Read with Me
Exodus 210:21-29 (HCSB)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days. One person could not see another, and for three days they did not move from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.
Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship Yahweh. Even your families may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.”
Moses responded, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to prepare for Yahweh our God. Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind because we will take some of them to worship Yahweh our God. We will not know what we will use to worship Yahweh until we get there.”
But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. Pharaoh said to him, “Leave me! Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.”
“As you have said,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”
Listen with Me
One of the “divine” identities of Pharaoh was that of Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, and the personification of the sun. Thus, when God brought darkness over the whole land of Egypt for three days was a direct attack on a key identity and perceived role at the Pharaoh himself.
This was no eclipse or darkness caused by the seasonal sandstorms that periodically occurred in that part of the world. This was a pitch darkness where nothing could be seen, and which was so oppressive that it could almost be felt as a substance rather than a mere lack of light. And it lasted without variation for three full days. Add to that the fact that one small portion of the land, Goshen where the Israelites lived, was completely unaffected, and any naturalistic explanation is completely negated.
Pharaoh clearly saw this as proof that the God of the Israelites was more powerful than any of the gods of the Egyptians, including Horus himself. This struck his heart with both fear and dread. So, at the end of the third day, as the light finally reappeared, he summoned Moses and Aaron, agreeing to release all the Israelites including their women and children. Only their flocks and herds were to stay behind to ensure that they would return. But Moses and Aaron were adamant that every animal must go with them, because they had no idea which of their animals God might demand as sacrifices.
Pharaoh was not willing to forgo this one remaining bargaining chip. Moses and Aaron had repeatedly humiliated him. They had damaged the land, damaging his own reputation in the process, and making him doubt his own power and authority. So, instead of surrendering this final hold on the Israelites, he slammed the door on any possibility that he would ever let them go.
Pharaoh commanded Moses and Aaron to leave his presence and never come back again under threat of death. But before they left, they delivered God’s message about the horrific tenth and final plague that would come that very night.
Pray with Me
Father, Pharaoh demonstrated very clearly that we can reach a point where repentance is no longer possible because we have made our hearts so hard and resistant to your correction and guidance. Now he is showing that there can come a point where the consequences of our hardness of heart and disbelief become unavoidable. He had passed that point, and the doom of Egypt and of his own household would now inevitably come in mere hours. Lord, help us to keep our hearts soft and responsive to you, so that we don’t ever reach that point. Amen.