Exodus 10:21-22 KJV
And the LORD said unto Moses,
'Stretch out thine hand toward heaven,
that there may be darkness over the
land of Egypt, even darkness [which]
may be felt.' [22] And Moses stretched
forth his hand toward heaven; and
there was a thick darkness in all the
land of Egypt three days.
The term 'thick-felt-darkness' might have been capable
of blanketing out all light from all man-made fire, such
as wood burning, candles, torches, oil lamps. In other
words, there was a total and complete blackout making
all visibility null and void for the entire land of Egypt
for THREE WHOLE DAYS.
This event reminds me of the New Testament record for
darkness that covered all of Israel when Christ was he
was suffering as having nailed sin to the cross to pay
for our debts to God.
Mark 15:33
And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole
land until the ninth hour.
The 6th hour = Noon; the 9th hour = 3 pm afternoon.
Darkness was over the whole area of Promised Land
for THREE WHOLE HOURS. The 3-hours of darkness
might have functioned to:
(1) baptise all Israelites into darkness/judgment.
(1.a) The temple's veil torn/split was judgment against
the religious leaders. They had a physical event to testify
and confirm a spiritual, eternal truth.
(1.b) All activity was shut down without any distractions.
(2) completely blot out all light thereby pointing to
the Heaven-To-Earth epicenter of His judgment:
this matches the thick-felt-darkness on Egypt before
all of the Pharaoh and his armies were completely
destroyed in water whereas the Ruler of this world
and his followers will be completely destroyed in fire.
(2.a) Job 20:26
All darkness is laid up for his treasures:
a fire not blown shall devour him; it shall
feed upon what is left in his tent.
(2.b) Hebrews 12:29
For also our God [is] a consuming fire.
(3) utilize the thick-felt-darkness as a heavenly
witness to Herod and all of the armies/soldiers,
both Jewish and Roman that they were to quite
literally 'stand-down.' This was a cooling off period
for the rioting crowds, the mob-mentality of
mockers who were shouting at Jesus on the cross.
(3.a) Isaiah 60:2
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people: but the LORD
shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be
seen upon thee.
(4) withdrawal of the Holy Spirit from nation of
Israel starting from the Temple and circling ever
wider geography until it was over the entire area
known as Promised Land. I believe the children
of darkness experienced weeping and gnashing
for these 3-hours of heavenly judgment.
(4.a) Matthew 8:12
But the children of the kingdom shall
be cast out into outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(5) communicate to believers in Christ that time
was short and they needed to stay awake, even
though darkness/night had fallen upon the land.
The event on the calendar for Christ's crucifixion
matched the scriptures that promised the Light
of Christ to shine.
(5.a) Zechariah 13:7
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and
against the man [that is] my fellow, saith the
LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine
hand upon the little ones.
The concept of becoming 'awake' instead of
staying 'asleep' in darkness at night-time when
the evening's end for the day was promised:
(5.b) Ephesians 5:14
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light.
For the believers, the 3-hours of thick-felt-darkness
was a sign of Jonah [THREE DAYS IN BELLY]
they needed to become prepared, to become ready
3-days hence for their expulsion out of the kingdom
of darkness [belly] and go into active, full-time
ministry so as to preach the Word of resurrection.
(5.c) Matthew 10:27
"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light;
and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim
upon the housetops.
(5.d) John 8:12
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,
"I am the Light of the world; he who follows
Me will not walk in the darkness, but will
have the Light of life."
(5.e) Colossions 1:13
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:
(6) The time between 3pm and DUSK gave Joseph
of Arimathea to:
(6.1) Go to Ceasar for permission to retrieve the body
(6.2) Wait until Centurion gave Ceasar verification
(6.3) Purchase clean white linen
(6.4) Transport body to hewn-tomb
(6.5) Wrap the body in linen
(6.6) Lay the body in the hewn-tomb
(6.7) Women purchased, prepared spices with
fragrant oils and applied to wrapped-up body
(6.8) They all then rested on the Sabbath (at DUSK)
