We still want to know what the darkness was all about. During the time that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, there indeed was wisdom in Egypt. In fact, in those times, Egypt possessed the pinnacle of all human wisdom—the science of the times. The purpose of the plague of Darkness was to demonstrate to the Egyptians (and to the Israelites) that all of Egypt’s scientific wisdom was nothing but complete darkness.
In fact, it was such heavy and tangible darkness that the sages say: If you were sitting, you could not stand up, and if you were standing, you could not sit; the darkness completely binds you. It was impossible to move because of the darkness, “there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days: they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days.”
The sages state that one should “believe that there is wisdom among the nations” (חכמה בגוים תאמין), but there is no Torah. God wanted to show the Israelites that even though the Egyptians possessed wisdom, living according to this wisdom was like living in darkness.
