Exodus 10

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:49utc

Eighth Plague- The Locusts 10:1-20

While Egypt was still in the throes of trauma incurred by the hail storm, the eight plague was announced. This time God explained to Moses and Aaron that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was for the benefit of Israel. The demonstration of God's power should make them realize also whom the God is they serve. The patience and mildness of the initial approach had the adverse effect upon Israel they thought God was weak, and that He was no match for the mighty power of Egypt. They were almost as mistaken as Pharaoh. By the demonstration of God's power to destroy, they learned that the same power was there for their deliverance. The generation of Moses and Aaron which made history, as well as the generations that would follow, could know from these records who God was.

The problem is that few people know their own history and fewer learn from it. People who make history are seldom able to interpret it. Generally speaking, the Jews have done better than any other nation to commemorate the high points of their history. Many of them still faithfully observe their feasts. But if the God of history is not predominant in the facts of history, history itself becomes a fetish.

For the first time in this nerrative we read the word "humble." Moses says to Pharaoh: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself." The original sin, the sin which caused Lucifer to fall, is pride. Pharaoh would have humbled himself had he been a realist.

The Dutch poet, Herman Marsman, wrote a poem about a fellow Dutch poet, Willem Kloos. Kloos had one period of poetic inspiration in his life, which fizzled out as he grew older. In his eulogy, Marsman says that it is much better that our flame would flare up and singe God in the face and then to die than to smolder unnoticed. I doubt very much that the Almighty ever felt the heat. The unrighteous do not get close enough to Him. Pharaoh's resistance never made a dent in the eternal character of God.

By refusing to humble himself, Pharaoh distorted reality just as much as Marsman did. To humble oneself means to recognize Who God is and who we are. It simply means taking a realistic view of the situation.

We do not read that God gives specific instructions to Moses regarding the plague of locusts. It is understood, though, that Moses did not initiate this plague himself.

Locusts are not uncommon in the Middle East. They have been known to fall upon fields by hundreds of thousands and finish off whole crops. The unusual feature of this plague consisted in the timing and in its sheer magnitude. The plague would break every record in the history of the country. We read in vs. 6, "They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians; something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now."

The announcement of the plague causes fear in the heart of Pharaoh's ministers. They counsel the king to give in. There does not seem to be much conviction about the Person of God among them since they consider Moses to be the main problem, not God whom they resist. They call Moses "a snare." This indicates that they have never taken the content of Moses' message seriously because they do not really believe that there is a God, who is the creator of heaven and earth and Who is almighty. If God is in their thoughts at all, He is a local deity who is connected with Israel. Moses is the predominant figure in their reasoning a man who has supernatural powers, like their own magicians, only stronger. The magicians new better; that is why they had withdrawn at an earlier stage.

Upon the advice of the cabinet, Moses and Aaron are called back for further questioning. But Pharaoh is not yet ready to surrender. He wavers, but he overrules his ministers at the last moment. He wants the plagues to cease, but he does not want to get rid of his slaves.

It is hard to believe that Pharaoh might have been taken by surprise in hearing who would actually participate in the worship of YHWH in the desert. "Let My people go" meant that nobody would be left out. At this point it seems to dawn on the king that if all went, they might never return. Is it possible that Pharaoh had never thought through before? Suddenly his majesty's anger is kindled, and Moses and Aaron are chased away from his presence in a very insulting manner.

The problem remains, though, that God's intent was not that Israel would return to Egypt after the festival at Mount Sinai. The request that was presented to Pharaoh was to let the people go for a worship in the desert, and although the return was never specifically mentioned, it seemed to be implied. We do get the impression, however, that Pharaoh had understood from the very beginning that once the people had left, they would never return.

On the other hand, we can only consider the way the request was presented as a problem if we maintain that the Egyptians had a right to exploit the Israelites; which, of course, is not true. Permission to let the people go to worship God would have meant a fundamental change of the attitude of the Egyptians toward the Israelites. This kind of permission would have abolished slavery. Once a slave is considered to be a human being, on the same level as a free man, he ceases to be a slave. That is why, during the slave trade between Europe, Africa, and America in previous centuries, the Europeans (Christians [?]) had to accommodate their theology and philosophy, so they could sell slaves with a clear conscious. (No irony intended!!)

We can hardly accuse Pharaoh of demonstrating, at any point, a sense of humor. But his warning to Moses and Aaron: "The LORD be with you; if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil," or as the RSV puts it: "The LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind," is rather humorous. Look who is talking about evil and evil purposes! His invoking the Name of the LORD is, of course, meant sarcastically. Obviously the king is very angry, up till the moment that the locusts come.

Nowhere do we read that Moses asked for only the men to leave. Pharaoh accuses Moses and Aaron of changing their minds about what they want. Again, this is an effort to turn the roles. The one who had been changing his mind was the king. Ironically, he is indignant about people whose word cannot be trusted. Obviously, Pharaoh knew what moral behavior was, and he was acting treacherously. Human nature has not changed over the centuries.

Then God orders Moses to stretch out his hand over Egypt and call the locusts. Moses' gesture brings on a strong easterly wind which carries an extraordinary army of locusts from the North Arabian Peninsula. It is said that locusts need wind to be able to fly. Without wind they can propel themselves only over short distances, but they need a windstorm in order to cover long distances.

The Pulpit Commentary says that "the species intended is probably either the Acridium peregrinum or the OEdipoda migratoria." The Hebrew word arbeh describes the multitude, not the species.

There is another interesting quote in the same commentary, taken from Ollivier, "Voyage dans l'Empire Ottoman" which reads: "A traveler in Syria says - 'It is difficult to express the effect produced on us by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled on all sides and to a great height by an innumerable quantity of these insects, whose flight was slow and uniform, and whose noise resembled that of rain; the sky was darkened, and the light of the sun considerably weakened. In a moment the terraces of the houses, the streets, and all the fields were covered by these insects.' "

The apostle John comes closest to the fear this phenomenon must produce in his description of the army of Apollyon in Revelation. When the lid of the Abyss is taken off, the atmosphere is polluted by a dense smoke which brings these demonic creatures out of the pit to cover the earth.[ 1 ] There is a demon in every plague and the fear of darkness accompanies it.

Pharaoh experiences something of this fear for the master he serves. When the enormity of the plague dawns upon him, he panics and calls for Moses and Aaron. He even utters words which sound like a confession of sin. Vs. 16 says: "Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, 'I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.' " The sin against Moses and Aaron was, obviously, their being chased away from Pharaoh's presence the day before. Pharaoh's words express the tragic truth that one can say the right words, "I have sinned," and yet not repent. The human heart is so deeply ensnared by sin and darkness that it cannot turn around without the help of the Holy Spirit.

When the hail storm hit the country, there was still hope that famine could be averted. But after the locusts turned Egypt into a moonscape, it was obvious that there would be no wheat harvest and nothing else to eat for months to come. Now Pharaoh had the choice of keeping his slaves or letting his people die with famine; in his hardness of heart, he went beyond all reason and logic and decided to keep the slaves. Demons will send man on a course of self-destruction.

Ninth Plague Darkness 10:21-29.

This plague does not cause any physical harm to the country and the people. But there are things that are worse than physical injury. Emotional and spiritual oppression are much harder to bear. During the three days of darkness the whole country comes to a standstill. It is as if every Egyptian has gone on strike, and God has gone on strike by withholding light from man. John says in his Gospel: "In him was life, and that life was the light of men."[ 2 ] By withholding light God squeezed the life line of the people. This was a warning, a preparation for the final plague in which all the first born sons would actually die. The warning was lost.

This ninth plague is a foreshadowing of the plague the Antichrist will endure at the end of his reign; we read in Revelation: "The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony." There is something demonic about this darkness, as if spiritual realities find their expression in material phenomena. It was a darkness that could be touched.

The physical cause of the darkness is open for discussion. Adam Clarke, who must have been thinking of a very bad London fog, thinks it was caused by vapors. But The Pulpit Commentary attributes it to a natural phenomenon in Egypt, known as "the Khamsin, or Wind of the Desert." This would be a dense cloud of fine sand intercepting the sunlight. But the commentary admits that the darkness, such as described here goes far beyond anything that was ever produced by the Khamsin. The presence of fine sand particles would make this darkness palpable though.

The effect of the plague is, as we said above, that life in Egypt comes to a complete standstill. The oppressiveness was so great that at the end of three days the king could not stand it any longer, and he summoned Moses for his final interview. But the king still was not ready to yield. Once again he said he would allow the departure of the Israelites, but he changed the conditions. All the humans could leave, but the animals had to stay. This condition was even more ridiculous than any of the previous ones. Moses rejected it immediately, and the rejection kindled the anger of the king. Moses was chased away and threatened with death if he ever appeared again before the king. Evidently Pharaoh forgot that the last times Moses had come before him at Pharoah's own bidding.

Obviously, this was the last audience, but most commentators believe that the words that are recorded in the following chapter verses 4-8 were actually pronounced at this time before Moses finally left. Clearly, in vs. 7 and 8 Moses still addressed Pharaoh. Pharaoh's anger was matched by Moses' anger, and Moses' anger is a reflection of the anger of the Lord. As a missionary of the Lord, Moses was superior to Pharaoh. Pharaoh could threaten Moses with death, but, as it turns out he cic not have the power to put Moses to death. The death sentence pronounced on Pharaoh and his son was executed about two weeks later.

Governments are much more powerless than they think. It is true that Jesus was put to death by the Roman authorities, but, as Jesus said to Pilate: "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above."[ 3 ] Representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven have more power than all the powers of this world. That is why Spurgeon advises: "If God called you to be a missionary, do not stoop to be a king." Who is afraid of the government?!

[ 1 ] Rev. 9:1-11

[ 2 ] John 1:4

[ 3 ] John 19:11