What does the Bible say about the three days of darkness?

So, as we see in verse 21, the ninth plague was ushered in without any warning being given. Again Moses was to stretch out his hand toward heaven and there fell upon Egypt darkness of a supernatural kind. It is described as "darkness which may be felt." From this expression some are disposed to regard it as being of the nature of the hot south-west winds that do bring on Egypt great dust storms that darken the land; the wind being laden with tiny particles of sand, it can be felt. But on the other hand the expression may be a figurative one, in which the feeling about and groping in dense darkness is attributed to the darkness itself.

How it came about need not concern us. It was something supernatural. It lasted for three days. It was so dense and complete that all activity stopped. Every Egyptian was isolated from his fellows in the midst of his ruined country, and none of them knew when, if ever the visitation would end. Of all the plagues this must have been the most terrifying, because most mysterious and unprecedented. And all through the dreadful three days the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Two more plagues and Israel would be free. Eight have passed before us, divided into four classes, affecting the water, the ground, man and beast, and the atmosphere. The dust brought forth lice, and the land was corrupted because of the flies (8:17-24). Hail with thunder and lightning visited Egypt, and the east wind brought the locusts. Now darkness and gloom would overspread the land; darkness by the absence of natural light, and a gloom the consequence of universal bereavement. The light of heaven hidden, the light, too, of families would be quenched by the death of their firstborn.

And first, of the supernatural darkness. Without any warning to Pharaoh it overspread the land; a mysterious, dense darkness, to which men on earth had been strangers. How it was caused we cannot say. "He sent darkness," we read, "and made it dark," (Ps. 105:28). For three days that continued. The morning light spread not over the land. The noonday sun dispersed not the thick pall of darkness. It was impenetrable. No gilding was there in the west as the sun each day sank to rest. Darkness that might be felt enveloped the land and enshrouded the people. In Goshen each day there was light; in Egypt nothing but darkness. He who of old divided the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:4) sent darkness upon Egypt, whilst light shone in Goshen. Darkness was once upon the face of the deep (Gen. 1:2); the Egyptians might understand something of what that must have been. Then it enveloped the globe; now it lay like a funeral pall over all the land of Egypt. How it subdued the people! They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days (Exodus 10:23). Mysteriously it must have come; mysteriously it may have passed away. The sun, they would then find, had not ceased to shine. The moon and the stars still governed the night. What the Egyptians felt is to us unknown. What effect it had on Pharaoh is related. He would let the people go, young and old, but would retain their cattle. This his last attempt at a compromise signally failed. "Not a hoof should be left behind" was the inexorable claim made by Moses (24-26). Pharaoh refused, and forbad Moses to enter his presence again on pain of death. "Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more" was the rejoinder of the son of Amram. But first he would deliver his last message. God's dealings had failed to make the king obedient. That, then, must now come of which God had foretold Moses (4:23). Pharaoh's firstborn son should die, yet not his only. "From the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts," all should die. A stillness, unnatural stillness, had pervaded the land during the three days of darkness. Now a great cry would be heard throughout all the land, such as never had been and never would be equalled. In every house of the Egyptians would there on the same night be one dead. Gloom and sorrow indeed would be widespread. The God of the Hebrews would enforce His rejected summons. Israel, His firstborn, should go free, and to accomplish that the firstborn of the Egyptians, both of man and of beast, should die.

The mortality would be great, yet special. Only one in each house should die, yet not one house should be without a dead body on that eventful night. The destroying angel would strike with his death-bearing dart the firstborn of each Egyptian family, from the palace to the mill and the dungeon. Who could comfort mourners when all alike were grief stricken? A darkness that might be felt they had known. Now all joy in each house was to be darkened throughout the land; common sorrow would pervade Egypt. A common desire would then possess each one. Israel must depart. So urgently would the people be entreated to go.

Earth's earliest idolatry arose out of the exaltation of the glories and movements of the heavenly orbs, and to our own day the greater part of mankind gives these bodies homage, or offers them direct worship. Israel in its day fell into the sin of turning to the east, and forfeited in consequence the glory-cloud of Jehovah's presence. (Ezek. 8:16-18; 10:18-19.) The plague of God-sent darkness over the land, for three days and nights, blotted out the host of heaven from the sight of the worshippers, and put a stop upon the services of the temples, and we may assume, that at the time of its occurrence some grand ceremony in honour of the celestial bodies was about to take place.

At the bidding of Jehovah, and without a word of warning, Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven, and at once a darkness that could be felt chained every Egyptian to his place. None moved; all were bound, as it were, in a prison of outer gloom. For three days and nights, though the sun shone on high, and the moon and the stars gave forth their light, no ray penetrated the shroud that was swathed about Egypt. The darkness was the prelude to the coming death.

This sign of divine displeasure ended where the Egyptians dwelt. There the line of demarcation was drawn by God's omnipotent hand; the Hebrews had light in their dwellings. The divine intention in this must have been apparent to all. On the one hand there was darkness which was about to end in death, on the other there was light which was the prelude to life and liberty. God describes His people as the children of light, and those who are not, as of darkness. There was no shading off between the darkness and the light in the plague. And as it was, so it is, there is no twilight, and all are, therefore, shut up to the one or the other — to living in the light, or to living in the darkness.

Divine judgments do not soften the human heart. Pharaoh called for Moses and said, "Go ye; serve Jehovah. Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed." But upon these terms being rejected he was enraged. He dwelt in the darkness, and was as dark as it. Even in earthly things, evil men do not become converted to that which is good and lovely by a term of imprisonment. Pharaoh remained unchanged. He would not humble himself. He had developed impiety upon impiety, and, though he fain would have spared himself further suffering, he was determined in his resistance to the divine word, and only said to Moses, "Get thee from me; take heed to thyself; see my face no more, for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die." (Ex. 10:28.)

The ninth plague was not announced beforehand. The Lord simply tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and a thick darkness falls over all the land of Egypt, continuing for three days, a “darkness which may be felt.” It is symbolical of the spiritual darkness that unbelief prefers (John 3:19), but which men find not so pleasant when darkness is never relieved by the slightest ray of light. They deliberately choose darkness rather than light, and later find it is not what they thought it to be. The Israelites were not affected, however. At least they had light in their homes, while the Egyptians were totally confined in darkness. Of course this was miraculous, but Christians today have spiritual light while all around the world is in pathetic darkness.

In the ninth plague, darkness covered Egypt for three days. Beautiful must have been the vision of the land of Goshen . Out of the dense darkness the light shone brightly in the miserable abodes of the children of Israel . "All the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." Note again the book of Revelation, chapter 16:10-11.

The sun as the source of light was worshipped in Egypt . If Menephtah was the Pharaoh of the exodus, as some hold, this plague has a special significance. A sculptural image of this Pharaoh is preserved. His hand is out-stretched in worship, and underneath stand in hieroglyphics these words: "He adores the sun; he worships Hor of the solar horizons." Suddenly darkness, which could be felt, came upon Egypt . Pharaoh and all Egypt learned now that their idols were helpless. Darkness is the withdrawal of light. It stands for the solemn truth of the forsaking of God. (We may well think here of the darkness which enshrouded the cross and the unfathomable cry of our Lord, "my God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?") God was about to abandon Egypt , the darkness was the herald of it. All Egypt was to be plunged into the severest of all judgments, the death of the firstborn. This darkness was God's final appeal to repentance. For three days they were shut in and all business was suspended. Rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant, all classes were shrouded in that awful darkness. The suspense must have been frightful. What was to come next? God waited, and in that silence and darkness appealed to their conscience. How slow God is to judge; it is His strange work. In infinite patience He waited before He dealt the final blow to Egypt . Thus He waits now and warns till at last His patience ends and His threatened judgments sweep the earth. The last objection and compromise by Pharaoh is found in verse 24, but Moses answered "not an hoof shall be left behind." Jehovah's demands and purposes concerning the completest separation from Egypt stand and must be literally executed.

A two-fold action was necessary to attain that end: (1) External power would be manifested to deliver them. (2) Their hearts had to be cleansed and unbelief displaced by internal power. In the series of God's acts of power in Egypt, there was a distinction or separation made between the land of Goshen where God's people dwelt and the rest of Egypt. The various agencies of judgment on Egypt did not affect Goshen. The ninth plague of judgment was thick darkness that could be felt. For three days no one could stir, but the children of Israel had light in their rude dwellings while the ornate temples of Egypt were shrouded in a more complete blackout than a London night fog[1]! (That is indicative of the spiritual darkness that envelops man's philosophy, while divine light fills the hearts of the people of God, because God is there).

So still more solemnly in the preternatural darkness of the ninth plague. (Ex. 10:21-29) The sovereign who derived his name from the sun availed nothing for all the land of Egypt, while the darkness which might be felt was made visible in its source by the light which all the children of Israel had in their habitations.

DARKNESS. "They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." It was a darkness that might be felt, and Pharaoh called for Moses, and bade the Israelites to depart with their wives and their little ones; but they must leave their flocks and herds behind. Moses could not agree: all must go: not a hoof must be left behind, it was God's redemption. Pharaoh was angry, saying, "Take heed to thyself, see my face no more: for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die." Moses replied, "Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more." This is in Ex. 10:29; but in Ex. 11:4-8 it is clear that Moses told Pharaoh of the death of the firstborn, which might have been on the same occasion by a message direct from God. We read that Moses, though the meekest of men, went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

Whether we consider God's doing in love, or man's misdoing in I hatred, we can apprehend in our measure that there should be that darkness of a supernatural kind. Throughout the land of Egypt darkness had been inflicted as a plague by Jehovah, while Israel had light in their dwellings. For three days it lasted, so that they saw not one another nor did any one rise from his place. At the cross of Christ it told a tale to the ear of faith still more profound. It was not an infliction upon wicked men. This darkness surrounded the Holy One of God made sin, and God forsaking Him because of sin, our sins laid on Him.

(3.) And now we come to the last plague of these nine — the last but one of all poured out upon the land of Egypt. The plague of darkness is one the significance of which is simple for those who know the meaning of the darkness upon the cross. God is light: darkness is the withdrawal of light, the forsaking of God. And this was (as we may see in the twenty-second psalm,) the most terrible part of that judgment upon sin which our dear Lord bore for us in His body on the tree. God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon sin: even from Him who knew no sin, when made sin, He must turn away; and so the cry of forsaken sorrow interprets the darkness to us. The "outer darkness" is its expression in the eternity to come.

God-abandonment! who save that solitary Sufferer can interpret this to us? Men would indeed choose to get away from God here, and the "far-off country "can be for awhile even a place of pleasure while we are recklessly wasting what can never be regained. But even the far-off country is not the hell where men will find the answer to their desire to get away from God. In Egypt, for three awful days they sat overwhelmed; none looked upon another, or rose from his seat. In that darkness that is the "shadow of death," it is said, "they sit;" but what when it is not the shadow, but death itself, and the eternal flame shall give yet no light?