So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. Three days of darkness — the same duration as the three-day journey into the wilderness that Moses has been requesting since Exodus 5:3. The three days of festival that Pharaoh would not grant become three days of darkness that he cannot prevent. The irony is total: what Pharaoh refused as a request is given as a judgment. Jonah 1:17 records three days and nights in the belly of the great fish; Matthew 12:40 connects it to the three days in the tomb. The three days in darkness over Egypt is another type in a series: a death-like state, an incapacity, an inability to act, followed by restoration. The darkness is not permanent; but while it lasts, Egypt's power is suspended. No one can move, see, or act. The most powerful empire in the world is paralyzed.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse