The Eighth and Ninth Plagues : Locusts and Darkness
Exodus chapter ten
Listen as we walk thought the tenth chapter of Exodus.
The eighth plague, like the third and fourth, was one where insect life was called in to serve God's purposes, and chastise the presumption of His enemies. The nature of the visitation is uncontested and incontestable--it was a terrible invasion of locusts. Locusts are an occasional, though not a frequent, scourge in Egypt.
I have hardened . . . the heart of his servants.--They, too, had first hardened their own hearts (Exodus 9:34), and so deserved a penal hardening. A certain amount of responsibility rested on them. Had they allowed the miracles to have their full natural effect upon their minds, they would have been convinced that resistance was useless, and would have impressed their views upon the Pharaoh. Even in the most absolute governments public opinion has weight, and the general sentiment of the Court almost always carries the sovereign with it.
The ninth plague, like the third and sixth, was sent without any previous warning. The darkness was one which "might be felt" (Exodus 10:21). Such a preternatural continuance of absolutely impenetrable "blackness of darkness" would cause to any man a feeling of intense alarm and horror. To the Egyptians it would be peculiarly painful and terrible.
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