Exodus 10:21 And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt… Exodus 10:21. A darkness which might be felt suggests the existence of a darkness which is not felt. Consider: - I. THE UNFELT DARKNESS. [Illustration. Stream in summer on sunny day reflects sun, sky, etc. Contrast with condition in winter, hard, dull, icebound; it has hardened and no longer reflects. If it could be conscious, still flowing on, it might not feel much difference, scarcely aware of the strange casing shutting it out from warmth and beauty.] Pharaoh and his people, like the stream, once had light (cf. John 1:9; Romans 1:19, 20). Then "hardened their hearts." So self-conditioned them that beneath God's influence they could not but harden (Exodus 10:1). The hard heart, like the hard ice-coating, shuts out the light and ensures darkness (Romans 1:21), none the less such darkness not felt (cf. Ephesians 4:17, 18). A terrible judgment, moral darkness, usually resulting from man's own fault; little by little it grows and deepens until it shuts out not merely light, but even the memory of vanished light (cf. John 9:39-41). The immediate precursor of ruin, that "quenching of the Spirit," which paves the way for "blasphemy." II. THE DARKNESS THAT WAS FELT. Pharaoh would not recognise Jehovah. He shut out the light from him and gloried in his moral darkness. Again and again did Jehovah flash home the truth of his existence to hearts which seemed almost judgment proof. Each new judgment was but followed by deeper darkness, the crack through which light seemed to pierce being deliberately blocked up when the fright was over. Self-chosen moral darkness is met by God-sent physical darkness; the darkness of the tempest, the darkness of the locust clouds, lastly, the concentrated darkness of this ninth plague. Through all, the object is to pierce and, if it may be, dispel the moral darkness; a kind of homoeopathic treatment, which, if it do not cure, may kill. [Illustration. The frozen stream. Light fire upon the surface. Clouds and flame shut out the sunlight more than ever, yet heat may melt the ice covering, and, if so, then light can enter. If not, when fire is extinguished, the ash-strewn surface more impervious to light than ever.] Pharaoh at first seemed to be thawing (Exodus 10:24), but he only felt the heat, he did not recognise the light. When the heat passed, darker than ever (27-29). The last chance gone, what left? (Jude 1:13). God still meets this self-chosen moral darkness by similar methods. Judgments which may be felt flash momentary light upon the self-inflicted darkness which is not felt. He wills that all men should come to repentance; if we shut our hearts to the inner voice, he summons us by outer voices, which cannot but attract attention. They may, however, be disregarded; the power of man's self-will in this world seems strong enough to resist anything. III. LIGHT IN THE DWELLINGS. 1. Physical. Egyptians had made a difference between themselves and Israel, a difference which had driven Israel to seek help from God. Now God confirms that difference. The light, perhaps, not perfect. [If darkness caused by sand-storm from S.W. may have been such light as was obtainable at the fringe of the storm cloud.] Still it was sufficient, a sign of God's care and watchfulness for those who were prepared to receive and recognise it. And this the Israelites were prepared to do, for the light in the dwelling was the type of light in the heart. 2. Moral. They had been "in darkness," the darkness of slavery and idolatry (cf. Joshua 24:14); but the light had dawned upon them, and, however imperfectly, they had recognised and welcomed it. The cry in the darkness (Psalm 130:6) had been heard and answered. By God's help the inner light had been quickened and fostered; and to those who have the inner light, however feeble, he gives help that it may grow brighter. He will not quench the smoking flax, but fan it to a flame (cf. Psalm 18:27-28). Application. There is one who is the Light of the World. The great thing for us is to walk in the light (1 John 1:5-7). If we do not, darkness can but deepen till the night come (John 9:4; cf. Job 18:18). Yet even those in darkness of their own making, God, in his love, still tries to lighten (cf. his dealings with the Egyptians; also our Lord's with the Jews, John 9:39). If the light is still resisted, then cf. Matthew 25:30. If we do walk in the light so far as we know it, then cf. Proverbs 4:18. Even when dark for others, still light for us, Isaiah 60:1, 2; and if the darkness does, as it sometimes will, overshadow us, even so Psalm exit. 4; Isaiah 1:10. - G. Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. |
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