Exodus 10:23

_THEY SAW NOT ONE ANOTHER, NEITHER ROSE ANY FROM HIS PLACE FOR THREE DAYS: BUT ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL HAD LIGHT IN THEIR DWELLINGS._ Neither rose any from his place - literally, 'they did not rise each one from under him; i:e., from that which he had under him.' The appalling character of this calamity consisted in this, that the sun was an object of Egyptian idolatry-that the pure and serene sky of that country was never marred by the appearance of a cloud. And here, too, the Lord made a marked difference between Goshen and the rest of Egypt....

21-29 The plague of darkness brought upon Egypt was a dreadful plague. It was darkness which might be felt, so thick were the fogs. It astonished and terrified. It continued three days; six nights in one; so long the most lightsome palaces were dungeons. Now Pharaoh had time to consider, if he would have improved it. Spiritual darkness is spiritual bondage; while Satan blinds men's eyes that they see not, he binds their hands and feet, that they work not for God, nor move toward heaven. They sit in darkness. It was righteous with God thus to punish. The blindness of their minds brought upon them this darkness of the air; never was mind so blinded as Pharaoh's, never was air so darkened as Egypt. Let us dread the consequences of sin; if three days of darkness were so dreadful, what will everlasting darkness be? The children of Israel, at the same time, had light in their dwellings. We mu...

Verse Exodus 10:23. _THEY SAW NOT ONE ANOTHER_] So deep was the obscurity, and probably such was its nature, that no artificial light could be procured; as the thick clammy vapours would prevent lamps, c., from burning, or if they even could be ignited, the light through the palpable obscurity, could diffuse itself to no distance from the burning body. The author of the book of Wisdom, chap. xvii. 2-19, gives a fearful description of this plague. He says, "The Egyptians were shut up in their houses, the prisoners of darkness: and _were_ fettered with the bonds of a long night. They were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfulness, being horribly astonished and troubled with _strange_ apparitions for neither might the corner that held them keep them from fear; but noises as _of waters_ falling down sounded about them; and sad visions appeared unto them with heavy count...

HAD LIGHT IN THEIR DWELLINGS - The sandstorm, if such were the cause, may not have extended to the district of Goshen; but the expression clearly denotes a miraculous intervention, whether accomplished or not by natural agencies....

EXPOSITION THE NINTH PLAGUE. The ninth plague, like the third and the sixth, was inflicted without special warning. God had announced, after the plague of boils, that he was about to "send all his plagues upon the heart" of the king; and so a succession of inflictions was to be expected. The ninth plague probably followed the eighth after a very short interval. It is rightly regarded as an aggravation of a well-known natural phenomenon—the Khamsin, or "Wind of the Desert"_ _which commonly visits Egypt about the time of the vernal equinox, and is accompanied by an awful and weird darkness. This is caused by the dense clouds of fine sand which the wind brings with it, which intercept the sun's light, and produce a darkness beyond that of our worst fogs, and compared by some travellers to "the most gloomy night." The wind is depressing and annoying to an extreme degree. "While it lasts no m...

THEY SAW NOT ONE ANOTHER,.... Not only the luminaries of heaven were covered and beclouded with the darkness, so that they were of no use to them; but the fogs and vapours which occasioned it were so damp and clammy that they put out their fires, lamps, and candles, so that they could receive no benefit from them: NEITHER ROSE UP ANY FROM HIS PLACE FOR THREE DAYS; from the place of his habitation, not being able to find the way to the door, or however not able to do any business abroad; and besides were quite amazed and confounded, supposing the course of nature was changed and all things going to a dissolution, their consciences filled with horror and terror and black despair, strange and terrible phantoms and apparitions presented to their minds, as the author of the book of Wisdom suggests, "No power of the fire might give them light: neither could the bright flames of the stars end...

CHAPTER 10 THE EIGHTH AND NINTH PLAGUES _ 1. The eighth plague: locusts (Exodus 10:1)_ 2. Pharaoh's renewed confession and refusal (Exodus 10:16) 3. The ninth plague: darkness (Exodus 10:21) 4. Pharaoh's anger (Exodus 10:27) The eighth plague is introduced by another warning; the ninth came without it. As a result of the eighth plague, Pharaoh confessed his sin against God and against Moses and Aaron; but after the ninth plague drove Moses from his presence and threatened the divine messenger with death. Locusts covered the face of the whole earth and every green thing was destroyed. On the

EXODUS 7:14 TO EXODUS 12:36. THE TEN PLAGUES. How deeply this series of events imprinted itself on the mind and heart of the nation is shown by the fulness with which the three sources report them. J 1° 2° 4° 5° 7° 8° 9° 10° E 1° 7° 8° 9° 10° P 1° 2° 3° 6° 10° 1°, river turned to blood; 2°, frogs; 3°, fice (gnats); 4°, flies; 5°, murrain; 6°, boils; 7°, hail; 8°, locusts; 9°, darkness; 10°, death of firstborn. A sound historical judgment will conclude, both from this fact and from the nature of the occurrences mentioned, as well as from the need for _some_ such group of causes to account for the escape of the tribes, that the traditions have a firm foothold in real events. But since not less than four centuries intervened between the events and the earliest of our sources, it is not to b

Exodus 7:14 to Exodus 11:5 _The first nine Plagues_ The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding Chapter s, is composite. The details of the analysis depend partly upon literary criteria, partly upon differences in the representation, which are not isolated, but recurrent, and which moreover _accompany_the literary differences and support the conclusions based upon them, the differences referred to often also agreeing remarkably with corresponding differences in the parts of the preceding narrative, especially in Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 7:13, which have already, upon independent grounds, been assigned to P, J, and E, respectively. N

DISCOURSE: 74 DISTINGUISHING PRIVILEGES OF THE LORD’S PEOPLE Exodus 10:23._ But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings._ OF all the plagues which in rapid succession were inflicted upon Egypt, not so much as one fell upon the children of Israel: their cattle, and every thing belonging to them, enjoyed the same exemption as themselves. And this distinction was well calculated to convince Pharaoh, that Israel’s God was the only true God, and that the idols of the heathen were vanity [Note: Exodus 8:22.]. But, whilst we admit that this was the primary end of all the judgments, and of the plague of darkness amongst the rest, we cannot but think that this particular plague had something in it more than ordinarily instructive; inasmuch as it served to shew, that between the Lord’s