I. Questions
We usually assume that the ten plagues move progressively from the least harsh to the harshest. The plague of Dam (blood) was relatively mild, for no one died and everyone was able to get drinking water from other sources of water besides the Nile, while the final plague, Makkat Bechorot (death of the firstborn), was clearly the most deadly1. That being the case, we would expect that the second-to-last plague (plague #9), Choshech (darkness), to be the second harshest plague. But is this true? How bad was the plague of darkness? Did it cause mass havoc and destruction? Why does darkness deserve to be the second-to-last plague? What did the plague accomplish?
A close look at the Pesukim themselves will supply us with little information, for they are quite brief and terse (Shemot 10:21-23):
"Then Hashem said to Moshe: Hold out your arm towards the sky that there may be darkness upon the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be touched. Moshe held out his arm toward the sky and thick darkness descended upon all the land of Egypt for three days. People could not see one another, and for three days no one could get up from where he was; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their areas."
To make matters even more difficult, there are two famous Midrashim reflect this lack of deadliness. One Midrash states that the reason for the plague of darkness was to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, that Abraham's descendents would leave "with many riches" (Bereishith 15:14). How did Bnai Yisrael get these riches? The Midrash explains that during the plague of darkness, as the Egyptians were frozen in their place, Bnai Yisrael searched the Egyptian homes for hidden money and later asked them for that money2.
The other reason offered by the Midrash for the plague of darkness is so that Hashem could kill the wicked Israelites without the Egyptians noticing3. What these two Midrashim have in common is they reflect that Chazal too had a difficulty finding the harshness of the plague of darkness, so they instead found two ancillary benefits of the plague. This only further begs the question - what was so bad about the plague of darkness?
II. Approach #1
Commentators have suggested a number of attempts to demonstrate how the plague of darkness was really harmful and therefore deserved to be the second-to-last plague.
1. Some Midrashim expound on the supernatural nature of the darkness. They state that the darkness was so thick that the Egyptians were unable to even move4. R. Samson Raphael Hirsch eloquently describes: "It was the most complete, the most comprehensive literal suffering. It meant each man being held, chained and fasting, to the spot in which he happened to be."
2. Other Midrashim say that the darkness was from Gehenim (Hell), so it must have been quite harmful and deadly5.
3. Ralbag claims that the Egyptians were literally and physically scared to death because of this plague. The Egyptians feared the thick darkness would enter their body and kill them. Josephus, similarly states: "darkness so thick that their eyes were blinded by it and their breath choke, and they either met with a miserable end or lived in terror of being swallowed up by the fog6."
4. The Torah Temimah (10:21:2) has a revolutionary suggestion that the darkness was not anything physical that affected the air, but was a plague that struck the eyes of the Egyptians.
5. Amos Chachom claims that the plague of darkness made all the Egyptians feel like dead people, in that they could not move for an extended period of time. It thus served to foreshadow the death that was to follow in the final plague of the firstborns7.
6. Psychologically, solitary confinement can make someone go stir crazy. Especially if the darkness was so thick that the Egyptians could not move. This darkness might have been especially torturous because the Egyptians did not know when or if this darkness would ever lift.
III. Approach #2
Perhaps the plague of darkness was not the harshest plague physically, but it had a more symbolic affect and significance.
At a minimal level, what does darkness and the inability to see (or move8 ) do to a person? It makes you feel helpless. You are restricted to your house and can do nothing. You can't see anything and you can't do anything. You are helpless. Perhaps this feeling of helplessness was intended to make the Egyptians feel completely powerless in front of Hashem. Hashem was in complete control, and every single Egyptians was forced to feel this every minute of the day. This plague was perhaps the strongest expression of Hashem's power until that point, for He literally stopped mighty Egypt in their tracks9.
Moreover, symbolically, in the ancient world, darkness related specifically to slavery. Isaiah (9:1) describes slaves as, "The people that walked in darkness have seen a brilliant light." Tehillim 107:12-14 describes the Israelites while slaves in Egypt, as: "Their hearts were bowed down with hard labor, they fell down, with no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them from their distress. He took them out of darkness and deep shadows, and snapped their chains." Darkness symbolizes being under the yoke of another. This idea also existed in ancient Egypt. For example, an Egyptian Shurpu Tablet makes an explicit connection between darkness and slavery: "Whoever has not freed the prisoner"10 is interchangeable with "Whoever has not shown light to the prisoner."
This is significant because perhaps the plague of darkness was a symbolic transition immediately preceding the final plague of smiting the firstborns. It forced the Egyptian to realize that the tide had turned. No longer would the Egyptians be in control, no longer would the Egyptian be the masters, but now Hashem was in full control, He was the master. The Egyptians would no longer be the masters and keep Bnai Yisrael restricted and in the dark, now the Egyptians were under the yoke of Hashem. It signified a complete role reversal11.
In fact, one might even suggest that this 3 day plague of darkness was "measure for measure." Pharaoh did not let Bnai Yisrael leave Egypt for a three days to celebrate to Hashem in the desert, corresponding to this, Hashem did not let the Egyptians leave their homes for three days.
IV. Approach #3
Egypt believed in many deities, but the supreme deity was the sun god Ra (or Amon-Re). Kings such as Ramses II (a candidate for the Pharaoh during the time of the exodus) was named after Ra, as was the famous city of Ramses that the Israelites were forced to build, mentioned in Shemot 1:11.12 Thus Hashem showed His superiority over the Egyptians supreme god by vanquishing the sun and its light for three whole days.
Covering up the light of the sun in ancient Egypt was not a small matter. A famous Egyptian praise of the sun god writes: "I am he among the gods who cannot be repulsed. Who is he? He is Ra - when he arises on the eastern horizon of heavens." The daily sunrise was seen as a testimony to Ra's superior power, for nothing could hold him back. So by Hashem blocking out the affect of the sun for three days was the ultimate sign of defeat of the supreme sun god.
In fact, if you look at some ancient Egyptian poetry, they depict the sun god's enemies as darkness. For example, every morning, parallel to our saying "Modeh Ani" upon rising, the Egyptians praised the sun god for "Who daily overthrows his enemies," i.e., the dark/night, and "repels the dragon of the storm at nighttime."13
Moreover, there is clear evidence that the plague of darkness had special significance in the eyes of the Egyptians. Ezekiel (32:7-8) describes Hashem's future punishment of the Egyptians as:
"I will cover the heavens and I will darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not radiate its light. I will darken all the bright lights of heaven because of you, and I will place darkness upon your land."
What is it about darkness that not only makes it the plague of choice during the exodus, but is also used to punish the Egyptians in the end of days? The sun was Egypt's supreme god, so by blocking out the light of the sun and bringing darkness upon Egypt for three day, Hashem displayed His superiority to the supreme god of Egypt.
To concretize this final approach, it can be easily proven that some of the ten plagues were aimed at the Egyptian deities.14 The most obvious example is the plague of blood that attacked the Nile River, which was deified by Hapi the Nile god and the great god Osiris according to the Egyptians.15 The plague of frogs might have also been intended to contaminate the Nile, or it perhaps came to mock the well-known Egyptian frog goddess Heqt, who assisted women in labor (perhaps as retribution for killing the Israelite males at birth). Finally, there were several plagues that attacked the livestock, who were also seen as divine.
Moreover, there are a number of explicit Pesukim that mention that the ten plagues were directed at the Egyptians gods:
· Shemot 12:12- "And on this night I will smite all the first-borns of Egypt, every man and every animal; and all of the gods of Egypt I will do judgment to."
· Bemidbar 33:4- "And Egypt buried all its eldest that Hashem had smitten, and all the gods that Hashem had done judgment to."
· Shemot 18:11- "Now you know that Hashem is greater than all other gods, because of what Hashem did to them."
Footnotes
1 It should be noted that the Midrash Tanhuma cited by Rashi on Shemot 8:17, clearly assumes that this assumption is not correct. (back)
2 Shemot Rabbah 14:3, Tanchuma Bo 3, Yalkut Shimoni, Lekach Tov 11:2, Midrash HaGadol 12:36, Midrash Cheifetz. (back)
3 Shemot Rabbah 14:3, Tanchuma Va'era 11, Mechilta beginning of Vayishlach, Eliyahu Rabbah 87, Midrash HaGadol 10:23. Rashi cites this Midrash on 10:22. (back)
4 Shemot Rabbah 14:3, Tanchuma Bo 3, Mechilta. But it should be noted that there are other Midrashim that imply that the Egyptians could indeed move. See Shemot Rabbah 14:1 discussing the thickness of the darkness, see also Shemot Rabbah 14:3 and Tanhuma Bo 3 that describe two stages of the darkness, the first three days were dark, but they could still move, while the next three days restricted their movement (note that the Lekach Tov cites this Midrash in the exact opposite fashion).
There are also a number of prominent Rishonim that deny that the Egyptians were unable to move, see Ibn Ezra, Rashbam, Ramban, Seforno and Shadal, who all describe the thickness of the darkness as being thick enough to feel, but not enough to stop you in your tracks. They stress that all the Pesukim only say is "one could not see his friend," nothing about not being able to move. Moreover, the second half of that Posuk is explained to mean that the Egyptians did not leave their homes for three days, but not because they physically could not, but because it was dangerous to walk outside without any light. [One can also read this Posuk as describing the darkness, that it did not lift for three days, so the Egyptians did not get out from under the cloud of darkness for three days.] (back)
5 Shemot Rabbah 14:2 according to R. Natan, and cited in Tanchuma Bo 2 and Yalkut Shimoni. (back)
6 Jewish Antiquities II. 308. (back)
7 Shemot I, p. 172. It should also be noted that darkness often represents death in the Bible, see: I Samuel 2:9, Isaiah 45:19, Job 3:4, 10:20-22, 15:22, 30, 17:12,13, 18:6,18, 20:26, 22:11, 23:17, Psalms 35:6, 88:7,13,19, 143:3, Lamentations 3:6, Proverbs 20:20, Kohelet 6:4, 11:8, Nahum 1:8 (back)
8 At minimum, restricted to your house, see above, note 4. (back)
9 Perhaps this is the intent of the Midrash Tanchuma (Bo 4) that describes the experience of the plague of darkness as being locked in jail, as does the second temple work, Wisdom of Solomon 18:4. (back)
10 Egyptian Shurpu Tablet, II, lines 29-30, ed. E. Reiner, p. 13. (back)
11 Darkness spelling immanent disaster is a theme picked up by many classical writers. For example, the famous words of Vergil in his Georgics (i.462ff.): "Is there a man would venture to declare / The sun plays false? Nay, for oftimes it warns / When tumult stirs in the darkness or when crime / And wars are surging to the bursting point / To break into the open. Thus it was, / When Caesar's light was dimmed, the sun itself / Grew sad for Rome, and with a veil opaque / Covered its shining head, so that men feared / Lest times so lost to ancient loyalties / Would be enveloped in eternal night." (back)
12 For general information about the Egyptian sun god, see: H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978]: 151-159; Gary Rendsburg, "The Egyptian Sun-god Ra in the Pentateuch" Henoch 10 (1988):7-8; and Samuel E. Loewenstamm, The Evolution of the Exodus Tradition," tranls. By Baruch J. Levine [Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1992]: 115-117. For our purposes, it may also be interesting that the 18th and 19th dynasty of Egypt (estimated to have been the ruling dynasty during the exodus) promoted the sun god even more than in the past. (back)
13 This refers to the monstrous serpent Apophis, who according to Egyptian cosmogony represented everything that is dark and terrible in the world, and was seen as a demonic power. For several ancient Egyptian hymns to the sun god, see ANET, 367-371, and H. Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion [NY: Harper, 1961] p. 14-22, 132. (back)
14 This idea was already suggested by Jewish works from the second temple period. For example, the book of Jubilees (48:5) writes: "and upon all their gods the Lord took vengeance and he burned them with fire." Moreover, Wisdom of Solomon 12:23-27 writes: "Therefore those who lived unrighteously, in a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations. For they went far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals that even their enemies despised; they were deceived like foolish infants. Therefore, as though to children who cannot reason, you sent your judgment to mock them. But those who have not heeded the warning of mild rebukes will experience the deserved judgment of God. For when in their suffering they became incensed at those creatures that they have thought to be gods, being punished by means of them, they saw and recognized as the true God the one whom they had before refused to know. Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them." See also 16:1-14. For a discussion on this theme, see Nahum Sarna, Exploring Exodus [NY: Schocken Books, 1996]: 78-80, and S.E. Loewenstamm, The Tradition of the Exodus [Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1965]: 49-51. (back)
15 Shemot Rabbah 9:9, Tanchuma Vaera 14, and an interesting version in Yalkut Shimoni 182. (back)
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