Darkness That Could Be Felt, and Light in Goshen

Observe the ninth plague. God tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt, darkness that can be felt. For three days no one can see anyone else or move from their place. Yet the Israelites have light where they live. Pharaoh offers a partial release, the people but not the animals, and Moses refuses, because they will need their livestock to worship. Pharaoh orders Moses out of his sight and threatens him with death if he returns. Moses agrees that he will not appear before him again.

Interpreting, remember that the sun was Egypt's chief deity and Pharaoh was regarded as his son. Three days of darkness is a direct strike at the heart of Egypt's religion, and it comes without warning, unlike the earlier plagues. The distinction between Egypt and Goshen has been building since the flies in chapter 8; here it becomes total. Where God's people are, there is light. The theme runs on through Scripture: light shining in darkness in Isaiah 9:2, and the light of the world in John 8:12.

Applying it, the passage asks whether we live as people who have light, not because we are better than our neighbors, but because God has made a distinction and placed us on the side of it. It also warns against partial obedience. Pharaoh kept trying to negotiate a smaller exodus. Moses would not take one.

Where is God asking you for a whole obedience rather than a negotiated one? How can the light you have been given serve people who are sitting in the dark? And what does it mean that Egypt's god went dark while God's people could see?