Exiting Egypt Chapter10B P2

Exiting Egypt

“The Ninth Plague – A Felt Darkness”

Exodus 10:21-29

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 10B P2

Now it says that the darkness was so thick that it could be felt. Kind of like humidity, you can feel it on your skin even though you cannot see it in the air. You could feel the darkness, how creepy is that? Now, some have speculated that this was a three day sandstorm which often occurs in Egypt, well maybe not three days. But it darkens the sky and it is felt, even inside the homes. But this was described as a thick darkness. If merely a sandstorm, no matter how horrible it was, it wouldn’t have elicited fear on the part of the people.

So, what the darkness was is exactly unknown, but we see a similar case of such darkness in the Book of Revelation during the bowl judgments, which we’ll look at in a moment. So such a darkness is something that God uses in His judgment of wicked humanity.

And it is such darkness that humanity has chosen to live in; not a physical darkness, but a spiritual darkness so thick that people cannot see the truth. Further it is a willful darkness on humanity’s part, because it is a deliberate decision to live in it, consequently, like Egypt, the judgment of God will be coming as a result. And no one will be able to escape.

What we see here, like the other plagues that proceed it is that God is showing His sovereignty over the gods of Egypt, and this time it is against the greatest god of Egypt’s, Ra, the god of the sun. Ra was worship in just about every ceremony. The Egyptians believed that sunrise was Ra’s victory over the netherworld, where he went every day to wage war. And so, what these three days of darkness signified is God’s sovereignty over Egypt’s greatest god.

But this darkness holds greater significance than that. Let me show you what I mean.

First, such darkness throughout the Bible is a Sign of God’s Judgment. We see this in the Lord’s description of the day of the Lord.

For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Joel. 1b – 2a NKJV)

Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light – pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? (Amos 5:20, cf. 18 NKJV)

Jesus even said that this would be the case

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Mt. 24:29 NKJV cf. Mk. 13:24, Acts 2:20)

And this is what we see in the Book of Revelation as it describes this time. First when the fourth bowl judgment is poured out, the sun was given power to scorch people with fire, and the people were seared by the intense heat, but instead of repenting they cursed God. So God poured out the fifth bowl, and darkness covers the earth, darkness like that in Egypt during the ninth plague, a darkness that could be felt.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony (Rev. 16:10 NKJV)

And like before, they refused to repent for what they had done. Instead they cursed God because of their pain and their sores.