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				Introduction:  
				
				
				Many years 
				before God sent the plagues upon Egypt, the Lord told Abram the 
				following:  Genesis 15:12-15 
				"Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon 
				Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 
				Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants 
				will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve 
				them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also 
				the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall 
				come out with great possessions." (NKJV) 
				  
				
				
				Body:  
				
				
				IX. 
				Ninth Plague – Darkness (Exodus 
				10:21-29) 
				
					- 
					
					Thick 
					darkness came upon Egypt for three days.  No doubt this 
					brought terror upon the Egyptians.  It impacted them 
					emotionally and psychologically.  Artificial light sources 
					would not work either.
 
					- 
					
					This 
					same Hebrew word for darkness is used in Genesis 1:2.
 
					- 
					
					This 
					plague was against several Egyptian deities.  
					
						- 
						
						Amon-Ra, 
						the sun god, who was originally two separate deities.  
						Ra was represented with man’s body and a falcon’s head 
						topped with a solar disk.
 
						- 
						
						Horus 
						was the sky god of Upper Egypt, the god of light.
 
						- 
						
						Atem 
						was the sun god and creator.
 
						- 
						
						Ptah 
						was the god who created the sun, moon, and earth.
 
					 
					 
				 
				
					- 
					
					The 
					three days of darkness remind us of Saul’s three days of 
					blindness.  (Acts 
					9:8-12)   
					But the three days of darkness didn’t lead Pharaoh to open 
					his eyes to the identity of Jehovah.(Verses 
					24-29)
 
					- 
					
					Darkness separated them from God and kept them away from His 
					presence.  At the end of the parable of the wedding feast, 
					the man who had no wedding garment is to be cast into 
					darkness.    (Matthew 
					22:11-14)
 
					- 
					
					Darkness is also described by  
					
					
					Jude 
					in 
					
					verses 6 and 13.
 
				 
				
				
				 X. 
				Tenth Plague – Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 
				11:1-10, 12:29-32) 
				
					- 
					
					The 
					tenth plague was very selective.  Only Egyptian first-born 
					males, human or animal, were affected.  This was too 
					selective to be a childhood epidemic.  The death of the 
					first born was especially significant.   (Genesis 
					49:3)
 
					- 
					
					This 
					plague was against all the gods of Egypt as God directed 
					judgment.  (Exodus 
					12:12)
 					
 					
						- 
						
						Meskhenet 
						was the goddess who presided at childbirth.
 
						- 
						
						Heqt 
						was the goddess of birth.
 
						- 
						
						Min 
						was the god of procreation.
 
						- 
						
						Selket 
						was guardian of life.
 
						- 
						
						Renenutet 
						was guardian of Pharaoh.
 
					 
					 
				 
				
				
				None of 
				these had any power against this plague.  
				
				
				Invitation:  
				
				
				Read  
				
				
				Exodus 12:33-36, 40-42.  
				Then read 
				
				Psalms 78:51-55.  
				
				
				Bobby 
				Stafford 
				
				
				December 
				11, 2011 
				
				
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