Thick Darkness and the Bible!
In Exodus 20, verses 1-17, God gave us the ten commandments. A little further along we read this:
Exodus 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
God was in the thick darkness. We also read about the giving of the law/ten commandments at Horeb (along with thick darkness) in:
Deuteronomy 4:10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
And again in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, the Lord restates the ten commandments (verses 2 through 21) followed by:
Deuteronomy 5:22 These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
Three times in relationship to the giving of the law of God we read about thick darkness. Is there a connection? What could it be?
Is there any other verses like this? Why yes, there is. Once Solomon's temple was completed, the Levites carried the ark of the covenant into the house. And of course, inside of the ark were the two tables of stone – the ten commandments.
1 Kings 8:9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
And in the next verse we read:
1 Kings 8:12 Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Again, in the parallel account of the building of the house of God in 2 Chronicles it says:
2 Chronicles 5:9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.
10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
Followed by:
2 Chronicles 6:1 Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Very unusual, isn't it? What does the law of God (Word of God) have to do with thick darkness?
Interestingly, we find reference to "thick darkness" in a couple of significant Judgment Day passages – see:
Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of THICK DARKNESS, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
And,
Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and THICK DARKNESS,
Can you see the relationship now?
Thick darkness comes into view whenever God's law (the Bible) is involved.
In Judgment Day – it is the Word that brings the judgment (John 12:48). It is the time for the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The references to thick darkness in Joel 2 and Zephaniah 1 are letting us know that God is using His Word like a fire to destroy the ungodly. It is indicating the Bible has become as a fiery law:
Deuteronomy 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.