Exodus 10:21-29

I. The darkness

Exodus 10:21-29

21And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thine [thy] hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. 22And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. 23They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. 24And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed [kept back]; let your little ones also [also your little ones shall] go with you. 25And Moses said, Thou must give us also [Thou shalt also put into our hands] sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto Jehovah our God. 26Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an [a] hoof be left behind; for thereof [from them] must we [shall we] take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must 27serve Jehovah until we come thither. But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that [the] day thou seest my face thou shalt die. 29And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Exodus 10:21-23. The natural phenomenon underlying this miraculous infliction of Egyptian darkness is generally taken to be the Chamsin, the scorching hot south wind (in Italy the Sirocco, in Switzerland the Föhn), “referred to apparently by the LXX., where they render חשֶׁךְ־ אֲפֵלָה by σκότος καὶ γνόφος, καὶ θύελλα. This wind, which in Egypt is accustomed to blow before and after the vernal equinox, and generally lasts two or three days, usually rises very suddenly and fills the air with such a mass of fine dust and coarser sand, that the sun ceases to shine, the sky is covered with a thick veil, and the obscuration becomes so nocturnal that the darkness of the thickest fog of our late autumn or winter days is not to be compared with it (vid. Schubert’s Reise, II., p. 409). (Keil). See further citations in Keil. Hengstenberg interprets the darkness in Egypt as the image of the divine anger, the light in Goshen as image of the divine grace. But the preceding plagues also were at least signs of the divine anger. The judgment of darkness doubtless expresses more specifically the fact, that the wisdom of Egypt has become transformed into a spiritual night, in which the night of death soon to follow is pre-announced, whereas the light in Goshen in contrast with it may signify the dawn of a higher wisdom which finally brings freedom. The miraculousness of it consisted, first, in its following the symbolic action and prediction of Moses; secondly, in its intensity and the exceptional condition of Goshen. In their dwellings. Keil correctly refers this, in opposition to Kurtz, to the country; whereas the latter understands that the Egyptians were even unable to illumine their houses. But one might as readily infer that the Israelites obtained light only by artificial means. Darkness which may be felt. Beautiful hyperbolic expression; yet the dust brought by the tornado could indeed be felt by the hand.

Exodus 10:24. Pharaoh, frightened, makes a new concession, but again with a shrewd reservation. The concession consists, strictly speaking, of two parts, and the reservation is very furtively inserted between the two. Go ye, he says at first, this time not only the strong men; and at last, as if with the intention of entrapping Moses by the excitement of his emotions: Also your little ones shall go with you. Nevertheless all their cattle were to be left in the hands of the Egyptians as a pledge of their return.“יֻצָּג, sistatur, be stopped, kept in certain places under the charge of the Egyptians as a pledge of your return” (Keil).

Exodus 10:25. Moses invalidates Pharaoh’s demand by reference to the religious duty of his people. They must make an offering, must therefore have their cattle with them. But, together with the claims of religious feeling, those of justice are also insisted on, in the utterance which has even become parabolical: “There shall not a hoof be left behind.” This bold utterance, on the other hand, is softened by the declaration that they did not know what offerings (and how many) they would have to bring to Jehovah.

Exodus 10:28. The negotiation becomes more and more unequivocal. The one intention has struggled with the other in carefully chosen terms up to the point of decision. The tyrant’s defiance now flames up, and Moses, with a calm consciousness of superiority, tinged with irony, assents to the decree that he shall not again, on penalty of death, appear before Pharaoh. It is an indirect announcement of the last plague. But its first consequence will be that Pharaoh must take back his threat, Exodus 12:31.