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KING JAMES BIBLE DICTIONARY

 

Darkness

The Bible

Bible Usage:

Dictionaries:

  • Included in Eastons: Yes
  • Included in Hitchcocks: No
  • Included in Naves: Yes
  • Included in Smiths: Yes
  • Included in Websters: Yes
  • Included in Strongs: Yes
  • Included in Thayers: Yes
  • Included in BDB: Yes

Strongs Concordance:

Easton's Bible Dictionary
Darkness

The plague (the ninth) of darkness in Egypt (Exodus 10:21) is described as darkness "which may be felt." It covered "all the land of Egypt," so that "they saw not one another." It did not extend to the land of Goshen (ver. 23).

When Jesus hung upon the cross (Matthew 27:45; Luke 23:44), from the "sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour."

On Mount Sinai, Moses (Exodus 20:21) "drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." This was the "thick cloud upon the mount" in which Jehovah was when he spake unto Moses there. The Lord dwelt in the cloud upon the mercy-seat (1 Kings 8:12), the cloud of glory. When the psalmist (Psalms 97:2) describes the inscrutable nature of God's workings among the sons of men, he says, "Clouds and darkness are round about him." God dwells in thick darkness.

Darkness (Isaiah 13:9, 10; Matthew 24:29) also is a symbol of the judgments that attend on the coming of the Lord. It is a symbol of misery and adversity (Job 18:6; Psalms 107:10; Isaiah 8:22; Ezekiel 30:18). The "day of darkness" in Joel 2:2, caused by clouds of locusts, is a symbol of the obscurity which overhangs all divine proceedings. "Works of darkness" are impure actions (Ephesians 5:11). "Outer darkness" refers to the darkness of the streets in the East, which are never lighted up by any public or private lamps after nightfall, in contrast with the blaze of cheerful light in the house. It is also a symbol of ignorance (Isaiah 9:2; 60:2; Matthew 6:23) and of death (Job 10:21; 17:13).


Naves Topical Index
Darkness

Smith's Bible Dictionary
Darkness

is spoken of as encompassing the actual presence of God, as that out of which he speaks,

the envelope, as it were, of divine glory. (Exodus 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12) The plague of darkness in Egypt was miraculous. The darkness "over all the land," (Matthew 27:45) attending the crucifixion has been attributed to an eclipse, but was undoubtedly miraculous, as no eclipse of the sun could have taken place at that time, the moon being at the full at the time of the passover. Darkness is also, as in the expression "land of darkness," used for the state of the dead, (Job 10:21,22) and frequently, figuratively, for ignorance and unbelief, as the privation of spiritual light. (John 1:5; 3:19)


Webster's 1828 Dictionary
Darkness

D'ARKNESS, noun

1. Absence of light.

And darkness was on the face of the deep. Genesis 1:2.

2. Obscurity; want of clearness or perspicuity; that quality or state which renders any thing difficult to be understood; as the darkness of counsels.

3. A state of being intellectually clouded; ignorance.

Men loved darkness rather than light. John 3:19.

4. A private place; secrecy; privacy.

What I tell in darkness that speak ye in light.

Matthew 10:27.

5. Infernal gloom; hell; as utter darkness Matthew 22:13.

6. Great trouble and distress; calamities; perplexities.

A day of clouds and thick darkness Joel 2:2. Is.

viii.

7. Empire of Satan.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness

Colossians 1:13.

8. Opakeness.

Land of darkness the grave. Job 10:21.