Dark; Darkness

dark, dark'-nes (choshekh; skotos):

1. Darkness and Light in Palestine:

The day and night, light and darkness, are notable antitheses in Palestine. There the day does not slowly fade away into the night after a period of twilight, but before sunset there is the brightness of day, and when the sun has disappeared everything has changed and night is at hand. From sunset until the darkness of night is less than an hour.

2. Symbolic Uses:

In the Bible the main use of darkness is in contrast to light. Light is the symbol of God's purity, wisdom and glory. Darkness is the opposite. Miraculous occurrence of darkness in the land of Egypt for three days is recorded in Exod 10:21; Exod 10:22, and at the death of Christ (Matt 27:45). See Plague; Eclipse.

The figurative uses of darkness are many and various. It is used as a symbol

(a) of moral depravity and its punishment. The wicked walk and work in darkness (Ps 82:5; Prov 2:13; John 3:19; Rom 13:12), and their reward is to "sit in darkness" (Ps 107:10) or to be "cast forth into the outer darkness" (Matt 8:12);

(b) of things mysterious or inexplicable (1 Kgs 8:12; Ps 97:2);

(c) of trouble and affliction (2 Sam 22:29; Job 5:14; Prov 20:20; Isa 9:2; compare Gen 15:12);

(d) of punishment (Lam 3:2; Ezek 32:8; Zech 1:15); (e) of death (1 Sam 2:9; Job 10:21; Eccl 11:8); (f) of nothingness (Job 3:4-6); (g) of human ignorance (Job 19:8; Job 19:1).

"A dark (the Revised Version, margin "squalid") place" (2 Pet 1:19) refers especially to the state of things described in 2Pe 2.

Alfred H. Joy