Why One-Fifth of Israel Died Before the Exodus

Before Israel could leave Egypt, Egypt had to lose its hold on Israel. That wasn't only Pharaoh's problem. It was also the Israelites'.

Not everyone wanted to go.

Who Died in the Plague of Darkness?

The ninth plague, the plague of darkness, is unlike all the others. It targets no Egyptian crops, no livestock, no bodies. It just makes the Egyptians unable to move. For three days, a darkness so thick they could feel it pinned them in place. For three more, they couldn't stand up at all (Exodus 10:21-23).

According to Shemot Rabbah, the darkness wasn't only about Egypt. It had a second purpose, one aimed at Israel itself.

Some Israelites had become comfortable. They had Egyptian patrons. They'd acquired property, social standing, maybe friendship with their enslavers. They didn't want the Exodus. They refused to leave. According to the midrash, God let them die during the plague of darkness. Their bodies fell in Egypt. They never made it out.

Why darkness? Shemot Rabbah gives a precise answer: if those Israelites had died in any other plague, the Egyptians would have seen it. They would have said, "their God killed the Israelites too, just like He killed us." It would have looked like indiscriminate disaster, not divine purpose. The darkness hid the bodies. The Egyptians never knew.

How Bad Was the Darkness?

The Legends of the Jews describes it in two stages. The first three days, Egyptians could still move, but the darkness was disorienting and frightening. The second three days, it became physical, so thick and oppressive that they couldn't lift themselves off the ground. A man who was sitting couldn't stand. A man who was standing couldn't sit down.

The Israelite homes glowed with light the entire time. Every lamp in Goshen burned. The contrast was absolute: one people paralyzed in blackness, another living in full light, with the bodies of those who chose Egypt disappearing quietly in the dark between them.

What the Midrash Says About the One-Fifth

The Torah says Israel left Egypt "chamushim," a word usually translated as "armed" (Exodus 13:18). Some midrashic readings interpret it as "one-fifth." Only one in five Israelites made it out. The other four-fifths died in Egypt, many of them during the plague of darkness.

This is a striking and uncomfortable teaching. The Exodus wasn't universal. It required something from the people, not just from God. You cannot be freed from something you are not willing to leave. Those who held on to Egypt with both hands didn't get dragged out. They stayed behind in the dark, and the Exodus happened without them. The question the midrash is really asking is whether, when the moment of change arrives, you are one of the ones running toward it or one of the ones who has made too many accommodations with what you're supposed to be leaving behind.