“Moses extended his hand toward the heavens, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. They did not see one another, and no one rose from his place for three days; but for all the children of Israel there was light in their dwellings” (Exodus 10:22-23). “Moses extended his hand toward the heavens, and there was a thick darkness.” From where did this darkness come?
Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya, Rabbi Yehuda says: From the heavenly darkness, as it is stated: “He made darkness His secret place, His pavilion around Him” (Psalms 18:12). Rabbi Neḥemya said: From the darkness of Gehenna, as it is stated: “A land of darkness, like blackness, the shadow of death3This is a reference to Gehenna. and disorder, [where the light is like darkness]” (Job 10:22). Woe to a house whose windows open into darkness, as it is stated: “Where the light is like darkness.”
And so it says: “On the day he descended to the grave I caused the deep to mourn [he’evalti], and cover itself for him” (Ezekiel 31:15), hovalti4Because mourning has little to do with depths, the midrash interprets the word he’evalti as hovalti, meaning: I led him into the depths. is written. Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi said: With what are the wicked covered in Gehenna? With darkness. Ḥizkiyya said: This tub, with what does one cover it?
With an earthenware vessel, with the same substance; just as it is of earthenware, so too, one covers it with an earthenware vessel. The same is true of the wicked, as it is stated: “Their deeds are in the dark” (Isaiah 29:15); therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, covers them with the depths, which is dark, as it is stated: “And darkness on the surface of the depths” (Genesis 1:2). One may [therefore] say: The darkness that came upon Egypt was from within Gehenna.