וימש חושך ויסיר את החשך הטבעי של לילה. כי אמנם חשך הלילה הוא אויר מוכן לקבל האור, והוא חשוך בהעדר האור בלבד. אמנם זה החשך יהיה אויר בלתי מוכן לקבל האור לרוב עביו, ולא יפול עליו העדד האור בהיותו בלתי מוכן אליו, ולפיכך לא ראו איש את אחיו כי לא הספיק לזה אור נר ואבוקה:
וימש חשך, this will remove the normal darkness called “night.” The reason this was necessary was that the night consists of air ready and capable to absorb light in the morning. The darkness that would occur now was something unable to interact with light at all. The reason for this inability to interact with light was the density of the texture of this darkness. As a result of this totally different kind of darkness לא ראו איש את אחיו, for even a lit up flare would not be able to make a “dent” in that darkness.
ואולי שיתכוין ע''פ דבריהם ז''ל (שמו''ר פי''ז) כי חושך של מצרים היה מאותו חושך דכתיב תהלים י''ח ישת חושך סתרו אשר ע''כ לא נהג מנהג מיעוט דרך כבוד לנטות מטהו כלפי מעלה:
Perhaps the reason why this plague was different is best explained in Shemot Rabbah 14, according to which the darkness in Egypt belonged to the category of darkness described in Psalms 18,12: "He made darkness His screen, dark thunderheads, dense clouds of the sky were His pavilion around Him." Inasmuch as the darkness was of a supernatural kind, Moses did not consider it appropriate to raise his staff against supernatural phenomena.
ויהי חשך אפלה: שלשת ימים. חֹשֶׁךְ שֶׁל אֹפֶל, שֶׁלֹּא רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת אָחִיו אוֹתָן ג' יָמִים. וְעוֹד שְׁלוֹשֶׁת יָמִים אֲחֵרִים חֹשֶׁךְ מֻכְפָּל עַל זֶה, שֶׁלֹּא קָמוּ אִישׁ מִתַּחְתָּיו – יוֹשֵׁב אֵין יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד, וְעוֹמֵד אֵין יָכוֹל לֵישֵׁב; וְלָמָּה הֵבִיא עֲלֵיהֶם חֹשֶׁךְ? שֶׁהָיוּ בְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאוֹתוֹ הַדּוֹר רְשָׁעִים וְלֹא הָיוּ רוֹצִים לָצֵאת, וּמֵתוּ בִשְׁלוֹשֶׁת יְמֵי אֲפֵלָה, כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִרְאוּ מִצְרִיִּים בְּמַפַּלְתָּם וְיֹאמְרוּ, אַף הֵם לוֹקִים כָּמוֹנוּ. וְעוֹד, שֶׁחִפְּשׂוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְרָאוּ אֶת כְּלֵיהֶם, וּכְשֶׁיָּצְאוּ וְהָיוּ שׁוֹאֲלִים מֵהֶן וְהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים אֵין בְּיָדֵנוּ כְלוּם, אוֹמֵר לוֹ, אֲנִי רְאִיתִיו בְּבֵיתְךָ, וּבְמָקוֹם פְּלוֹנִי הוּא (שמות רבה):
ויהי חשך אפלה … שלשת ימים — there was darkness of gloom when no man saw another during those three days, and there was moreover another period of three days’ darkness twice as thick as this when no man rose from his place: one who happened to be sitting when this second period of darkness began was unable to rise, and one who was then standing was unable to sit down. And why did He bring darkness upon them? Because there were wicked people amongst the Israelites of that generation who had no desire to leave Egypt, and these died during the three days of darkness so that the Egyptians might not see their destruction and say, “These, (the Israelites) too have been stricken as we have”. And a further reason is that the Israelites searched (the darkness came just in order that they might do this) and saw their (the Egyptians’) jewels, and when they were leaving Egypt and asked them for their jewels, and they replied, “We have none at all in our possession”, they answered them, “I have seen it in your house and it is in such and such a place” (cf. Midrash Tanchuma, Bo 1; Exodus Rabbah 14:3).
היה אור במושבתם בארץ גשן אין כתיב כאן כמו במכות אחרות הוא שאמרו רבותינו שונה מכה זו מכל האחרות שאפילו כשהיה ישראל בבית המצרי במצרים היה אור עמו.
היה אור במושבותם, “there was light in their dwellings.” It is noteworthy that the Torah here does not refer to the province of Goshen as it had done during other plagues, but implies that Israelites living in other parts of Egypt were also not affected by this plague. Our sages claim that when an Israelite entered the house of an Egyptian he was able to see normally in that house also. (Sh’mot Rabbah 14,3)
או יכוין לומר אור זה מנין מוצאו ואמר שהוא אור במושבותם וחסר תיבת אשר והרבה מקראות יקצרו כן והכוונה ע''ד אוז''ל (שם) כי הרשעים מתכסים בחושך והוא אשר כיסה המצרים הרשעים וכנגד הצדיקים עליהם יזרח ה' ב''ה ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו ומאור מושבותם ליוה להם ה' ב''ה חלק א' והוא אומרו אור במושבותם:
Another possible meaning of that line could be in answer to the question "where did this light emanate from?" The answer is that it was light originating in the Egyptians' homes. The absence of the word אשר is not especially significant as we have many examples when the Torah omits the word אשר. The meaning of the verse is analogous to our sages telling us that the wicked envelop themselves in darkness. Accordingly, we may understand the darkness as being something subjective; the Egyptians who were evil experienced darkness whereas the Jews who were good experienced light in the very places the Egyptians experienced darkness. The Torah alludes to this idea by writing: במושבותם, within their dwellings.
(41) at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of the LORD departed from the land of Egypt. (42) That was for the LORD a night of anticipation to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is the LORD’s, one of protection for all the children of Israel throughout the ages.