Estimated reading time: about 20-22 minutes
Exodus 10:21 YHVH said to Moshe, “Reach out your hand toward the sky, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness so thick it can be felt!” 22 Moshe reached out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. 23 People couldn’t see each other, and no one went anywhere for three days. But all the people of Isra’el had light in their homes.
It’s now lights out.
Darkness, complete and heavy darkness, covered the land. So heavy, in fact, that it could be felt. What does it mean for the darkness to be felt?
The final phrase וְיָמֵשׁ חֹשֶׁךְ (v’yamēsh choshekh) is unusual. The verb מָשַׁשׁ (māshash) means to feel, to grope, to touch. It is used in contexts where someone must physically reach out, often in darkness or blindness. Thus the phrase is literally: “and the darkness will be felt” or “and the darkness will be groped.”
So the text isn’t just saying it was dark. It was tangible, oppressive, and sensory, as though the darkness itself had substance.
This verb appears in several key places, often tied to blindness, confusion, or judgment:
In all these contexts, “feeling” or “groping” is connected with judgment, blindness, and the removal of God’s guiding presence. Exodus 10 uses the same verb, but uniquely flips it. Here it is not humans doing the groping, but the darkness itself becomes something to be groped or felt, almost as though it enveloped them physically.
If we map this forward through the Septuagint (LXX), we see. Exodus 10:21 in the LXX reads:
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν· ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ γενηθήτω σκότος ἐπὶ γῆν Αἰγύπτου ψηλαφητὸν σκότος.
Key phrase: ψηλαφητὸν σκότος (psēlaphēton skotos) = “darkness that can be touched / felt.”
The word ψηλαφάω (psēlapháō) means “to feel, handle, grope,” the exact Greek counterpart of Hebrew māshash. This same verb is used in Luke 24 where Yeshua says, “Touch me and see (ψηλαφήσατέ με), for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” It’s also in Acts 17: “That they should seek God, and perhaps feel (ψηλαφήσειαν) after Him and find Him.” So the LXX preserves the idea that this was not ordinary nightfall, but an oppressive, tangible darkness.
Typically, throughout the Bible, darkness as judgment is usually metaphorical (blindness, confusion, loss of guidance). But here, the plague collapses metaphor and reality into one. People could literally “feel” the judgment of God pressing upon them. What does this look like practically?
Exodus gives a foreshadowing of this reality: darkness that is not just absence of light, but an active, suffocating environment.
This is what rested on the homes of those still holding on to their remaining gods.
Darkness makes a few key appearances throughout the Bible. Darkness is generally portrayed as both judgment and absence, yet always contrasted with God’s light that overcomes it.
The Bible opens with darkness: “The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water”. Light is the very first thing God speaks into being. This sets the stage for all of Scripture showing that darkness is not equal to light, but it is the backdrop against which His creative power shines. It represents chaos, formlessness, and potential unfilled until ordered by His word.
Darkness frequently marks divine judgment. Not just in the 9th plague, but the prophets also echo this imagery:
Darkness is not just physical absence of light but the removal of God’s blessing, protection, and presence, leaving only terror and disorientation.
Scripture also describes darkness as a state of the heart and mind.
Darkness here represents ignorance of God, rebellion, and bondage under sin. It is the condition from which humanity needs deliverance.
The crucifixion brings one of Scripture’s most profound uses of darkness. From noon until three in the afternoon, “darkness covered all the Land”. This was more than an atmospheric oddity, it was the creation itself mourning, the judgment of sin being poured out, and the cosmic sign that Messiah was bearing the full weight of separation from the Father. The temporary triumph of darkness prepared the way for resurrection light.
Yeshua said, “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life”. Paul even describes salvation as a transfer between these domains: “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son”. Darkness is bondage, ignorance, and death; light is freedom, revelation, and life. Believers are urged to cast off the works of darkness and live as children of light.
In John’s prophetic vision, darkness signals the final judgment. Revelation speaks of the beast’s kingdom plunged into darkness. But the climax of the story is the complete end of darkness. In the New Jerusalem, “The city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s Sh’khinah gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb”. The ultimate promise is not just an absence of night but the permanent presence of God’s radiant glory.
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As we see here, light and darkness are two competing Kingdoms. The battle is fierce between them and they each want the prize of victory. And for what are they competing?
Simple. You.
You see, the war in the Heavenlies has already been won. But the war in your heart and mind is raging. We are the battleground. And there is no limit as to how far Abba will go to win you over. Likewise, there is no limit for the Adversary either.
Have you noticed how easy it is to tumble in this space? On the one hand, you know for absolute certain YHVH’s Kingdom is the only kingdom that will stand. There is zero question in your mind about this. But on the other hand, life can be hard. Very hard.
Of course, it could be that God is simply shaping you and growing you but this still begs the questions: Shaping you away from what? Growing you out of what?
What is it about you right now that needs to change? So much so that He’s willing to press into those painful (and perhaps prideful) areas for you. The backdrop has to be that of darkness and He’s wooing you into the light. As we have seen, that darkness can easily be cloaked in the gods (spirits) of this world. All of those hooks into darkness have been the focus of this tumbling through the plagues. And we’ve seen how hard it is to lay them down.
Giving up the cultural worship around the details of your life is hard but we need to shed those if we plan to serve and worship ONE God. Besides, when we land in the place of brokenness, that’s usually enough to get a lot of people to surrender to God. The trouble is when we end up landing on yet another god instead of THE God. Here again, our cultural comfort makes another appearance and can bring even more darkness than we thought we experienced before.
We’ve spent a bit of time unpacking lower-grade idol worship (mindset, comfort, money, wealth, health, legacy, etc) but these are simply smokescreens for what hides behind them all. When you dig deep you tend to find that most people have one singular God/god they ultimately worship. Now it could be themselves, their career, a political party, your country, your denomination, or even a spouse or kids. It doesn’t necessarily need to be spiritual in nature to qualify as a god, but nonetheless, it is that the God/god serves as the supreme decision element in your life. (We’ll address this more below.)
Together, these lower level idols combined with the one “big god” mirror the false pantheons of ancient times. The big gods demand allegiance of the whole heart, while the “smaller gods” function like household idols, daily objects of devotion that keep people tethered to their greater master.
With household idols easily defeated through the first 8 plagues, it’s time to turn our focus on the big god -- the one that truly owns a person’s soul.
With the plague of darkness, YHVH directly confronted the heart of Egypt’s religion by silencing their greatest gods of light and kingship.
At the center stood Ra, the chief solar deity and king of the gods, who was believed to sustain all life by his daily journey across the sky in his solar barque. Each sunrise represented his victory over darkness and chaos, and each sunset began his nightly voyage through the underworld, where he battled the serpent Apophis. If Ra were ever defeated, the sun would fail to rise and creation itself would collapse.
Pharaoh was considered the “son of Ra,” invested with his authority and ruling as the earthly embodiment of the sun god. To ensure Ra’s strength and the order of creation, daily worship was offered in great centers such as Heliopolis, with food, incense, hymns, and rituals overseen by Pharaoh himself.
Horus, likewise, was central to the theology of kingship and divine protection. Depicted as a falcon, Horus embodied the sky, with his right eye symbolizing the sun and his left eye the moon. His mythology told of a cosmic battle with Seth, the god of chaos, in which he lost his eye only for it to be restored, giving rise to the “Eye of Horus,” a powerful symbol of protection and healing.
Pharaoh was considered the living Horus, enthroned as the god’s representative to maintain ma’at, the divine order of the universe. Through Horus, Pharaoh’s reign was said to be divinely protected, and his cult was celebrated widely across Egypt, particularly at Edfu. Amulets bearing the “Eye of Horus” were worn to safeguard against evil and disorder, reflecting how deeply this god permeated everyday life.
The plague of darkness struck directly at these pillars of Egyptian belief. For three days, the sun did not rise; it was darkness that could be felt. This was not a simple eclipse or sandstorm but a supernatural void, a total dismantling of Ra’s power and a humiliating exposure of Pharaoh’s impotence as both the son of Ra and the embodiment of Horus.
The very gods who supposedly sustained creation and legitimized Pharaoh’s throne were powerless before the God of Israel. The message delivered was that YHVH alone commanded the heavens and the earth, and Egypt’s entire system of worship, from its temples to its throne, was nothing before Him.
So here we have Ra, the god of gods who perpetually defeats the serpent, and whose son is Pharaoh. We also have Horus who flies through the sky with an eye towards those on the earth offering protection from evil.
Sound familiar?
Ra, the great sun god, was portrayed as the source of life, order, and daily renewal. Egyptians looked to him as the sustainer of creation, the one who brought light out of darkness and maintained cosmic balance. In this, Ra was a twisted mirror of YHVH, the true Creator who spoke light into existence and upholds all things by His word. Where Ra was thought to sail across the heavens, fighting against chaos each night to return in the morning, YHVH needs no such struggle as His dominion is absolute, His word unstoppable, His victory final. Egypt exalted Ra as “king of the gods” and father of Pharaoh, but in reality, it was YHVH who alone is King over heaven and earth, the true source of all life.
Horus, on the other hand, functioned as the embodiment of divine presence on earth. He was the falcon god of the sky, Pharaoh’s protector, and the one through whom divine authority was exercised in the kingdom. Pharaoh was called the “living Horus,” and Horus’s eye, restored after being struck, became the enduring symbol of protection, healing, and order.
In this, Horus was a counterfeit of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), who is the true divine presence sent to empower, protect, guide, and bring restoration. Just as the Spirit upholds God’s people with wisdom, healing, and discernment, Horus was imagined as the force who gave Pharaoh legitimacy and safeguarded Egypt’s order.
When the plague of darkness struck, both of these Egyptian counterfeits were exposed. The sun god Ra could not shine, revealing he was no sustainer of creation. The supposed protective power of Horus failed, leaving Pharaoh powerless before Moses and YHVH. The counterfeit “light” and “presence” of Egypt were eclipsed, and in their place the true Light and true Spirit of God were revealed through His acts of judgment and deliverance.
What’s interesting about this dismantling though, is that these gods are not limited to Egypt. These gods cover the entire earth and the message sent to the Egyptians was actually a message to all nations.
All throughout history, cultures have revered the sun as the source of life, warmth, and power.
The prominence of sun gods across so many cultures reveals how deeply humanity has tied the rhythm of life to the rising and setting of the sun. The sun determined planting and harvest, structured calendars, and symbolized kingship, order, and the triumph of light over darkness. Because of this, solar worship often spilled into political power: rulers claimed divine legitimacy by associating themselves with the sun. Pharaohs of Egypt, Roman emperors, and Incan kings all wrapped their authority in solar imagery, presenting themselves as chosen by or descended from the sun. This pattern made the sun not just a natural phenomenon but a cornerstone of law, society, and rulership.
Even today, echoes of these ancient sun cults remain woven into our lives. The modern calendar, structured around solar cycles, is rooted in this ancient reverence. Festivals tied to solstices and equinoxes, such as midsummer or winter celebrations, still shape cultural life worldwide. The very idea of “enlightenment,” or light as a metaphor for knowledge and truth, is a residue of the same worldview that exalted the sun as the giver of wisdom. Corporate symbols, national flags, and even philosophical ideals often draw on solar imagery, showing that the ancient instinct to find meaning and power in the sun has not disappeared.
The plague of darkness in Egypt, therefore, was not merely a local blow to Ra and Horus but a divine statement to all nations and all ages. The God of Israel demonstrated that He alone holds creation together, independent of the sun’s rising or setting. While humanity has consistently worshiped the light in the sky, Scripture redirects us to the true Light -- the One who spoke the sun into existence and who needs no created luminary to sustain life or rule the earth.
This thread runs all throughout the Bible.
In the opening lines of Genesis we see that light is created by God’s Word before the sun itself is even set in place. The sun was given as a servant. a marker of times and seasons, but never meant to be worshiped as master. Humanity, however, consistently turned its gaze upward, mistaking the created ball of fire for the Creator Himself. The plague of darkness in Egypt shattered that illusion. When YHVH blotted out the sun, He demonstrated that creation bends to His command and that Ra, the greatest of Egypt’s gods, was powerless.
In his farewell speech, Moses even warned Israel to not follow this tragic path:
Deuteronomy 4:15 “Therefore, watch out for yourselves! Since you did not see a shape of any kind on the day Adonai spoke to you in Horev from the fire, 16 do not become corrupt and make yourselves a carved image having the shape of any figure — not a representation of a human being, male or female, 17 or a representation of any animal on earth, or a representation of any bird that flies in the air, 18 or a representation of anything that creeps along on the ground, or a representation of any fish in the water below the shoreline. 19 For the same reason, do not look up at the sky, at the sun, moon, stars and everything in the sky, and be drawn away to worship and serve them; Adonai your God has allotted these to all the peoples under the entire sky. 20 No, you Adonai has taken and brought out of the smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for him, as you are today.
The prophets also picked up this theme, warning Israel not to be drawn into the sun-worship of surrounding nations:
Jeremiah 8:1 “At that time,” says Adonai, “[these enemies] will remove the bones of the kings of Y’hudah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the cohanim, the bones of the prophets and the bones of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim from their graves. 2 They will spread them out, exposed to the sun, the moon and the entire army of heaven, whom they loved, served, walked after, sought after and worshipped. The bones will not be collected or reburied but will be left lying on the ground like dung. 3 All the survivors of this evil family who remain wherever I have driven them will prefer death to life,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
They looked ahead to a day when even the sun would no longer be the primary source of light. Isaiah declared,
Isaiah 60:19 No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give light by night; YHVH will be your eternal light, your God will be your glory.
In Revelation, John echoes this vision, describing the New Jerusalem:
Revelation 21:23 The city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s Sh’khinah gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
The very imagery that once empowered false gods and earthly kings is shown to be fulfilled only in Messiah, the true Light of the world.
Ancient empires built their calendars, festivals, and even claims to political legitimacy around the sun, believing it to be the source of life and power. But in the end, Scripture reveals a kingdom where the sun is no longer central, where God Himself is the unending source of light, life, and order. The plague of darkness was a foreshadow of this truth: YHVH alone sustains creation, and even the brightest lights of heaven are only temporary witnesses to His eternal glory.
We briefly mentioned the big gods that tend to live in the hearts of men today. Here is how Ra gallops undetected in our culture today:
The modern mantra of “you do you” elevates the self as ultimate authority. Happiness, self-expression, and freedom from all constraints become divine pursuits.
Work is not just a means of provision but the central measure of worth. People sacrifice family, health, and even conscience at its altar.
Politics becomes religion when people see their party or ideology as the sole hope for salvation. Loyalty here eclipses loyalty to God or truth.
For many, the pursuit of a partner or the preservation of a relationship takes ultimate priority, often functioning as a substitute savior.
Nationalism or cultural pride can elevate “our people” above God, demanding allegiance that shapes morality, priorities, and loyalties.
And what happens when judgment falls?
Sadly, it’s only when a lifetime of service to these gods has been met that the result of its trouble appears. It’s easy to argue that if judgment had simply come earlier, we may have corrected quickly and we wouldn’t be wrestling with the weight of darkness over our lives. Maybe, but doubtful. You see, judgment has been coming all along with the other plagues, and yet we still wake up each day and run off to try and serve those other gods. The pressure of living is the thief of life.
So, using the examples above, what would be the equivalent darkness that would confront those Ra’s?
When judgment comes, the god of self is exposed as powerless. The cry of “you do you” rings hollow in the face of death and eternity. The darkness presses in, and no amount of self-expression or independence can push it back. Like Pharaoh in the plague, autonomy becomes paralysis, unable to save, unable to move, trapped in a suffocating void. Our lives start to crash in around us so we seek medication, alcohol, or other substances to try and mask the emotional pain we’ve created.
The idol of career thrives in light, where achievements can be displayed, titles admired, and productivity measured. But in darkness, none of those accomplishments matter. Bank accounts, résumés, and accolades vanish into irrelevance when God withdraws His light. The work-driven life ends in futility, exposed as empty striving that cannot sustain when judgment falls. We sit in the wake of something we cannot undo, wondering how on earth we missed it. Self-condemnation (or self-justification) sits front and center in all of your closest relationships.
Many trust their political allegiances to bring order, justice, or hope. Yet in the day of darkness, no party platform or ideology can save. The speeches, policies, and promises collapse in silence when confronted by the God who governs nations. The weight of darkness reveals how small human kingdoms are before His throne. We make excuses for the evil of our team while sitting in judgment of the other. Relationships are strained and we become attracted to echo chambers of people that share our own views. Judgment of others becomes our life’s passion and we ultimately die alone.
Love and intimacy can be good gifts, but when enthroned as ultimate, they too fail under judgment. In the plague of darkness, families sat frozen together yet unable to help one another. Likewise, the partner or relationship worshiped as savior cannot deliver from the suffocating absence of God’s presence. Relationships are stripped of divine weight they were never meant to carry. There is no way another person can meet all of your needs so a fall is inevitable.
National pride or cultural identity often seems like a light, uniting people under banners and causes. But when God’s judgment comes, nations collapse like Egypt did, their gods humiliated, their rulers exposed. Darkness falls on all borders alike, showing that no identity group, ethnicity, or nation is ultimate. Only God’s kingdom endures.
From the beginning, the sun was never meant to be worshiped. It was a created servant, a signpost pointing to the greater reality of God’s own light. When John opens his Gospel, he writes:
John 1:1, 4-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it.
Yeshua is the true Light that Ra pretended to be, not bound to the daily cycle of rising and setting, but eternal, uncreated, and victorious over all chaos.
The same is true for Horus. Pharaoh claimed to be the “living Horus,” divinely protected by his presence, but it was only a shadow of what God would later give His people through the Ruach. At Shavuot, the Spirit was poured out on the disciples, empowering them to speak boldly, heal, and carry the presence of God across the nations.
Where Horus was said to restore his broken eye to heal and protect Egypt, the Spirit truly restores broken lives, sealing believers as children of God and guiding them into all truth.
Revelation brings this full circle. John’s vision of the New Jerusalem describes a city that “has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s Sh’khinah gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb”.
In other words, what the nations longed for and counterfeited in their sun gods will one day be revealed in fullness: God Himself as the unending Light, and His Spirit as the eternal presence with His people.
The plague of darkness, then, was both a judgment on Egypt’s false gods and a prophetic signpost pointing forward to the day when all counterfeits will fall away, and only the true Light and Spirit will remain.
If you are under the weight of darkness in any area of your life, look to where Ra may be seated. Repent of that allegiance, and give that part of your life over to the only One that can save.
This is critical because there is no chance you’re ready for what comes next.