EXODUS LESSON 19

    We have just seen, in lesson 18, how Pharaoh had gone against his
word again, and would not let the children of Israel go, even after the
plague of locusts.

    Exodus 10:21  "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."

    In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, verse 20, we read of
another terrible darkness, that shall come upon the earth at the end of
the age.  Acts 2:20 "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the
moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:"
God had used darkness of this magnitude several times, in punishment of
those who did not follow Him.  This darkness was so heavy, that there was
not even the moon and stars shining.  It was really a frightening
darkness.  In Pharaoh's case, he had no way of knowing, if God would let
it remain that way, or not.  Darkness, throughout the Bible, is
symbolic of those who are away from God.  The worst darkness being
that of the spirit, when our understanding of God is darkness.  The
Lord Jesus is the Light.  Darkness would be the total absence of His
Light.  We read in John 8:12  "Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  We see from all
of this, that there is a physical darkness and a spiritual darkness.
Both are very bad.  I believe this overwhelming darkness, that came on
Egypt, was both physical and spiritual.

    Exodus 10:22 "And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven;
and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:"
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."

    If you were to look at this from the spiritual standpoint, you
would have to look at the 3 hours that darkness was over the land (in
the middle of the day), when Jesus was crucified.  We read in Matthew
27:45 "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land
unto the ninth hour." We also, read in Mark 15:33 "And when the sixth hour
was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour". 
The number "three" has to do with the Trinity of God.  We see in the three hours, and in the three days of darkness, God dealing with mankind about
their darkened hearts. This ninth plague of darkness upon the land was not
just darkness, but an overwhelming darkness of the spiritual and the
physical. This darkness, the Egyptians were feeling, was total darkness, 
where they could not even safely walk through their own houses without
danger.  This darkness did not prevail in the Hebrew homes.  We read that
there was light in their homes. The light that shone in the Hebrew homes 
was the miraculous Light of the Lord.  This darkness had nothing to do with things like an eclipse, or dust storms, or such.  This was pitch darkness without a glimmer of light, anywhere.  This darkness was day and night. 
This darkness was a miracle from God.

    Exodus 10:24  "And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye,
serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let
your little ones also go with you."

    Here, we see Pharaoh weakening with each plague.  This plague of
darkness was so depressing, that Pharaoh now conceded and said they could
carry their children into the wilderness to worship, but he was still
holding out to keep their livestock, so that they would have to come
back. He (Pharaoh) wanted to keep them for the virtually free labor.
Undoubtedly, here, he was thinking that if they ran off, he would at
least have their animals.

    Exodus 10:25 "And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices
and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God."
Exodus 10:26 "Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an
hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our
God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come
thither."

    Here, we see Moses telling Pharaoh that all the animals were to go
with them, as well; because some of them would be used to sacrifice to
God. Whether it had been the plan all along to not come back (once
they got 3 days journey from Pharaoh), or not; I am not sure.  I know
this had been the fear of Pharaoh from the beginning.  God had never
wavered in His message that He had sent Pharaoh by Moses and Aaron.
God had Moses to tell Pharaoh, from the beginning,that all were to go.
It was Pharaoh that had been trying to find some way to hang onto these
Hebrews.

    Exodus 10:27  "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would
not let them go."

    God was going to carry these plagues out, until all ten were
fulfilled.  "Ten" having to do with world government.  We will see in
these ten plagues, that God would overcome the world.

    Exodus 10:28 "And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take
heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in [that] day thou seest my
face thou shalt die."

    Pharaoh was furious.  This was not the custom of Orientals to be
 quick tempered, but Pharaoh could see about 700 or 800 thousand
 laborers slipping through his fingers; and he was mad.  He told Moses,
 that he better not come back to see him, because Pharaoh would order
 him killed.  He forgot that the last several times that Moses
 appeared before him, it was Pharaoh who had summoned Moses, not the
 other way around.  His threat to take the life of Moses and Aaron
 actually sealed his own doom.  What you sow, you reap.  Pharaoh,
 himself, had pronounced the tenth plague.

    Exodus 10:29 "And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see
thy face again no more."

    In this, Moses was saying, even if you send for me to come and pray
to God for you, I will not.  Moses, probably, meant by this, that once I
leave, I will not return.  It appears, that he didn't leave, until the
tenth plague was spoken.  Actually, if we will look at these plagues,
we will see that this last one that comes, is in way of judgement
spoken upon Egypt.  We will see in this tenth plague, that was spoken
in our next lesson, a retribution for the killing of all of the boy
babies to try to stop the vast increase in population of the Hebrews.
They had grown, you remember, from 70 who entered the land with Jacob,
to nearly 3 million people at the time Moses was dealing with Pharaoh,
here.  There would be a counting of the men by Moses on the way to the
promised land, and the estimate of 3 million was based upon the number
of men at the time.  Pharaoh had been well aware that having these
Hebrews for laborers, had made him much wealthier and much safer than
he would have been without them.  They had built a wall of brick to
ward off invaders.  These Hebrews were thought of to him as "wealth".
We see a parallel here, of the slaves who were counted as wealth,
because of the work they could produce, to the days of slavery in the
United States.





































                          Exodus 19 Questions


1.  What was a special description of this darkness, that God sent on
    Egypt?
2.  In Acts 2:20, what terrible darkness do we read about?
3.  Who did God bring this darkness upon?
4.  What is darkness symbolic of throughout the Bible?
5.  Which is worse, spiritual darkness, or physical darkness?
6.  Darkness is what?
7.  If you are a believer, you shall not walk in ---------.
8.  What does the author believe about this darkness, that came on
    Egypt?
9.  What type of darkness came over the land, when Moses stretched
    forth his hand?
10. How long did the darkness prevail?
11. How long was it dark, when Jesus was on the cross?
12. What 2 books of the New Testament tell us about this darkness?
13. What does "3" mean spiritually?
14. What was God showing them in the 3 days of darkness?
15. Which plague was the plague of darkness?
16. What separates the Hebrews from the Egyptians, during this plague?
17. What did Pharaoh offer Moses to stop the darkness?
18. What did Pharaoh hold back?
19. What did Moses tell Pharaoh was the reason they needed the
    animals?
20. What had been the fear of Pharaoh from the beginning?
21. In these 10 plagues, we see what?
22. What was Pharaoh feeling when Moses did not accept his offer?
23. Why?
24. What had Pharaoh threatened to do to Moses, if he came before
    Pharaoh again?
25. What had Pharaoh forgotten?
26. What had Pharaoh done in this threat on Moses' life?
27. What was Moses' reply to Pharaoh?
28. What did Moses mean by this statement?
29. This last plague was in way of ---------.
30. What was this tenth plague a retribution for?
31. What was the estimate of the 3 million people of Israel based upon?