The Plague of Darkness

Welcome back to today’s Time in the Word. We have two plagues left—the Plague of Darkness and The Plague of Death of the Firstborn next week. Hard to imagine we started our journey through the plagues in late winter, and here we are in mid-summer.

God is performing his supernatural wonders in nature’s realm, methodically attacking the very gods that Pharaoh and all of Egypt hold dear in their Egyptian religion. This is true of our lives as well. God never leaves any stone unturned. Anything that draws us away from Him becomes a target. What god do you worship in your life? Entertainment? Alcohol? Porn? Lying? Stealing? What you worship is where you spend most of your time and money.

Plague Number Nine: Darkness

Exodus 10:21-29, NIV

This plague of darkness was interesting. In the plagues before, Moses and Aaron always went before Pharaoh. However, in this ninth plague, God instructs Moses to stretch out his hands before the sky so that ALL of Egypt would be dark and FEEL the darkness. This plague took place at midday and caught everyone’s attention. Where any Israelite lived, they had light.

Pharaoh summons Moses and tells Moses they are free to go- men, women, and children but tells Moses the livestock must stay behind. Pharaoh always has conditions and never fully complies with God’s request.

Moses counters Pharaoh’s conditional nonsense and tells him “every hoof” must be allowed to go, as they are an important part of worship.

God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh tells Moses they can’t leave and Moses should not return to the palace. Pharaoh threatens Moses with death the next time Moses sees Pharaoh’s face.

Egyptian god or goddesses the plague confronted– Barnes Bible Chart pdf:

• Re– the sun god
• Amon-re– the sun god
• Aten-the sun god
• Atum– the sun god
• Horus– the sun god, Egypt’s first national god, spanned 5000 years
• Thoth– the moon god, inventor of writing and creating languages

Interesting Notes and Insights

• Moses and Aaron continued to be obedient to God.
• Moses is instructed by God to perform the summoning of the ninth plague without giving Pharaoh a heads up.
• The Plague of Darkness lasted three days.
• Where ever the Israelites lived there was light.
• Pharaoh relents to all of the Israelites leaving but is firm that their livestock must stay.
• The plague happened midday.
• No Egyptian could see or move about during the plague of darkness.
• Isn’t it interesting that God wanted the Egyptians to FEEL the darkness?
• Total darkness for three days messed with the Egyptian’s psychology and sleep cycles. Maybe bringing on depression and certainly a fear of not knowing what was going on.

When I think about the darkness being so dark and dark you could feel, I wonder if this is what Hell will be like? Feeling cut off from God and having total knowledge of our hard heart and sinfulness lead us to live in Hell eternally. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. This should drive every Christian out and share the gospel. Jesus wants no one to perish!

Can you imagine how shocked the Egyptians were? To know the gods, they tirelessly served was worthless. Nothing could be done but to bow in submission to the one true God.

Unfortunately, bad leadership can bring a whole nation astray. This is being played out in America right now, and believers are the small points of light in the darkness. How are you shining today?

Next week, The Plague of Death of Firstborn. Thank you for joining me here in Time in the Word.