Plague of Darkness 17
“The Plague of Darkness“
WISDOM—Chapter 17,18, 19
The Plagues of Egypt (Hebrew: Makot Mitzrayim), also called the Ten Plagues (Hebrew: Eser HaMakot) or the Biblical Plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, Israel’s God, Yahweh, inflicted upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, triggering the Exodus of the Jewish people. The plagues were designed to contrast the power of Yahweh with the impotence of Egypt’s various gods.
Some commentators have associated several of the plagues with judgment on specific gods associated with the Nile, fertility and natural phenomena. The plagues of Egypt are also mentioned in the Quran (7,133–136).
According to the Book of Exodus, God proclaims that all the gods of Egypt will be judged through the tenth and final plague:
“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals —and I will bring judgment on all the
gods of Egypt. I am the LORD”
Ten Plagues Beginning of the curses:
Ex. 5:1–9, 7:8–13
-
Plague of blood : Ex.
7:14–25 -
Plague of frogs: Ex.
7:25–8:11 -
Plague of lice or gnats : Ex.
8:16–19 -
Plague of flies or wild animals :
Ex. 8:20–32 -
Plague of pestilence : Ex.
9:1–7 -
Plague of boils : Ex.
9:8–12 -
Plague of hail : Ex.
9:13–35 -
Plague of locusts : Ex.
10:1–20 -
Plague of darkness : Ex.
10:21–29 -
Death of the firstborn : Ex.
11:1–12:36
WISDOM—Chapter 17
1 Your judgments are great and difficult to describe; so the unlearned have gone astray.
2 The wicked Egyptians thought they held the holy nation in their power, but they themselves were captives of darkness and prisoners of unending night. They were confined under their own roofs and exiled from eternal providence.
3 While they thought their secret sins were concealed behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness, they were scattered and terrified; they were
frightened by apparitions.
4 Not even the most secluded room they hid in protected them from fear. Terrifying noises echoed around them and somber, gloomy-faced phantoms appeared
to them.
5 No fire, no matter how intense, could give them light, and the bright glow of the stars were unable to illuminate that gloomy night.
6 Nothing gave the Egyptians light except a spontaneous, dreadful flash. In their fear, they thought they saw things even worse than the things they had
imagined.
7 The tricks of their magic art were humbled, and the wisdom they boasted about was scornfully rebuked.
8 Those who promised to drive away the fears and troubles of a sick soul were now sick themselves with ludicrous fear.
9 No terrible thing actually attacked them, but they were frightened by hissing serpents and wild animals passing by.
10 The Egyptians died of fright as they futilely tried even to ignore the very air around them.
11 For wickedness is cowardly and condemns itself because a troubled conscience always assumes the worst.
12 Fear is nothing but the surrender of assistance from reason.
13 And after hope has been defeated within, people imagine the cause of their torment to be worse than it actually is.
14 That terrifying night was really powerless, since it came from the powerless place of the dead, but the Egyptians all slept in terror.
15 They were chased by monstrous apparitions, yet they were also paralyzed by their fainting souls, for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed
them.
16 People everywhere fell down and were shut up in a prison without bars.
17 Whether they were farmers or shepherds or people working in the desert, they were suddenly snatched up and suffered an inescapable fate. They
were all bound together with a chain of darkness.
18 Whether it was the whistling wind, or the melodious sound of birds in the trees, or the steady noise of rushing water,
19 or the mighty crash of rocks hurled down, or the sound of animals running along unseen, or the roar of the most savage beasts, or an echo
rebounding from a mountain hollow— the noise paralyzed them with fear.
20 The rest of the world was illumined with bright light, and people went about their work unhindered.
21 But a dark night descended upon the Egyptians alone, an image of another darkness that would one day come upon them. Yet more heavy than this
darkness was the burden they were to themselves.
WISDOM—Chapter 18
The Pillar of Light
1 Your holy ones, however, saw a bright light; the Egyptians heard their voices but could not see them. They realized that your holy ones were happy
because they did not suffer the same things.
2 They were thankful that your people did not repay them for past injuries. They asked forgiveness for past conflicts.
3 Therefore, you sent a flaming pillar of fire to guide your people on an unknown journey. It acted as a harmless sun for their celebrated
wandering.
4 The Egyptians deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, for they had imprisoned your children, through whom the unfading
light of the law would be given to the world. The Plague upon the Firstborn
5 When the Egyptians decided to kill the infants of your holy ones, one child, Moses, was abandoned and then rescued. You punished them by taking away
many of their children. Then you destroyed them all at once in a mighty flood.
6 You had warned our ancestors ahead of time about that night, so they might rejoice and know that your promise could be trusted.
7 Your people expected to see the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies.
8 You used this event to punish our adversaries and also call us to yourself and bring us glory.
9 For during this time, the holy children of good people secretly offered sacrifices and unanimously agreed upon this divine institution of
Passover. In this way they would share in good things and dangers alike while already singing the praises of the ancestors.
10 But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back, and a mournful lament for their children sounded throughout the land.
11 The slave suffered the same punishment as the master, and commoners experienced the same loss as the king.
12 By the death of the firstborn, they all had countless dead. There were not enough living to bury the dead, for in one moment their most favored
children were destroyed.
13 Earlier, they would not have believed this could happen, for they trusted in their magic arts. But when their firstborn were destroyed, they
acknowledged your people to be God’s child.
14 While all things were wrapped in utter silence and the night was halfway through its swift course,
15 your almighty word leaped down from your royal throne in heaven and entered the doomed land like a fierce warrior.
16 Carrying the sharp sword of your unchanging command, it stood and spread death everywhere. While standing on earth it reached to heaven.
17 Apparitions in horrible dreams terrified the people, and unexpected fears came over them.
18 As people everywhere were hurled to the ground half dead, they testified as to the reason they were dying.
19 For their nightmares had forewarned them about this, so that they would not die without knowing why they suffered. God Punished His People
20 But even the righteous experienced death. In the desert you struck the people with a plague. But your wrath did not continue long,
21 for Aaron, a blameless man, hurried to the people’s defense. Bringing forth the shield of his ministry— prayer and incense that satisfies you— he
withstood your wrath and put an end to the disaster. This showed that he was your servant.
22 He overcame the destruction, but not by physical strength or force of arms; with a word he subdued the one who punished them, invoking the oaths and
covenants given to our ancestors.
23 After the dead had fallen on one another in heaps, Aaron intervened and stopped the wrath, cutting off its access to the living.
24 On his long robe the whole world was depicted, and the glories of the ancestors were engraved on the four rows of stones on his ephod. Your majesty
was written on the diadem, the turban on his head.
25 To these the destroyer yielded for he feared them. This single test of wrath was enough.
WISDOM—Chapter 19
God Destroyed the Egyptians
1 But the wicked Egyptians were assailed with merciless wrath to the very end, for God knew in advance what they would do.
2 He knew that they would let your people leave and anxiously send them on their way, but he also knew they would change their minds and pursue your
people.
3 While the Egyptians were still mourning and lamenting at the graves of their dead, they reached another foolish decision and pursued the very ones
they had urged to leave.
4 Their well-deserved fate led them to this end, causing them to forget all that had happened so they would complete their torments with one final
punishment.
5 Then your people could experience an amazing journey, but the Egyptians would meet an extraordinary death. Nature Obeyed God’s Commands
6 All creation had its very nature recreated in obedience to your commands, so that your servants might be protected from harm.
7 A cloud overshadowed their camp, and dry land appeared where water had stood before. This provided a clear path through the Red Sea— a grassy plain
instead of raging waves.
8 The whole nation passed through under your protection after they had witnessed amazing miracles.
9 They ranged like horses and skipped like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who had delivered them.
10 They still remembered what had happened while they were living in Egypt as foreigners— how the ground brought forth flies instead of animals and
the river teemed with vast numbers of frogs instead of fish.
11 Later they saw a new kind of bird when their cravings led them to ask for delicacies.
12 To satisfy their desires, quail came to them from the sea.
13 Punishments came upon the sinners, but not without prior signs from crashing thunder. They suffered justly because of their wicked deeds, for they
had shown more hatred of strangers than even the residents of Sodom had shown.
14 The residents of Sodom refused to welcome strangers when they arrived, but the Egyptians made slaves of guests who had served them well.
15 And besides this, while the residents of Sodom will receive some sort of punishment for being hostile toward strangers,
16 the Egyptians were worse, for first they welcomed the strangers with a celebration, but then they enslaved the very people they had first received
with joy. They harshly afflicted them even though they shared the same rights.
17 The Egyptians were struck with blindness, like those at the door of Lot, the righteous man. They were surrounded by deep darkness and groped to
find the door to their own house.
18 For the elements changed places with each other, just as on a harp the tune is varied by rearranging the notes, yet each note keeps its same
sound. This may be clearly deduced by looking at what happened.
19 Land animals were turned into water creatures, and creatures that swim walked on land.
20 Fire kept its normal power even in water, and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.
21 But the flames did not consume the flesh of perishable animals that walked through the fire. Nor did the flames melt the manna—that heavenly food
that melts as easily as ice.
22 For in all things, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people. You have never failed to help them at any time or place.
143315 411 total views, 27 1 views today