Wai’khas et eyn kol ha’a’rets wa’tehh’shakh ha’a’rets wai’yo’khal et kol ey’sev ha’a’rets we’eyt kol pe’ri ha’eyts a’sher ho’tir ha’ba’rad we’lo no’tar kol ye’req ba’ets uv’ey’sev ha’sa’deh be’khol e’rets mits’rayim. Exodus 10:15. The Torah: A Mechanical Translation, Jeff Benner
Translated: And he covered over the eye of all the land, and the land was darkened, and he ate all the herbs of the land and all the produce of the trees which the hailstones left behind, and not any of the green in the trees was left behind or the herbs of the field, in all the land of Mits’rayim (Egypt). The Torah: A Mechanical Translation, Jeff Benner
The background for this verse is that Moses declared to Pharaoh that the Lord was going to send locust (8th plague) upon the land of Egypt (Mits’rayim). The locust would devour all that was left of the herb and the fruit of the trees that had not been destroyed by the previous hailstorm (7th plague).
The Targum Onkelos has:
Locust ascended upon all the land of Egypt and settled upon the entire border of Egypt. They were very grievous. There never were such locusts that were like it before, nor will there ever be such again. It covered the eye [sight] of the sun over the entire earth. The land was darkened. It ate up all the grass of the field and all the fruit of the tree, which the hail had left, so that nothing green was left, of tree or grass of the field, in all the land of Egypt.
The KJV renders the verse as:
For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
The Mechanical Translation reading establishes a more accurate translation that the eye, in Hebrew it is eyn, would be covered, so that the sun would not be seen; nor would the eye see Egypt. The KJV preferred face, in Hebrew that would be panim/paneh. Paneh or panim can also mean surface. The more literal sense would be eyn, eye, and not face.
The Eye
The eye referred to by the Hebrew text and Onkelos is Amun-Ra, also known as Amon, Ammon, Amun-Ra, and Amen (this has no connection to the Hebrew word ‘amen’), the ancient Egyptian god of the sun and air. He was the Egyptian King of the gods and was worshiped as the creator of everything, including himself, and all other gods, and humans. Amon-Ra combines two early gods: Amon, the god of the air, and Ra, the god of the sun. He also was called the ‘hidden god.’ In the ancient past it was thought to know someone’s name was to have power over them, a fact exploited by a number of Egyptian deities. He was said to be the father and protector of pharaohs and Egypt. By the Fourth and Fifth dynasties, the Pharaohs were referred to as the ‘Sons of Ra.’
Amun-Ra was responsible for all of Egyptian life. He was said to have been omnipresent and omniscient. His eye was limitless, he saw everything. The Stela of Somtutefnakht reads: “Whose rising illuminates the earth, whose right eye is the sun-disc.”
Horus was said to have been the left eye. The left eye was the moon and the right eye of Amun-Ra was the sun.
So, in Exodus there is an irony where the eye that sees everything is snuffed out. The light is gone out for Pharaoh, for his servants—the sorcerers, its citizens; the light is blotted out for all of Egypt. Amun-Ra proved to be helpless in protecting his people. Eight plagues later, Mits’rayim, the pride of civilization, was spiritually and physically bankrupt. There was no Amun-Ra to come to the rescue of Pharaoh or Egypt.
Egypt had no deliverer:
It covered the eye [sight] of the sun over the entire earth. The land was darkened. Exodus 10:15, Onkelos
In contrast with Exodus 3:7,
Then the Lord said, It has been revealed before Me the servitude of My people which are in Egypt, and their cry because of their taskmasters has been heard before Me: for their pains have been revealed before Me. I will reveal (I will descend) Myself to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians.
God saw the affliction and misery of His people, and planned to deliver them; but Amun-Ra would not see the affliction visited upon his worshipers in Egypt.
Who will save Amun-Ra?
I will be revealed in the land of Egypt on this night. I will kill all the first-born in the land of Egypt, man and beast, and I will execute judgments on all the idols of the Egyptians, I am the Lord. Exodus 12:12, The Targum Onkelos
Egyptian Texts : Epitaph of Somtutefnakht (attalus.org)
The Eye of Ra | The Eye of Ra Meaning Spiritual | The Eye of Amun Ra (jakadatoursegypt.com)
The Eye of Ra (ancient-egypt-online.com)
Meaning of Pharaoh | Gnostic Warrior By Moe Bedard
Amun – Explore Deities of Ancient Egypt (egyptianmuseum.org)
Amun-Ra (history and myth) | Egyptian History (egyptian-history.com)
Eye of Ra Meaning and the 10 Top Secrets of Sun God Ra (egyptunitedtours.com)
Amon Ra God of the Sun | The Power of Amun Ra (amonratours.com)
YHWH’s War Against the Egyptian Sun-God Ra – TheTorah.com
Dr. Nicholas Schaser, Israeli Institute, Blinding the Eye of Egypt
