seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 10:21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
I can't say as I have ever felt the darkness? OK.... that one has me stumped and the regular commentaries just don't do it for something so sinister as darkness that can be felt. Let me just interject here that this darkness is a direct attack on the Egyptian god Ra, the god of the sun. Those Egyptians had a god for everything!
When hubby and I won a trip to Australia a few years ago, we flew across country. As I looked out the window I saw the morning and the night going across country. It was really cool and these verses have reminded me of that.... talk about the beauty of the universe....
A couple of the commentaries talk about a windstorm that naturly occurs in Egypt in the spring known as a khamsin. So I googled khamsin. Out in Arizona they call this storm a Haboob. When driving and a haboob comes along.... you have to close the windows, pull off the road, turn off your engine and your lights. You can't see. I've seen pictures of haboobs. I have a video of one.... but this is not anything like a 3 day storm that makes everything pitch black.
Here's a video of a haboob. [video=youtube;4fTwxY1TFqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fTwxY1TFqg[/video]
Another commentary talked about severe depression. Sure, all the crops are gone and it'll be months before Egypt can get back on it's feet even a little. When I think of this I think of the people who are suffering through the aftermath of a fire, an earthquake or hurricane. But there's light there. The way I read this, the darkness came out of nowhere! It was so dark that people felt it. It must have been terrifying. On top of that, there was no way of knowing how long it was going to last. As far as the Egyptians knew.... this was the end.... they were hungry and living in pitch black.
Meanwhile, back in Goshen.... the Israelites were going about their business of tending sheep. On top of that, they were enjoying a couple of days off since no work could happen anywhere in the rest of Egypt because it was so dark. Oh and I noticed..... the storm last three days.... why that's just the same number of days that Moses and Aaron had been talking about.... fancy that.
Finally, for today, there's one commentary I found that discusses the different hebrew words used in describing light and dark. When God said "let there be light" the Bible uses a different word than it does to describe the light produced by a candle. This commentary also ties this plague to something that will occur in Revelation.
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