The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 10:21-23,
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.' So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived."
This ninth plague was one of darkness. An unusual darkness, "that can be felt", fell on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Just as Jonah did not embrace what the Lord told him to do until he spent three days in the belly of a fish, just as the world was plunged into a "darkness" for three days when Jesus Christ was buried until he rose again on that Easter morning (not the physical darkness that attended Jesus' crucifixion, but what might be considered an unusual spiritual darkness for all of creation), so Pharaoh and all of Egypt was plunged into a darkness as Pharaoh refused to allow God's people to leave.
Pharaoh did not like the darkness and summoned Moses to tell him to take his leave, sans the livestock. When Moses refused to leave the livestock behind, Pharaoh again refused to let the Israelites go and banished Moses from his presence - bringing another form of "darkness" to his palace.
The three days of darkness that we call the ninth plague is something of a metaphor for me. As the Lord plunged Egypt into the three day darkness, it speaks to, represents, another form of darkness to me that Pharaoh and the Egyptians dwelt in: a spiritual darkness in rejecting God. Pharaoh's heart was being hardened by God to ensure Pharaoh would not capitulate to Moses' demands, til such a striking series of events would take place that the account would have legs, both geographically and historically (it was an account that Paul quotes God as saying in Romans 9:17, "For Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I [God] raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" This was the Lord's purpose for the plagues and for that purpose, the Lord insured Pharaoh would not give in to Moses. It wasn't that the Lord manipulated Pharaoh's heart so he wouldn't embrace him in faith, but that the Lord manipulated Pharaoh's heart, the heart of a man who had already rejected the Lord, to continue to refuse Moses' demands despite the dramatic and spectacular events that unfolded.
The whole of it speaks to me of the darkness that Pharaoh and the Egyptians dwelt in, a spiritual darkness. This darkness is that which now darkens the hearts and minds of people everywhere today who have not embraced Jesus Christ in faith. In foretelling the first coming of Jesus Christ, we read in Isaiah 9:2, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." It is not just Pharaoh, but it is the whole world.
May we all find ourselves in what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of, "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." John 3:21. Woe to the man who remains in the darkness. Blessed is the man who steps into the light and embraces Jesus Christ in faith!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.' So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived."
This ninth plague was one of darkness. An unusual darkness, "that can be felt", fell on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Just as Jonah did not embrace what the Lord told him to do until he spent three days in the belly of a fish, just as the world was plunged into a "darkness" for three days when Jesus Christ was buried until he rose again on that Easter morning (not the physical darkness that attended Jesus' crucifixion, but what might be considered an unusual spiritual darkness for all of creation), so Pharaoh and all of Egypt was plunged into a darkness as Pharaoh refused to allow God's people to leave.
Pharaoh did not like the darkness and summoned Moses to tell him to take his leave, sans the livestock. When Moses refused to leave the livestock behind, Pharaoh again refused to let the Israelites go and banished Moses from his presence - bringing another form of "darkness" to his palace.
The three days of darkness that we call the ninth plague is something of a metaphor for me. As the Lord plunged Egypt into the three day darkness, it speaks to, represents, another form of darkness to me that Pharaoh and the Egyptians dwelt in: a spiritual darkness in rejecting God. Pharaoh's heart was being hardened by God to ensure Pharaoh would not capitulate to Moses' demands, til such a striking series of events would take place that the account would have legs, both geographically and historically (it was an account that Paul quotes God as saying in Romans 9:17, "For Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I [God] raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" This was the Lord's purpose for the plagues and for that purpose, the Lord insured Pharaoh would not give in to Moses. It wasn't that the Lord manipulated Pharaoh's heart so he wouldn't embrace him in faith, but that the Lord manipulated Pharaoh's heart, the heart of a man who had already rejected the Lord, to continue to refuse Moses' demands despite the dramatic and spectacular events that unfolded.
The whole of it speaks to me of the darkness that Pharaoh and the Egyptians dwelt in, a spiritual darkness. This darkness is that which now darkens the hearts and minds of people everywhere today who have not embraced Jesus Christ in faith. In foretelling the first coming of Jesus Christ, we read in Isaiah 9:2, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned." It is not just Pharaoh, but it is the whole world.
May we all find ourselves in what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of, "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." John 3:21. Woe to the man who remains in the darkness. Blessed is the man who steps into the light and embraces Jesus Christ in faith!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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