Felt Darkness


Exodus 10:21-29
21Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” 22So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived. 24Then Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind.” 25But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. 26Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we must take of them to serve the Lord our God, and we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” 27But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die.” 29Moses said, “As you say! I will not see your face again.”

Twice in my life I’ve been on cave tours. At one point along the tour they always shut off all of the lights so that you can experience the utter darkness that can only be found in a cave. There’s something about not being able to see a single speck of light that is rather unnerving. This experience doesn’t even get close to what God sent to the Egyptians as the ninth plague on the land.

The NIV and the ESV both translate verse 21 as “a darkness that can be felt.” It’s an interesting way to describe this darkness and it certainly gets the point across. But “feeling darkness” is probably not quite accurate. “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that darkness will be upon Egypt—a darkness that will require groping around” might be a clearer way to understand the text. Either way, this is serious darkness. All life would stop for 72 hours. No working, no meetings, no schooling, no animal care, no farming, nothing. This plague is one that would terrify the Egyptians because the ancients were afraid of the dark. So while no one is hurt, people were scared. It is also important to note that the Egyptians credited the Pharaoh with causing the sun to rise in the morning. He was earthly representative of the pagan god Ra, who brought up the sun each day. Now Yahweh displays His absolute power over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. While this ninth plague is less dangerous, it is more insidious. The NIV also provides a less than ideal translation of this text because it says “that darkness will spread”. The Hebrew would indicate that it was more likely and instantaneously occurring darkness. The ESV does a better job with “that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt”.

Note that this plague does not come with a warning before it happens like most of the other plagues. This one simply happens when God says it will. Pharaoh is not stymied by the darkness though. He knows exactly who has caused it and sends for Moses, who then argues with Pharaoh and reiterates God’s demands. Pharaoh sends Moses off with a death threat. The entire situation has risen to the point of climax as God will now take the drastic measure of killing the firstborn of every Egyptian family. The crescendo is upon us.

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