9th Plague: The Lord told Moses to stretch his hand toward heaven, and darkness would come over Egypt. Moses obeyed and for three days such thick darkness came that it could even be felt, and the Egyptians did not dare to move from their places. They had worshiped the sun; now God hid it from them. But the Hebrew people had light in their dwellings. Because of this trouble Pharaoh told Moses he would let the people go to worship God, only they could not take their flocks or herds. Moses answered that they must take the animals to sacrifice as God bade them. The king refused and sent Moses away.
It is sad to read how deceitful the king was each time after he had seen God’s great power. He wanted to keep the Hebrews, not to do them good, but to build him great cities and walls. When God showed His mercy by removing the plagues, he every time “hardened his heart”, that means he was determined to do his own way. We too may harden our hearts, like Pharaoh, if we do not obey whatever we know is the Lord’s way for us to do.
God said He would send just one more plague and this would be the most dreadful of all. Moses warned the king that at midnight God would go over Egypt and send death upon the first born of every family, from the king’s to the poorer servants’, and the first born of the animals; there would be a “great cry ... .such as there was none like it, nor shall he like it anymore.”
We would think the king would have believed this, as all the other warnings had come true, and would have obeyed God to let His people go. But he did not, and became more angry.
The Lord told Moses what the Hebrews should do to keep their first born safe, and also to tell them that the same night they should all leave Egypt. Our next lesson will be how they made ready as God said.
ML 02/21/1937