DARKNESS

On Saturday evening September 18, I went into the bathroom at 6:00 P.M., to take a shower. Immediately after I finished lathering my naked body with soap, there was an electrical blackout. A frequent occurrence in Ghana. I groped around in the blackness until I found the metal hose from which the water would come. Thereafter, I turned on the faucet and sprayed myself with cold water, in the dark. Until all of the slippery soap was washed off of my body. Although this time of the year is the rainy season in Ghana; and the temperature is consequently cooler than during the regular summer months. The cold water is tolerable. Unlike the cold water proceeding from the showerhead of an American or British bathroom. Which is not only intolerably cold. It feels as if you are in the process of experiencing mild electrocution. I looked through my bathroom window because there were various objects of illumination outside. Which included the 3/4 moon hanging in the sky, with the Planet Venus nearby. The closest star to earth’s satellite at this time of the year.

“Electricity outages are common in many African countries, but we know little about who bears the brunt of these failures. Research in Accra, Ghana shows that power cuts fall more frequently on poorer people, despite them being less able to deal with the consequences. Research suggests these findings generalise across the continent. In many countries in Africa electricity demand exceeds supply or transmission capacity. One result of this imbalance is that brownouts or rolling blackouts are common. Over the past decade Ghana experienced long periods of rolling blackouts, known locally as dumsor, the Twi word for ‘off/on’.” (Africa At LSE, Kobina Aidoo and Ryan C. Biggs, February 7, 2020).

The sky was clear. There were neither clouds nor rain tonight. But I had no plans to go walking anyway. Since this neighborhood in its entirety had been plunged into the darkest night. While continuing to gaze through my bathroom window I saw the bright light of a motorcycle headlamp. As the rider flooded the narrow lane with his extremely bright light and passed three or four pedestrians who looked like phantoms of the night. No wailing cats or barking dogs were heard. Only the laughter of romping children pierced the night. With the aid of my flashlight, I left the bathroom and dried myself, wrapped my body in my large towel, and walked over to the hall. From where I stood in the dark and looked through one of my very large windows at the front of my apartment. To apprise me of any developments outside. There was a fire burning near the entrance of the shed being utilized as a kitchen. The caretaker’s family was assembled there. All of them sitting on benches and gazing into the dancing flames as they waited patiently for the food being cooked. To be ready for their consumption.

I sat down on my couch and after doing so my mind wandered back to the ancient Egyptians who must have been greatly inconvenienced by the ninth plague (1440 BCE). This was the plague of darkness called down upon Egypt by the prophet Moses because of the ambivalent, capricious, and vacillating Pharaoh. These behavioral patterns were maneuvers designed to disguise his intransigence. By these childish pranks, however, he only prolonged the suffering of his own people. Who for three days and nights could neither see nor move because of the thick darkness which imprisoned the land in its black embrace. We are informed,  “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.” (Exodus 10:21-23). (KJV).

This judgment was designed to make them pause and think. Since even after eight plagues The Lord Almighty still hadn’t penetrated the psychological and cultural darkness. That inhabited the minds of all the Egyptians and that was also endemic in the society at large. An extremely deep darkness that held sway over the mentality of the king of Egypt and his counselors. Who were chock full with so much pride and selfishness. That not only did they continue to attempt to resist the power of God? They were unrelenting in their determination not to emancipate His people. As Anna Paquin asserted,  “When you are full of pride on the inside, it makes you stiff, stubborn, and creates strife with others.”

Just imagine, no Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald sandwiches, or Pizza for three days. No showers, television or music for three days. This development together with all of the preceding tragedies. Should have convinced the rulers of Egypt that The God of Israel held sway over the natural world in its entirety. This judgment might be considered mild when compared with the other divine strokes that had preceded it. But the color of the scenery, black, was a dire warning of what was about to come. Particularly, since the ninth plague was to be succeeded by the Plague of Death. During which all the firstborn of Egypt died. The arrival of COVID-19 was bad news. At least, however, if you got vaccinated you could most likely avoid it. If unfortunately, you contracted a breakthrough infection it wouldn’t be fatal. But this tenth plague was absolute and irreversible.

Interestingly enough it was on the very same night, and at the very same time, when the tenth plague against Egypt was being executed. That God stretched out His glorious right Arm in mercy, For the deliverance of His people who trusted in Him and obeyed Him. We are instructed, “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.  And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.  For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.  And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”

Let’s not forget that this Passover/Paschal sacrifice was selected on the tenth day of the month and kept for four days. Jesus lived a life of relative obscurity until His public ministry commenced in A.D. 29. His teaching, healing and preaching only lasted for three and a half years. He was put to death at twilight just as the Passover Sacrifice had died for many centuries. The Paschal Lamb was killed on the fourth day at twilight. Jesus died in the 4th year of His Ministry at twilight. Can there be any doubt that the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb represented the death of The Christ who would later die for the sins of Mankind?

“And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” Exodus 12:29-32. (NKJV).

This special scenario was repeated on the shores of The Red Sea. When Pharaoh’s pursuing army of horses, chariots, and soldiers armed to the teeth. Were suddenly enveloped in the blackest darkness. Everything was brought to an immediate standstill. No progress could be made. All orders to advance were suddenly aborted. The omnipotent but merciful God was gracious enough to give the royal house and all the Egyptian commanders time to ponder and think. Time to reflect upon His awesome might and far-reaching power. Time to change their blind course of futility in their struggle against the king of the universe. As John Maxwell contended, “In the face of an obstacle which is impossible to overcome, stubbornness is stupid.” “And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.” Exodus 14:19-20. (NKJV).

As Ayn Rand observed, “Man’s basic vice, the source of all his evils, is the act of unfocusing his mind, the suspension of his consciousness, which is not blindness, but the refusal to see, not ignorance, but the refusal to know.” The warning was ignored. They were all blinded by the Devil to the imminent peril that faced them. The following day, because of their own impiety and irreverence. They were all committed to the doom against which they were warned. “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.’ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.” Exodus 14:26-28. (NKJV).

The whole moral of this story is that it is futile to fight against The Almighty or His servants. His servants might very well be human. But they are backed by the authority of Heaven and the power of omnipotence. Furthermore, God’s promises are sure. He assured Abraham that his descendants would be delivered from slavery. He gave Moses the very same assurances. Jehovah’s words were not fulfilled immediately. But they were all fulfilled. The Israelites remained in bondage for four hundred and thirty years. But at the preordained time they were all emancipated. Even their animals left Egypt with them.