What a horrible time! I cannot imagine. Egypt is struck by plague after plague, to be culminated in three days of darkness, where no one can see the hand before their face (no one but the Israelites, that is), and then the firstborn of every family dies. "...There was not a house where someone was not dead." That's a lot of people. I think of the movie, "The Prince of Egypt" that represents the Lord coming and taking the breath of the firstborn as they sleep. Definitely a little hair-raising, that scene. But if you think about the fact that the Egyptians had been sitting in darkness for three days, unable to move or work, the horror of this new darkness of grief is compounded, making three days without light possibly laughable. Every time I read this passage I think about that juxtaposition: physical darkness, and the darkness of grief. I think it would have left Egypt in desolation in the wake of Israel's exodus.
Do you think any of the Egyptians heard about the blood and hyssop branches? I think of those among the Egyptians that feared God enough to bring their servants and their animals in from the fields when warning came of the hail. Wouldn't they have done the same if they had heard the instructions for safeguarding their homes and their children? The Bible says Moses and Aaron brought together the elders of Israel. It would seem that the instructions then trickled down from the elders. They were, after all, preparing to flee by night.
I wonder what Egypt was like when the smoke cleared. Once the Hebrews were gone and the plagues over. God promised to show Himself as Lord GOD there among them. But it doesn't seem to have lasted beyond a generation, does it? It makes you quite sad, first for those who saw the power of God and did not turn or bend the knee, and for those who came after who were never taught.
Tomorrow's Reading: Exodus 12:31-13:16
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