19 DARKNESS

My own personal experience with total darkness was four times through Hezekiah’s tunnel in the city of David just south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel, once with my wife and then three times with three of our older grandchildren who visited us when we lived in Israel. The tunnel, remarkably preserved and available to walk through, was built by the 14th king of Judah, King Hezekiah, in 701 BC. Hearing of the approach of the Assyrian army, Hezekiah wanted to protect the city’s water supply so he ordered the construction of this tunnel to function in two ways. The secondary function was as an aqueduct to ensure a supply of water for the citizens of Jerusalem, but the primary function was to hide the water supply from the invading troops. The result is a 1,750-foot marvel of engineering stretching from the Gihon Spring on the east side just outside the city of David to the Pool of Siloam inside the city. Each time I walked through the tunnel, my travel partner and I turned off our flashlights and we stood in the cold water, feeling the stone walls with our hands, but were enclosed in pure black darkness. Those were experiences I will never forget. Darkness! Total darkness! That was an adventure for me, but the Egyptians had no joyful adventure in their plague of darkness.

Ra, sometimes pronounced Re, was portrayed in Egyptian art as a falcon and shared characteristics with the sky-god Horus. He was the ancient Egyptian deity of the Sun. At one time he had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day sun. Ra ruled in all parts of the created world: the sky, the Earth, and the underworld.  He was believed to have ruled as the first pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He was the god of the sun, order, kings and the sky. All forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra. In some accounts, humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat, so the Egyptians called themselves the "Cattle of Ra.” Ra, the Sun God, is defamed, ridiculed and mocked by the ninth plague, darkness which next fell on Egypt unannounced. Three days of darkness that was so immense and unnaturally intense that it could be physically felt covered the land of Egypt.

During the three days of the plague of darkness, the sun, the most worshipped God in Egypt other than Pharaoh himself, either gave no light or had his light extinguished by a thick darkness that could be felt. The Lord showed that He had control over the sun as a witness that the God of Israel had ultimate power over life and death. The psychological and religious impact of this plague would have had a profound influence on the Egyptians, especially when we consider that it was the ninth calamity God sent. Darkness was a representation of death, judgment and hopelessness. Darkness was a complete absence of light. The message God was sending would have been very clear.

Perhaps the most misunderstood or underestimated of all the plague is this darkness, the ninth plague. In Exodus 10:21–23, as we read a moment ago, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” We read that a thick darkness descended on all the land of Egypt for three days. What is described here is evidently not simply the absence of light. This darkness is something physical, a darkness that can be touched or felt (21b). The alternation of light and darkness, of day and night, ceased, but darkness and light exist side by side in geographically distinct places. The Israelites had light; the Egyptians did not. In Egypt, God had changed the relationship between darkness and light back to what it had been prior to the end of the first day of creation. It was a miraculous reoccurrence of the state that existed briefly between Genesis 1:4 & 5, “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.' And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” This was a very great plague, full of very deep significance and meaning to the Egyptians. Now let’s examine the Bible narrative.

The plague of darkness brought upon Egypt was a most dreadful plague it and therefore is put first of the ten in Psalm 105:28, “He sent darkness and made the land dark—for had they not rebelled against his words?” It was one of the last in Moses’ day, but in the destruction of the spiritual Egypt it is produced by the fifth vial recorded in Revelation 16:10, “The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony.” Could this darkness inflict pain? This plague in Moses’ day was a total darkness. We have reason to think, not only that the lights of heaven were clouded, but that all their fires and candles were put out by the damp or clammy vapors which were the cause of this darkness; for verse 23 says, “No one could see anyone else or move about for three days.” Job 18:5 & 6 threatens the wicked with this: ““The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning. The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out.” And hell is darkness. “The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.” How can we describe this? It was darkness which might be felt, that is to say, it could be felt by their fingers’ ends, so thick was the fog. It could be felt in its effects, they could not see and may have rubbed their eyes until they hurt. It astonished and terrified them. The cloud of locusts had darkened the land, but that was nothing compared to this. One source tells of a tradition of the Jews that in this darkness they were terrified by the appearance of evil spirits, by dreadful sounds and murmurs which they made, or something equally frightening, the horrors of their own consciences. If the devil can be a deceiver he may eventually be a terror. The darkness continued three days, that is three days and three nights. We could say six nights, since day was not like day but rather was as dark as night. This is how long they were imprisoned by those chains of darkness. Every palace became a perfect dungeon. “No one could see anyone else or move about for three days” (23). They were all confined to their houses; and such a terror seized them that few if any had the courage to go from the chair to the bed, or from the bed to the chair. Hannah rejoiced many years later as she presented Samuel to the Lord including this interesting thought in her expression of praise which perhaps applies also to the Egyptians. “He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. ‘It is not by strength that one prevails’” (1 Samuel 2:9).

Imagine with me how that now alone in unusually deep darkness Pharaoh had time to consider, if he would like to make a change. From another angle, spiritual darkness is spiritual bondage; while Satan blinds men’s eyes that they see not, he also binds them hands and feet that they work not, serve not for God, nor do they make any move towards heaven. They too sit in darkness. It was a righteous thing with God to punish them like this. Pharaoh and his people had rebelled against the light of God’s Word, which Moses spoke to them again and again. Justly therefore are they punished with darkness, for they loved and chose it. The blindness of their minds brings on them this darkness of the air. Never was mind so blinded as Pharaoh’s, never was air so darkened as Egypt’s. The Egyptians by their cruelty would have extinguished the lamp of Israel, and totally quenched their fire. It is just that God would put out their lights. Do you remember the men who wanted to commit sodomy (men having sex with men) with Lot’s guests in Sodom and how the angels treated them? “Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door” (Genesis 19:11). That darkness too was a punishment on the Sodomites. Let us help people dread the consequences of sin. If three days’ darkness is so dreadful, what would everlasting darkness be like?

Meanwhile the children of Israel, at the same time had light. Verse 23 tells us, “Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.” This could mean that light was not only in the land of Goshen. Most of the Israelites lived in Goshen, true, but others of them were possibly dispersed among the Egyptians. We know of this possibility from Exodus 12:7 were it says, “Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.” This miracle of darkness is an example of the power of God above the ordinary power of nature. We must not think that we share in common mercies as a matter of course, and therefore that we owe no thanks to God for them. He could distinguish, and withhold blessings from us which he grants to others. He does indeed ordinarily make His sun to shine on the just and unjust, but He could make a difference and we must acknowledge ourselves indebted to His mercy that He does not. The miracle of darkness is also an illustration of the particular favor God gives to His people: they walk in the light when others wander endlessly in thick darkness. Wherever there is an Israelite indeed (a grafted-in child of God), though in this dark world, there is light, there is a child of light. When all else is deep darkness God’s children have light, the light of His Word, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). When God made this difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians, who would not have preferred the poorest cottage of an Israelite to the finest palace of an Egyptian? There is still a real moral difference, though not so discernible as light and darkness, between the house of the wicked which is morally dark and under a curse and the home of the morally upright, which is blessed. This is another kind of darkness and light with far-reaching implications towards eternal destinies that goes far far beyond three days and night of light or darkness on earth. Proverbs 3:33 speaks of this light and darkness this way. “The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.” We should believe in that difference, and govern ourselves accordingly.

The plague of darkness awakened Pharaoh so far that he renewed the treaty with Moses and Aaron, and now, at length, consented that they should take their little ones with them, only he wanted to have their cattle left behind. It is common for sinners to foolishly bargain with God Almighty. Some sins they will leave, but not all; they will leave their sins for a time, but they will not bid them a final farewell; they will allow Him only a share in their hearts. Moses, however, does not compromise or budge. We must come up to the demands of God’s will, for we cannot expect that He would condescend to the narrow desires of our lusts. God’s messengers must always be bound up by the rule Jeremiah expresses in Jeremiah 15:19, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.” Moses gives a very good reason why they must take their cattle with them. They must go to do sacrifice, and therefore they must take everything. They did not yet know what numbers and kinds of sacrifices would be required and, therefore, they must take all they had. With ourselves and our children we must devote all our worldly possessions to the service of God, because we do not know what use God will make of what we have, nor in what way we may be called on to honor God with them.

Moses’ resolve frustrated Pharaoh so far that, when he might not set his own terms, he broke off the conference abruptly, and promptly left. Wrath now came on him to the utmost, and he became outrageous beyond all bounds. Moses is dismissed in anger, forbidden to return to the court on pain of death, forbidden so much as to meet Pharaoh any more as he had. Had Pharaoh not yet learned that Moses could plague him even without seeing his face? Or had he forgotten how often he himself had sent for Moses as his physician to heal him and ease him of his plagues? A4nd must he now be told to come near him no more? Weak hatred! . . to threaten Moses with death who was armed with such a power, and at whose mercy he had so often laid himself. What will not hardness of heart and contempt of God’s word and commandments bring men to? Moses takes him at his word I will see your face no more, that is, “after this time;” for this conference did not end until chapter 11 verse 8 when Moses went out hot with anger, and told Pharaoh how soon he would change his mind, and his proud spirit would come down, which was fulfilled in chapter 12 when Pharaoh again became a humble supplicant to Moses to depart. So that, after this interview, Moses came no more until he was sent for. When men drive God’s Word from them He justly permits their misperceptions, and answers them according to the multitude of their idols. When the Gadarenes on the east side of the Sea of Galilee desired Christ to depart, He too left them as they had requested.

God has such a variety of ways to accomplish His will that He could have used this period of three days of darkness as the time for Israel to walk out of Egypt. But no, He had a better plan. When Israel did finally walk out of Egypt, just before they crossed the Red Sea, a cloud gave darkness (again) to the Egyptians and light (again) to the Israelites. Exodus 14:19 & 20 tell it this way. “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.” During these three days of darkness to the Egyptians, if God had wanted them to, the Israelites, by the light which they had, might have made their escape, without even asking permission from Pharaoh. But God did not do it that way. He had a more miraculous and glorious way we will study later in this series when we get to Exodus chapter 14. And furthermore, God will bring Israel out again in another context, from other nations; not just Egypt. God’s miraculous deliverance of Israel through the plagues and other miracles proves that He can do what Isaiah describes will happen in Isaiah 52:12, “But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” So for Israel to sneak out during these three days of darkness would not have been glorious enough. God had a superior idea.

Ra is powerless to prevent the darkness of God’s ninth plague on Egypt. Darkness prevailed. Ra failed. Our gods too are far inferior to the true God. Our God wins every time.