Exodus 10:21-23 Then 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.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23 They 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.
Social Darkness
The plague of darkness stands out from the others, among several reasons, because its effects are not physically threatening in the same way. The darkness was thick enough to touch, but it does not afflict the bodies of the Egyptians or their animals in the way that lice or boils did, nor does it threaten the water and food supply as happened when God turned the waters of the Nile into blood, summoned pestilence against the cattle, and sent hail and locusts to destroy Egypt’s crops.
The effects of the ninth plague were social and interpersonal: the darkness cut people off from one another: “No one saw his fellow or was able to get up from their place for three days” (Exodus 10:23).
The Book of Exodus tells us that they did not experience the darkness, but other texts suggest it engulfed them too. In Psalm 107, a psalm that recounts the plagues, we learn that the Exodus involved deliverance not just from slavery but also from “darkness.”
Darkness is specifically associated in the Bible with God's abandonment and that is one reason it is so severe a sign of His judgment.
Matthew 27:45 “Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour, and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?”
Pharaoh's response
Pharaoh is not really interested in continuing the conversation. Pharaoh dismisses him with an unveiled threat. Basically it's this; “I’ll kill you if you show your face to me again. You come into my presence again and you show your face here again, I’ll kill you on the spot.
The darkness ends after three days, but Pharaoh never finds a way beyond his own mistrust. Following the plague, he summons Moses to tell him that he never wants to see him again, to which Moses responds,
“You speak correctly. I will not see your face again” (Exodus 10:28)
The plague of darkness basically returns us to the situation that existed in the world, in the universe prior to the first day of creation.
This plague of darkness shows the sovereignty of God over Ra, the sun god, the chief of the gods of Egypt. The Egyptians worshipped Ra. So, when God through Moses announces, not a day, not just the daylight hours, but three days of darkness, He is showing that the God of the Hebrews in sovereign over the chief deities over Egypt.
There is deliverance after darkness
This was the last plague before Passover. God is so sovereign that no force in this universe could possible challenge Him. Pharaoh was still defiant but when God has set a plan in motion nobody can stop Him.
The apostle Paul said, “if God is for us then who can be against us?”
The plagues were not only intended to punish Pharaoh and his people for their mistreatment of the Israelites, but also to show them the powerlessness of the gods in which they believed.
The word “Egypt” in Hebrew is “Mitzrayim.” It is related to the word maytzarim, which means boundaries, constraints, or limitations. It is symbolic of the limitations we experience in this physical world. God is telling us that even in this place of extreme darkness there can be found a light.
The greater the darkness, the greater the light that can be found within.
This plague of darkness on the Egyptians, darkness so thick they could not see one another, nor could they even move around—while there being no effect on the Israelites—is a reminder to us of the power of light as a symbol of hope, even in the darkest of hours.
Matthew 4:16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”>
