<b>Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness (Exod. 10:21).</b> Where did the darkness come from? R. Judah and R. Nehemiah discussed this question. R. Judah held: It descended from the darkness of the upper regions, as it is said: <i>He made darkness His hiding place, His pavilion round about Him</i> (Ps. 18:12). While R. Nehemiah argued that it ascended from the darkness of the netherworld, as it is stated: <i>A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself, a land of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness</i> (Job 10:22).
R. Joshua the son of Levi declared: We are informed by three verses that man should cause his learning to be heard (by others) at the time of his death. Where do we learn this? It is written: <i>That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of death, that thou mightest bring back words of truth to them that send thee</i> (Prov. 22:21). Similarly, Solomon declared: <i>The end of the matter, all having been heard, fear God</i> (Eccles. 12:13). And by the verse <i>Shadow of death and without order</i> (Job 10:22). When a man is about to enter the shadow of death, he must systematize his studies, for it is said: <i>The shadow of death, without any order</i><sup class="footnote-marker">2</sup><i class="footnote">That is, he should arrange his teachings so that others can learn from him.</i> R. Tanhuma the son of Abba held: When a man is about to die, the ministering angels proclaim: “Give glory unto the Lord.” Hence, <i>a land of thick darkness, as darkness itself</i> (Job 10:22).
Woe to the house whose windows open toward the darkness, as it is said: <i>And where the light is as darkness</i> (ibid.), for the light itself comes from darkness.<sup class="footnote-marker">3</sup><i class="footnote">A reference to Egyptian black magic.</i> Hence it says: <i>Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to the netherworld, I caused the deep to mourn and cover itself for him, and I restrained the rivers thereof, and the great waters were stayed</i> (Ezek. 31:15). R. Judah the son of Rabbi stated: What are the wicked covered with in the netherworld? With darkness. And Hezekiah the son of R. Judah explained why that was so. With what does one cover an earthenware tub? With a lid that is made of the same substance. And just as an earthenware tub is covered with an earthenware lid, <i>the wicked whose works are in the dark</i> (Isa. 29:15) are covered by the Holy One, blessed be He, with the deep which is darkness, as it is said: <i>And darkness was upon the face of the deep</i> (Gen. 1:2). This refers to the netherworld. Hence, the darkness that came upon the Egyptians ascended from the netherworld. <i>Even darkness which may be felt</i> (Exod. 10:21). How thick was this darkness? Our sages asserted that it was as thick as a dinar, as it is said: <i>Even darkness which may be felt</i>.