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Chapter 23
The Plagues of Egypt
[This chapter is based on Exodus 5 to 10.]
AARON, being instructed by angels, went forth to meet his brother, from
whom he had been so long separated; and they met amid the desert
solitudes, near Horeb. Here they communed together, and Moses told Aaron
"all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He
had commanded him." Exodus 4:28. Together they journeyed to Egypt; and
having reached the land of Goshen, they proceeded to assemble the elders
of Israel. Aaron repeated to them all the dealings of God with Moses,
and then the signs which God had given Moses were shown before the
people. "The people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had
visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their
affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped." Verse 31.
Moses had been charged also with a message for the king. The two
brothers entered the palace of the Pharaohs as ambassadors from the King
of kings, and they spoke in His name: "Thus saith Jehovah, God of
Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the
wilderness."
"Who is Jehovah, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?"
demanded the monarch; "I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel
go."
Their answer was, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go,
we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto
the Lord our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the
sword."
Tidings of them and of the interest they were exciting among the people
had already reached the king. His anger was kindled. "Wherefore do ye,
Moses and Aaron, let [hinder] the people from their works?" he said.
"Get you unto your burdens." Already the kingdom had suffered loss by
the interference of these strangers. At thought of this he added,
"Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from
their burdens."
In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of
God's law, and they had departed from its precepts. The Sabbath had been
generally disregarded, and the exactions of their taskmasters made its
observance apparently impossible. But Moses had shown his people that
obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance; and the efforts
made to restore the observance of the Sabbath had come to the notice of
their oppressors.
The king, thoroughly roused, suspected the Israelites of a design to
revolt from his service. Disaffection was the result of idleness; he
would see that no time was left them for dangerous scheming. And he at
once adopted measures to tighten their bonds and crush out their
independent spirit. The same day orders were issued that rendered their
labor still more cruel and oppressive. The most common building material
of that country was sun-dried brick; the walls of the finest edifices
were made of this, and then faced with stone; and the manufacture of
brick employed great numbers of the bondmen. Cut straw being intermixed
with the clay, to hold it together, large quantities of straw were
required for the work; the king now directed that no more straw be
furnished; the laborers must find it for themselves, while the same
amount of brick should be exacted.
This order produced great distress among the Israelites throughout the
land. The Egyptian taskmasters had appointed Hebrew officers to oversee
the work of the people, and these officers were responsible for the
labor performed by those under their charge. When the requirement of the
king was put in force, the people scattered themselves throughout the
land, to gather stubble instead of straw; but they found it impossible
to accomplish the usual amount of labor. For this failure the Hebrew
officers were cruelly beaten.
These officers supposed that their oppression came from their
taskmasters, and not from the king himself; and they went to him with
their grievances. Their remonstrance was met by Pharaoh with a taunt:
"Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice
to the Lord." They were ordered back to their work, with the declaration
that their burdens were in no case to be lightened. Returning, they met
Moses and Aaron, and cried out to them, "The Lord look upon you, and
judge; because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of
Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand
to slay us."
As Moses listened to these reproaches he was greatly distressed. The
sufferings of the people had been much increased. All over the land a
cry of despair went up from old and young, and all united in charging
upon him the disastrous change in their condition. In bitterness of soul
he went before God, with the cry, "Lord, wherefore hast Thou so evil
entreated this people? why is it that Thou hast sent me? For since I
came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people;
neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all." The answer was, "Now
shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall
he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his
land." Again he was pointed back to the covenant which God had made with
the fathers, and was assured that it would be fulfilled.
During all the years of servitude in Egypt there had been among the
Israelites some who adhered to the worship of Jehovah. These were solely
troubled as they saw their children daily witnessing the abominations of
the heathen, and even bowing down to their false gods. In their distress
they cried unto the Lord for deliverance from the Egyptian yoke, that
they might be freed from the corrupting influence of idolatry. They did
not conceal their faith, but declared to the Egyptians that the object
of their worship was the Maker of heaven and earth, the only true and
living God. They rehearsed the evidences of His existence and power,
from creation down to the days of Jacob. The Egyptians thus had an
opportunity to become acquainted with the religion of the Hebrews; but
disdaining to be instructed by their slaves, they tried to seduce the
worshipers of God by promises of reward, and, this failing, by threats
and cruelty.
The elders of Israel endeavored to sustain the sinking faith of their
brethren by repeating the promises made to their fathers, and the
prophetic words of Joseph before his death, foretelling their
deliverance from Egypt. Some would listen and believe. Others, looking
at the circumstances that surrounded them, refused to hope. The
Egyptians, being informed of what was reported among their bondmen,
derided their expectations and scornfully denied the power of their God.
They pointed to their situation as a nation of slaves, and tauntingly
said, "If your God is just and merciful, and possesses power above that
of the Egyptian gods, why does He not make you a free people?" They
called attention to their own condition. They worshiped deities termed
by the Israelites false gods, yet they were a rich and powerful nation.
They declared that their gods had blessed them with prosperity, and had
given them the Israelites as servants, and they gloried in their power
to oppress and destroy the worshipers of Jehovah. Pharaoh himself
boasted that the God of the Hebrews could not deliver them from his
hand.
Words like these destroyed the hopes of many of the Israelites. The case
appeared to them very much as the Egyptians had represented. It was true
that they were slaves, and must endure whatever their cruel taskmasters
might choose to inflict. Their children had been hunted and slain, and
their own lives were a burden. Yet they were worshiping the God of
heaven. If Jehovah were indeed above all gods, surely He would not thus
leave them in bondage to idolaters. But those who were true to God
understood that it was because of Israel's departure from Him--because
of their disposition to marry with heathen nations, thus being led into
idolatry--that the Lord had permitted them to become bondmen; and they
confidently assured their brethren that He would soon break the yoke of
the oppressor.
The Hebrews had expected to obtain their freedom without any special
trial of their faith or any real suffering or hardship. But they were
not yet prepared for deliverance. They had little faith in God, and were
unwilling patiently to endure their afflictions until He should see fit
to work for them. Many were content to remain in bondage rather than
meet the difficulties attending removal to a strange land; and the
habits of some had become so much like those of the Egyptians that they
preferred to dwell in Egypt. Therefore the Lord did not deliver them by
the first manifestation of His power before Pharaoh. He overruled events
more fully to develop the tyrannical spirit of the Egyptian king and
also to reveal Himself to His people. Beholding His justice, His power,
and His love, they would choose to leave Egypt and give themselves to
His service. The task of Moses would have been much less difficult had
not many of the Israelites become so corrupted that they were unwilling
to leave Egypt.
The Lord directed Moses to go again to the people and repeat the promise
of deliverance, with a fresh assurance of divine favor. He went as he
was commanded; but they would not listen. Says the Scripture, "They
hearkened not . . . for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage." Again
the divine message came to Moses, "Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of
Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land." In
discouragement he replied, "Behold, the children of Israel have not
hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me?" He was told to take
Aaron with him and go before Pharaoh, and again demand "that he send the
children of Israel out of his land."
He was informed that the monarch would not yield until God should visit
judgments upon Egypt and bring out Israel by the signal manifestation of
His power. Before the infliction of each plague, Moses was to describe
its nature and effects, that the king might save himself from it if he
chose. Every punishment rejected would be followed by one more severe,
until his proud heart would be humbled, and he would acknowledge the
Maker of heaven and earth as the true and living God. The Lord would
give the Egyptians an opportunity to see how vain was the wisdom of
their mighty men, how feeble the power of their gods, when opposed to
the commands of Jehovah. He would punish the people of Egypt for their
idolatry and silence their boasting of the blessings received from their
senseless deities. God would glorify His own name, that other nations
might hear of His power and tremble at His mighty acts, and that His
people might be led to turn from their idolatry and render Him pure
worship.
Again Moses and Aaron entered the lordly halls of the king of Egypt.
There, surrounded by lofty columns and glittering adornments, by the
rich paintings and sculptured images of heathen gods, before the monarch
of the most powerful kingdom then in existence, stood the two
representatives of the enslaved race, to repeat the command from God for
Israel's release. The king demanded a miracle, in evidence of their
divine commission. Moses and Aaron had been directed how to act in case
such a demand should be made, and Aaron now took the rod and cast it
down before Pharaoh. It became a serpent. The monarch sent for his "wise
men and the sorcerers," who "cast down every man his rod and they became
serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." Then the king, more
determined than before, declared his magicians equal in power with Moses
and Aaron; he denounced the servants of the Lord as impostors, and felt
himself secure in resisting their demands. Yet while he despised their
message, he was restrained by divine power from doing them harm.
It was the hand of God, and no human influence or power possessed by
Moses and Aaron, that wrought the miracles which they showed before
Pharaoh. Those signs and wonders were designed to convince Pharaoh that
the great "I AM" had sent Moses, and that it was the duty of the king to
let Israel go, that they might serve the living God. The magicians also
showed signs and wonders; for they wrought not by their own skill alone,
but by the power of their god, Satan, who assisted them in
counterfeiting the work of Jehovah.
The magicians did not really cause their rods to become serpents; but by
magic, aided by the great deceiver, they were able to produce this
appearance. It was beyond the power of Satan to change the rods to
living serpents. The prince of evil, though possessing all the wisdom
and might of an angel fallen, has not power to create, or to give life;
this is the prerogative of God alone. But all that was in Satan's power
to do, he did; he produced a counterfeit. To human sight the rods were
changed to serpents. Such they were believed to be by Pharaoh and his
court. There was nothing in their appearance to distinguish them from
the serpent produced by Moses. Though the Lord caused the real serpent
to swallow up the spurious ones, yet even this was regarded by Pharaoh,
not as a work of God's power, but as the result of a kind of magic
superior to that of his servants.
Pharaoh desired to justify his stubbornness in resisting the divine
command, and hence he was seeking some pretext for disregarding the
miracles that God had wrought through Moses. Satan gave him just what he
wanted. By the work that he wrought through the magicians he made it
appear to the Egyptians that Moses and Aaron were only magicians and
sorcerers, and that the message they brought could not claim respect as
coming from a superior being. Thus Satan's counterfeit accomplished its
purpose of emboldening the Egyptians in their rebellion and causing
Pharaoh to harden his heart against conviction. Satan hoped also to
shake the faith of Moses and Aaron in the divine origin of their
mission, that his instruments might prevail. He was unwilling that the
children of Israel should be released from bondage to serve the living
God.
But the prince of evil had a still deeper object in manifesting his
wonders through the magicians. He well knew that Moses, in breaking the
yoke of bondage from off the children of Israel, pre-figured Christ, who
was to break the reign of sin over the human family. He knew that when
Christ should appear, mighty miracles would be wrought as an evidence to
the world that God had sent Him. Satan trembled for his power. By
counterfeiting the work of God through Moses, he hoped not only to
prevent the deliverance of Israel, but to exert an influence through
future ages to destroy faith in the miracles of Christ. Satan is
constantly seeking to counterfeit the work of Christ and to establish
his own power and claims. He leads men to account for the miracles of
Christ by making them appear to be the result of human skill and power.
In many minds he thus destroys faith in Christ as the Son of God, and
leads them to reject the gracious offers of mercy through the plan of
redemption.
Moses and Aaron were directed to visit the riverside next morning, where
the king was accustomed to repair. The overflowing of the Nile being the
source of food and wealth for all Egypt, the river was worshiped as a
god, and the monarch came thither daily to pay his devotions. Here the
two brothers again repeated the message to him, and then they stretched
out the rod and smote upon the water. The sacred stream ran blood, the
fish died, and the river became offensive to the smell. The water in the
houses, the supply preserved in cisterns, was likewise changed to blood.
But "the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments," and
"Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to
this also." For seven days the plague continued, but without effect.
Again the rod was stretched out over the waters, and frogs came up from
the river and spread over the land. They overran the houses, took
possession of the bed chambers, and even the ovens and kneading troughs.
The frog was regarded as sacred by the Egyptians, and they would not
destroy it; but the slimy pests had now become intolerable. They swarmed
even in the palace of the Pharaohs, and the king was impatient to have
them removed. The magicians had appeared to produce frogs, but they
could not remove them. Upon seeing this, Pharaoh was somewhat humbled.
He sent for Moses and Aaron, and said, "Entreat the Lord, that He may
take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the
people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." After reminding
the king of his former boasting, they requested him to appoint a time
when they should pray for the removal of the plague. He set the next
day, secretly hoping that in the interval the frogs might disappear of
themselves, and thus save him from the bitter humiliation of submitting
to the God of Israel. The plague, however, continued till the time
specified, when throughout all Egypt the frogs died, but their putrid
bodies, which remained, polluted the atmosphere.
The Lord could have caused them to return to dust in a moment; but He
did not do this lest after their removal the king and his people should
pronounce it the result of sorcery or enchantment, like the work of the
magicians. The frogs died, and were then gathered together in heaps.
Here the king and all Egypt had evidence which their vain philosophy
could not gainsay, that this work was not accomplished by magic, but was
a judgment from the God of heaven.
"When Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart." At the
command of God, Aaron stretched out his hand, and the dust of the earth
became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called upon the
magicians to do the same, but they could not. The work of God was thus
shown to be superior to that of Satan. The magicians themselves
acknowledged, "This is the finger of God." But the king was still
unmoved.
Appeal and warning were ineffectual, and another judgment was inflicted.
The time of its occurrence was foretold, that it might not be said to
have come by chance. Flies filled the houses and swarmed upon the
ground, so that "the land was corrupted by reason of the swarms of
flies." These flies were large and venomous, and their bite was
extremely painful to man and beast. As had been foretold, this
visitation did not extend to the land of Goshen.
Pharaoh now offered the Israelites permission to sacrifice in Egypt, but
they refused to accept such conditions. "It is not meet," said Moses;
"lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their
eyes, and will they not stone us?" The animals which the Hebrews would
be required to sacrifice were among those regarded as sacred by the
Egyptians; and such was the reverence in which these creatures were
held, that to slay one, even accidentally, was a crime punishable with
death. It would be impossible for the Hebrews to worship in Egypt
without giving offense to their masters. Moses again proposed to go
three days' journey into the wilderness. The monarch consented, and
begged the servants of God to entreat that the plague might be removed.
They promised to do this, but warned him against dealing deceitfully
with them. The plague was stayed, but the king's heart had become
hardened by persistent rebellion, and he still refused to yield.
A more terrible stroke followed--murrain upon all the Egyptian cattle
that were in the field. Both the sacred animals and the beasts of
burden--kine and oxen and sheep, horses and camels and asses--were
destroyed. It had been distinctly stated that the Hebrews were to be
exempt; and Pharaoh, on sending messengers to the home of the
Israelites, proved the truth of this declaration of Moses. "Of the
cattle of the children of Israel died not one." Still the king was
obstinate.
Moses was next directed to take ashes of the furnace, and "sprinkle it
toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh." This act was deeply significant.
Four hundred years before, God had shown to Abraham the future
oppression of His people, under the figure of a smoking furnace and a
burning lamp. He had declared that He would visit judgments upon their
oppressors, and would bring forth the captives with great substance. In
Egypt, Israel had long languished in the furnace of affliction. This act
of Moses was an assurance to them that God was mindful of His covenant,
and that the time for their deliverance had come.
As the ashes were sprinkled toward heaven, the fine particles spread
over all the land of Egypt, and wherever they settled, produced boils
"breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast." The priests and
magicians had hitherto encouraged Pharaoh in his stubbornness, but now a
judgment had come that reached even them. Smitten with a loathsome and
painful disease, their vaunted power only making them contemptible, they
were no longer able to contend against the God of Israel. The whole
nation was made to see the folly of trusting in the magicians, when they
were not able to protect even their own persons.
Still the heart of Pharaoh grew harder. And now the Lord sent a message
to him, declaring, "I will at this time send all My plagues upon thy
heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know
that there is none like Me in all the earth. . . . And in very deed for
this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power." Not
that God had given him an existence for this purpose, but His providence
had overruled events to place him upon the throne at the very time
appointed for Israel's deliverance. Though this haughty tyrant had by
his crimes forfeited the mercy of God, yet his life had been preserved
that through his stubbornness the Lord might manifest His wonders in the
land of Egypt. The disposing of events is of God's providence. He could
have placed upon the throne a more merciful king, who would not have
dared to withstand the mighty manifestations of divine power. But in
that case the Lord's purposes would not have been accomplished. His
people were permitted to experience the grinding cruelty of the
Egyptians, that they might not be deceived concerning the debasing
influence of idolatry. In His dealing with Pharaoh, the Lord manifested
His hatred of idolatry and His determination to punish cruelty and
oppression.
God had declared concerning Pharaoh, "I will harden his heart, that he
shall not let the people go." Exodus 4:21. There was no exercise of
supernatural power to harden the heart of the king. God gave to Pharaoh
the most striking evidence of divine power, but the monarch stubbornly
refused to heed the light. Every display of infinite power rejected by
him, rendered him the more determined in his rebellion. The seeds of
rebellion that he sowed when he rejected the first miracle, produced
their harvest. As he continued to venture on in his own course, going
from one degree of stubbornness to another, his heart became more and
more hardened, until he was called to look upon the cold, dead faces of
the first-born.
God speaks to men through His servants, giving cautions and warnings,
and rebuking sin. He gives to each an opportunity to correct his errors
before they become fixed in the character; but if one refuses to be
corrected, divine power does not interpose to counteract the tendency of
his own action. He finds it more easy to repeat the same course. He is
hardening the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit. A further
rejection of light places him where a far stronger influence will be
ineffectual to make an abiding impression.
He who has once yielded to temptation will yield more readily the second
time. Every repetition of the sin lessens his power of resistance,
blinds his eyes, and stifles conviction. Every seed of indulgence sown
will bear fruit. God works no miracle to prevent the harvest.
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Galatians 6:7. He
who manifests an infidel hardihood, a stolid indifference to divine
truth, is but reaping the harvest of that which he has himself sown. It
is thus that multitudes come to listen with stoical indifference to the
truths that once stirred their very souls. They sowed neglect and
resistance to the truth, and such is the harvest which they reap.
Those who are quieting a guilty conscience with the thought that they
can change a course of evil when they choose, that they can trifle with
the invitations of mercy, and yet be again and again impressed, take
this course at their peril. They think that after casting all their
influence on the side of the great rebel, in a moment of utmost
extremity, when danger compasses them about, they will change leaders.
But this is not so easily done. The experience, the education, the
discipline of a life of sinful indulgence, has so thoroughly molded the
character that they cannot then receive the image of Jesus. Had no light
shone upon their pathway, the case would have been different. Mercy
might interpose, and give them an opportunity to accept her overtures;
but after light has been long rejected and despised, it will be finally
withdrawn.
A plague of hail was next threatened upon Pharaoh, with the warning,
"Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle, and all that thou hast in
the field; for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the
field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon
them, and they shall die." Rain or hail was unusual in Egypt, and such a
storm as was foretold had never been witnessed. The report spread
rapidly, and all who believed the word of the Lord gathered in their
cattle, while those who despised the warning left them in the field.
Thus in the midst of judgment the mercy of God was displayed, the people
were tested, and it was shown how many had been led to fear God by the
manifestation of His power.
The storm came as predicted--thunder and hail, and fire mingled with it,
"very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt
since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of
Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote
every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field." Ruin and
desolation marked the path of the destroying angel. The land of Goshen
alone was spared. It was demonstrated to the Egyptians that the earth is
under the control of the living God, that the elements obey His voice,
and that the only safety is in obedience to Him.
All Egypt trembled before the awful outpouring of divine judgment.
Pharaoh hastily sent for the two brothers, and cried out, "I have sinned
this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty
thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no
longer." The answer was, "As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will
spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease,
neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the
earth is the Lord's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye
will not yet fear the Lord God."
Moses knew that the contest was not ended. Pharaoh's confessions and
promises were not the effect of any radical change in his mind or heart,
but were wrung from him by terror and anguish. Moses promised, however,
to grant his request; for he would give him no occasion for further
stubbornness. The prophet went forth, unheeding the fury of the tempest,
and Pharaoh and all his host were witnesses to the power of Jehovah to
preserve His messenger. Having passed without the city, Moses "spread
abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and
the rain was not poured upon the earth." But no sooner had the king
recovered from his fears than his heart returned to its perversity.
Then 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; and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and
of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and My signs
which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am Jehovah."
The Lord was manifesting His power, to confirm the faith of Israel in
Him as the only true and living God. He would give unmistakable evidence
of the difference He placed between them and the Egyptians, and would
cause all nations to know that the Hebrews, whom they had despised and
oppressed, were under the protection of the God of heaven.
Moses warned the monarch that if he still remained obstinate, a plague
of locusts would be sent, which would cover the face of The earth and
eat up every green thing that remained; they would fill the houses, even
the palace itself; such a scourge, he said, as "neither thy fathers, nor
thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the
earth unto this day."
The counselors of Pharaoh stood aghast. The nation had sustained great
loss in the death of their cattle. Many of the people had been killed by
the hail. The forests were broken down and the crops destroyed. They
were fast losing all that had been gained by the labor of the Hebrews.
The whole land was threatened with starvation. Princes and courtiers
pressed about the king and angrily demanded, "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?"
Moses and Aaron were again summoned, and the monarch said to them, "Go,
serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go?"
The answer was, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our
sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we
go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord."
The king was filled with rage. "Let the Lord be so with you," he cried,
"as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is
before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that
ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence."
Pharaoh had endeavored to destroy the Israelites by hard labor, but he
now pretended to have a deep interest in their welfare and a tender care
for their little ones. His real object was to keep the women and
children as surety for the return of the men.
Moses now stretched forth his rod over the land, and an east wind blew,
and brought locusts. "Very grievous were they; before them there were no
such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such." They filled the
sky till the land was darkened, and devoured every green thing
remaining. Pharaoh sent for the prophets in haste, and said, "I have
sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore,
forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your
God, that He may take away from me this death only." They did so, and a
strong west wind carried away the locusts toward the Red Sea. Still the
king persisted in his stubborn resolution.
The people of Egypt were ready to despair. The scourges that had already
fallen upon them seemed almost beyond endurance, and they were filled
with fear for the future. The nation had worshiped Pharaoh as a
representative of their god, but many were now convinced that he was
opposing himself to One who made all the powers of nature the ministers
of His will. The Hebrew slaves, so miraculously favored, were becoming
confident of deliverance. Their taskmasters dared not oppress them as
heretofore. Throughout Egypt there was a secret fear that the enslaved
race would rise and avenge their wrongs. Everywhere men were asking with
bated breath, What will come next?
Suddenly a darkness settled upon the land, so thick and black that it
seemed a "darkness which may be felt." Not only were the people deprived
of light, but the atmosphere was very oppressive, so that breathing was
difficult. "They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place
for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their
dwellings." The sun and moon were objects of worship to the Egyptians;
in this mysterious darkness the people and their gods alike were smitten
by the power that had undertaken the cause of the bondmen. Yet fearful
as it was, this judgment is an evidence of God's compassion and His
unwillingness to destroy. He would give the people time for reflection
and repentance before bringing upon them the last and most terrible of
the plagues.
Fear at last wrung from Pharaoh a further concession. At the end of the
third day of darkness he summoned Moses, and consented to the departure
of the people, provided the flocks and herds were permitted to remain.
"There shall not an hoof be left behind," replied the resolute Hebrew.
"We know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither."
The king's anger burst forth beyond control. "Get thee from me," he
cried, "take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou
seest my face thou shalt die."
The answer was, "Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no
more."
"The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of
Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." Moses was regarded
with awe by the Egyptians. The king dared not harm him, for the people
looked upon him as alone possessing power to remove the plagues. They
desired that the Israelites might be permitted to leave Egypt. It was
the king and the priests that opposed to the last the demands of Moses.
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