God allowed Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened even as the locusts were removed. And the king did not relent. So, another plague was necessitated. In Exodus 10:21-29 the ninth plague was sent. It came in the form of darkness that covered the land for three days. This blow was significantly devastating to the Egyptians because some of the gods that they venerated were believed to be in control of the sun and light. One of them was Horus, the sky god depicted as a peregrine falcon. Then they had Amon-Re their sun god, who was revered as the king of gods. Pharaoh was considered to be the son and expression of Re, the solar deity. What about Aten, the disk of the sun in the mythology of Ancient Egypt, who was considered as an aspect of the sun god, Ra. Another god that they idolized was Atum, the god of sunset. So, when they were hit by the ninth plague of darkness, these gods whom they respected and revered had no answer to the mighty God. The gods they worshiped were an affront to the true God. It could well be that none of us worship any of those Egyptian gods but we cannot deny that idolatry is still a very present and active temptation to many. Anything that we place as a priority above our Lord and give preference before God becomes an idol. It is important that God is the one we worship and love.
Notice how our God controls everything. Be it the sea, the earth, the wind, the vegetation or the sun, nothing is outside of God’s control. The plagues prove that God not only has the power to create but that He also has the power to destroy the forces of darkness. It is true that nothing physical was destroyed by the ninth plague, yet it would be more significant than the previous eight plagues because of its spiritual significance. It’s a physical picture of what happens when we do not have the light of God. Every person who does not have God is virtually groping in darkness. To the Egyptians, it was a failure of their sun god, who had no answer to the LORD of the universe. This truth probably was not lost on the Egyptians as they moved about like blind men devoid of light. Once again, the supremacy of God was overwhelmingly proven. He had destroyed everything Pharaoh and his people considered a deity and made a public mockery of all the gods they adored. Even at this point, Pharaoh was reluctant to let God’s people go. He wanted to retain their livestock. Perhaps he knew that without them they wouldn’t be able to survive very long. Besides they would have no animal to offer to God for their sacrifice. The clear indication in this is that all that we have belong to God. Our gifts, talents, and resources belong to God. They must be offered to Him in His service. We are not owners but stewards. We must not forget this.
Darkness in the Bible also speaks of rebelliousness, ignorance and even death. This is the result of the sin nature which mankind had inherited from Adam’s fall. Without God, we will have a heart full of darkness. That will cause the hardening of the heart. And a hardened heart will lead to a darkened heart that has refused the knowledge of God. Christ is the only way to have light in our life. He tells us that He is the light of the world. Only when we have Him will we not be walking in darkness. The Apostle John in his letter to the church tells us in 1 John 1:5-7 that, “…God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Let us not just acknowledge Christ our Light, but let us be a reflection of that light too!
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