. Who kept hardening pharaoh’s heart against Moses, drawing upon Egypt the series of ten great plagues? I think the subject of my recent study, Khaemwaset, armed with his scroll and newfound source of power, may have had something to do with it. On the fair side, maybe he was God’s agent, just as Moses and Aaron were said to be. All the same, if Khaemwaset were behind his father’s resolve, then he had a string of plagues to answer for – the water turned into blood, the fish killed and the water rendered undrinkable, swarming frogs that set the river and the land jumping, lice and gnats, flies, a blight on the cattle, boils, hailstorms, clouds of locusts, darkness and then the death of the firstborn, which, if we take this last plague literally, happily passed Khaemwaset by, since by birth he was fourth in line to the throne. Maybe it was Khaemwaset and his scroll that empowered the magicians of pharaoh to match the first few miracles, turning a staff into a snake, turning water into blood and pulling frogs out of the hat. We can imagine his growing feeling of dread - and that of his father Rameses - as the disasters piled up and the land of Egypt groaned in anguish, matters culminating in the visitation by the angel of death passing like a mist of doom over the cities and villages of Egypt. Did that convince Khaemwaset to put the scroll back where he found it?