Thunder – Locusts – Darkness
The majesty of the forces of the air and wind, the terror of thunder, fire, and hail, are connected in Scripture with divine supremacy in judgment. The Psalms frequently refer to this, and in the Book of Revelation, “thunderings and lightnings” (Rev. 8:55And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5)) and “a great hail out of heaven” (Rev. 16:2121And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. (Revelation 16:21)) are expressions of divine wrath upon an idolatrous generation, upon man apostate from God, and under the headship of Satan.
In this third group of Jehovah’s signs and judgments, the priestly class, as such, is no longer in view, our eyes are fixed upon the courtiers and the king. Pharaoh’s immense palace was “an entire city.” The royal residence itself had on its face projecting balconies, “from which, as from a tribune, Pharaoh could watch the evolutions of his guard, the stately approach of foreign envoys, and Egyptian nobles seeking an audience.... They advanced from the far end of the court, stopped before the balcony, and, after prostrating themselves, stood up, bowed their heads, wrung and twisted their hands, now quickly, now slowly, in a rhythmical measure, and rendered worship to their master.” Officials, counselors, friends and physicians unnumbered, waited upon his majesty, and every one flattered him. Even to have occupied the menial position of a laundress to him was an honor so esteemed as to be inscribed upon the tomb and to be handed down to posterity!
“His Holiness” was the great priest of the land, through whom all its gods heard the prayers of the inhabitants, the priests, in their offices, ministering in Pharaoh’s stead. He had access to the deities at all times, he could see them “face to face” when he would; indeed, he was “of the same race, and of the same flesh with the gods.” He was the god incarnate. He was actually divine, and at times would figure in a local triad as one of its divinities. In his own kingdom and by complimentary potentates he was addressed as a “god” – he even offered incense to himself! There was deep meaning in Pharaoh’s enormous statues towering up in city and plain above temples and obelisks, and looking down on ordinary mortals! Pharaoh’s immense eyes gazed upon all Egypt, and. could be seen from afar watching all; his huge mouth commanded all, as he sat in his undisturbed repose, the mightiest, the most terrible, the supreme, none like him in all the earth.
Man in his majesty is ever proud, but never was there pride among men more powerful than in the Pharaohs. It is not easy in our. days even to conceive what an Egyptian monarch was. The kings and emperors of our times are insignificant in comparison with him. “Whom art thou like in thy greatness?” (Ezek. 31:22Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? (Ezekiel 31:2)) said the Almighty of a Pharaoh far less mighty than he of the Exodus. Such kings were denied improvement and high moral aspiration by the misfortune of their majesty, they were their own standards of excellence, self-gratification and their own glory ruled their lives; what they willed they did, whether the work was good or bad. There were elements of a most contemptible kind in the pride of the Pharaohs. They would demolish whole cities in order to erase the names of their predecessors, and would appropriate the monuments of former builders to themselves, by chiselling out their names and inserting their own instead! Even the names of gods, of whose priests the king was jealous, would be cut out of monuments, and those of other deities placed in the honored position. Neither Egypt’s religion nor Egypt’s history can be read aright unless the pride of its kings be considered.
The court was like the king. The chief nobles were Pharaohs in miniature. Their servants cringed before them, and crawled at their feet. These nobles dwelt in their sublime loftiness, as much like deities on a small scale as was possible, and they, too, were prayed to after death. By means of the heavily-paid priests, they appeared in the world to come in courtier state before the gods, and were waited upon by a host of slaves – at least, pictorially upon the walls of their tombs.
Such was the court, and such was the king before whom Moses stood.
A third time the word of Jehovah came to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh,” and this was the message: “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for I will at this time send all My plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth” (Ex. 9:13-1413And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. (Exodus 9:13‑14)). “As yet exaltest thou thyself” – like a dam to resist the waters, “behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now” (Ex. 9:1818Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. (Exodus 9:18)).
We know not Pharaoh’s reply, but the words recorded indicate there was a conversation between Moses and the king. Some of the court believed, and availed themselves of the advice to house their cattle and their servants; others despised the counsel, and lost all.
At its appointed time the storm burst. Fire and hail fell upon the ground; trees and herbage, man and beast exposed to its violence, were destroyed. Only in Goshen, “the land of flowers,” nature smiled. There, though the sound of the storm was heard, no wrath from heaven fell. The wall of partition separating Israel from Egypt rose right up to the sky.
Pharaoh attributed the unwonted thunderings to the very “voices of God” (margin). He quailed, and sought the intercession of Moses. He owned he had sinned – an astounding descent from his throne of pride – and Moses promised deliverance, but added, “As for thee” – and we may well suppose him looking round upon the court – “and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah Elohim,” (Ex. 9:3030But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. (Exodus 9:30)) the Sole and Only and Everlasting One, the Maker of All!
To such lengths did he go in the power of his God, that he would not even intercede within the walls of the idolatrous city, but lifted up his hands when outside of it, and at once the storm ceased. Then, true to the prophecy, Pharaoh and his court hardened their hearts.
The flax and barley crops being specially named, we can fix the date of this visitation; it was late in the month of January or early in February. The end was near; there were but four weeks more, and Israel would be free.
The land began to grow green again. Fruitful soil, life-giving water, and constant sunshine do wonders. Once more Egypt smiled and blossomed. Then Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh, and delivered their message. The tone was severe. It is impossible to imagine them twisting their hands and prostrating themselves before the king. “Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me,” and then the alternative – locusts! – and without waiting for reply, Moses “turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh (Ex. 10:3-63And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. 4Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast: 5And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: 6And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. (Exodus 10:3‑6)).
In modern times enormous flights of locusts have been known covering an area of over a thousand miles, and which when driven into the sea formed a bank of bodies upon the shore some four feet high, and fifty miles long! In India, a railway train was actually stopped by a piled up host of these insects, as by running into a snowdrift. But the locusts threatened were such as never had been before, and such as never again shall be. The consideration was terrible to the court. For the first time the flatterers around Pharaoh spoke out; the custom of the palace was set aside; a fear greater than that of the king impelled them, “Let the men go,” said they; “knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?” (Ex. 10:77And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? (Exodus 10:7)).
The ruffled king in the end sent for Moses and Aaron; an angry controversy ensued, and they were cast out of Pharaoh’s presence. But the twenty-four hours of grace were running out. Part of the time had been spent over the unwonted scene in that dignified assemblage. Royalty and nobles were learning in a personal way the discomfiture the magicians had already proved. Not any longer was the calm of a god upon Pharaoh’s countenance. Probably the court was too full of vexation to hear the ominous sound of the rising east wind, for Moses had already uplifted the rod at God’s bidding, the wind had arisen, and all the remaining hours of the day it blew, and continued all the night. Already Jehovah’s army of the skies, that had been lying at twenty-four hours’ distance, was on the wing. Obeying the call of the wind, the huge host arose, and, borne upon its gusts, the myriads sped on towards the land of Egypt.
In the early morning, true to its time, all along the eastern horizon a yellow fringe could be seen, rapidly expanding over the heavens, till, like a dense brown cloud, it covered the blue sky and obscured the light. The rush of the wings of the moving myriads was presently heard, and then in another moment the land was covered with devouring hosts, and filled with the noise of their resistless jaws. Every succulent thing fell before them. All that the hail had left was taken away. So far as the eye could reach, the land of Egypt was a wilderness, as barren as the yellow deserts upon its borders. Goshen – the garden of Egypt – also fell under the plague, for its fruits and its crops were no longer necessary for Israel.
Pharaoh trembled once more: he called in haste for Moses and Aaron. “I have sinned,” he said, “against Jehovah your God, and against you. Now, therefore, forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat Jehovah your God, that He may take away from me this death only” (Ex. 10:1; 6;171And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him: (Exodus 10:1)).
And Jehovah was entreated. “And Jehovah turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt” (Ex. 10:1919And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. (Exodus 10:19)).
In the last two plagues the air and the wind were used to work the divine will. The locust obeys the wind. Egypt’s deities of air and wind were set aside, as had been their deities of earth and water. The plague of the locusts, together with that of the hail, destroyed the sacred trees of the land. These were especially besought in the time of harvest, and to the sycamore, all ranks gave homage, and tribute of the fruits of the earth.
The heavenly bodies, so widely worshipped in Egypt, had hitherto not been dealt with by the plagues sent upon the land. The ninth plague, the completion of the number so important in connection with their deities, was to obliterate the host of heaven from the sight of their worshippers, and to put a stop to the chief religious ceremonies of the country. The temples were orientated to the sun, the moon, or to a special star, and their deities were connected with different heavenly bodies. The highest point of the religious ceremony in honor of the celestial deity, or personified orb, occurred at the moment when the particular heavenly body to which the temple was orientated, cast its first bright beam between the double rows of sphinxes and obelisks, through the great gateways and the inner entrances and their doors, and right into the narrowed recess at the extreme end of the building, where, in the sanctuary, the image of the emblem of the god was placed. At that moment, which occurred but on rare occasions during the year, the image shone brilliantly for some two minutes in the sun or star beam. All around was in deep shadow, and the incident of the shining of the image was called the “manifestation” of the god. This was the supreme moment. Forth streamed the procession in honor of the deity, crowds of priests with their varied vestments and offices poured forth, incense-bearers, banner-carriers, uplifters of sacred emblems, supporters of shrines, musicians and singers, a throng of thousands, all combining to create a show of unrivaled religious pomp. The straight line with an arrow head, on the diagram on the previous page-running right through the double row of sphinxes, through gateways, pairs of obelisks, and courts, and then through the pillars and the chambers in the body of the building indicates how the beam of light penetrated into the inner sanctuary of the edifice.
In sun worship various deities were represented: for example, at the time of the plagues, in its rising the sun was called Horus, on the horizon; in its light and heat, giving life and animation to the universe, it was called Ra; in its setting, it was called Tum. “I am Khopri in the morning, Ra at noon, Tumu in the evening,” was the declaration of the god of his titles, according to the legend.
The system of the Egyptian religion did not permit of any deity retaining its precise character through many human generations; there was a continuous evolutionary process at work, adding to and modifying, and changing the nature of the deity. Tum originally had no representation, that first known of him is merely the general idea of a god without an emblem, and this fact indicates clearly that “the hidden god” had at one time a sound and definite signification. “The hidden god” without a representation, being the most ancient of the Egyptian deities, points to days anterior to idolatry, but as hundreds of years elapsed, and the time of the Exodus approached, “the hidden god” had assumed a variety of forms in many temples.
The sun in its varied characters was the mysterious and incomprehensible being to whom Egypt paid highest religious honor. A festive hymn addressed to the sun god Tum will interest the reader, and will perhaps give a better insight into the spirit of the religion than a history of doctrinal development:
“Hail, thou who art come as Tum, and who hast been the creator of the gods!
Hail, thou who art come as soul, of the holy souls of Amenti
Hail, supreme among the gods, who by thy beauties dost illumine the kingdom of the dead!
Hail, greatest of all the gods, bearing rule in the highest, reigning in the nethermost heaven!
Hail, thou who dost penetrate within the nethermost heaven, and hast command of all the gates!
Hail, among the gods, weigher of words in the kingdom of the dead!”
Not only have we the stately hymns, we have also the prayers which were uttered to the sun. At the time of the plague of darkness, it was invoked as the substance of ages, the one who gave birth to himself. “The circle of the great gods has adored thee; the circle of the lesser gods has worshipped thee in all thy beautiful forms”.... “My heart is tranquil through all thy bread, receiving thy food in the gate of the house of obelisks off the table of the gods of On.” On is Heliopolis, the City of the Sun.
The adjoining illustration, with its eye-teaching, is too suggestive to be omitted. The peculiar form of sun-worship which it celebrates was not that in vogue at the time of the plague; however, life emanating from the sun was none the less a belief in that period. And there are monuments extant in Thebes analogous to this taken from Tell Amarna. The disc and the rays of the sun are portrayed, and at the ends of the rays are hands, and in some of these is the symbol of life, which is placed under the nostrils of the human being!
Earth’s earliest idolatry arose out of the exaltation of the glories and movements of the heavenly orbs, and to our own day the greater part of mankindgives these bodies homage, or offers them direct worship. Israel in its day fell into the sin of turning to the east, and forfeited in consequence the glory-cloud of Jehovah’s presence (Ezek. 8:16-18; 10:18-1916And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. 17Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. (Ezekiel 8:16‑18)
18Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. 19And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. (Ezekiel 10:18‑19)). The plague of God-sent darkness over the land, for three days and nights, blotted out the host of heaven from the sight of the worshippers, and put a stop upon the services of the temples, and we may assume, that at the time of its occurrence some grand ceremony in honor of the celestial bodies was about to take place.
At the bidding of Jehovah, and without a word of warning, Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven, and at once a darkness that could be felt chained every Egyptian to his place. None moved; all were bound, as it were, in a prison of outer gloom. For three days and nights, though the sun shone on high, and the moon and the stars gave forth their light, no ray penetrated the shroud that was swathed about Egypt. The darkness was the prelude to the coming death.
This sign of divine displeasure ended where the Egyptians dwelt. There the line of demarcation was drawn by God’s omnipotent hand; the Hebrews had light in their dwellings. The divine intention in this must have been apparent to all. On the one hand there was darkness which was about to end in death, on the other there was light which was the prelude to life and liberty. God describes His people as the children of light, and those who are not, as of darkness. There was no shading off between the darkness and the light in the plague. And as it was, so it is, there is no twilight, and all are, therefore, shut up to the one or the other – to living in the light, or to living in the darkness.
Divine judgments do not soften the human heart. Pharaoh called for Moses and said, “Go ye; serve Jehovah. Only let your flocks and your herds be stayed.” But upon these terms being rejected he was enraged. He dwelt in the darkness, and was as dark as it. Even in earthly things, evil men do not become converted to that which is good and lovely by a term of imprisonment. Pharaoh remained unchanged. He would not humble himself. He had developed impiety upon impiety, and, though he fain would have spared himself further suffering, he was determined in his resistance to the divine word, and only said to Moses, “Get thee from me; take heed to thyself; see my face no more, for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.” (Ex. 10:2828And 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. (Exodus 10:28)).
It will be well at this point to notice the process of heart-hardening which Scripture applies to Pharaoh. There are three words used in the Hebrew, which are rendered “harden” in relation to the king. Seven times it is said, “He hardeneth his own heart,” or “His heart hardened itself” (ch. 8:13 – where it should read, “Pharaoh’s heart resisted” – and verses 14,22; ch. 8:15,19,32; and ch. 9:7). After this sevenfold obduracy, and not till then, is it said, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” This is said four times (ch. 9:12,34-35; 10:1), and on the last occasion the hearts of Pharaoh’s servants are included in the judgment. It has been pointed out in this chapter how Pharaoh’s court intervened when the locusts were threatened; they would not, however, yield to Jehovah, they preferred the favor of Pharaoh, so that this hardening of their hearts on that occasion is very striking. A definite and willful obduracy is stamped upon Pharaoh’s spirit, and a determined rejection of the divine warnings, becoming deeper and deeper with sevenfold intensity; after that climax he and his court, which also rejected God, were delivered over to their doom.
At the beginning of this chapter reference was made to the resemblance existing between the gods and kings of Egypt. If we accept Meneptah, the son of Rameses the Great, as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, the man whose hand and will rose up to contend with the Almighty Jehovah, any information that may assist us better to comprehend his character will be interesting. The key to the pride possessing him was his belief that he was the incarnation of the deity. “The ruling Pharaoh of the day was the living image and the vice-regent of the sun.” He was “the living representation of the deity,” and was addressed in terms precisely similar to those wherewith they worshipped their god. An ode to him runs thus: –
Thou art, as it were, the image of thy father, the sun,
Who rises in heaven.
Thy beams penetrate the cavern.
No place is without thy goodness.
Thy sayings are the law of every land.
When thou reposest in thy palace
Thou hearest the words of all the lands.
Thou hast millions of ears.
Bright is thy eye above the stars of heaven,
Able to gaze at the solar orb.
If anything be spoken by the mouth in the cavern
It ascends into thy ears.
Whatsoever is done in secret thy eye seeth it,
O! Baenra Meriamen, merciful Lord, Creator of breath.
The translator adds that these words must not be regarded as merely courtly sentiment and flattery; people believed in the king’s divinity.