10:1
¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in
unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants,
that I might shew these my signs before him: 2
And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son,
what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them;
that ye may know how that I am the LORD. 3
And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith
the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before
me? let my people go, that they may serve me. 4
Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring
the locusts into thy coast: 5 And they
shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth:
and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto
you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the
field: 6 And they shall fill thy houses,
and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which
neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that
they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out
from Pharaoh. 7 And Pharaoh’s servants
said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that
they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is
destroyed? 8 And Moses and Aaron were
brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God:
but who are they that shall go? 9 And Moses
said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our
daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a
feast unto the LORD. 10 And he said unto
them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones:
look to it; for evil is before you. 11
Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did
desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
Verse two of chapter ten gives us one of
the reasons for what is happening. God has an eye on history. These plagues on
Egypt are a testimony for future generations. Christians should look to these
events to understand God’s power and to have their faith confirmed in part.
Romans
15:4 For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.
Sadly, the Hebrews will not honor God’s
commission regarding teaching, although technically for the hyperliteralist
they did honor the command through the second generation. Of course, common
sense tells us that God wanted the teaching done in every generation but, then,
hyperliteralists aren’t possessed of much common sense.
Judges
2:7 And the people served the LORD all
the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who
had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel...10 And also all that generation were gathered
unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew
not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
In verse 4 we have the promise of a plague
of locusts to enter Egypt’s border which is the definition of the word coast in the Bible.
Numbers
21:13 From thence they removed, and
pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out
of the coasts of the Amorites: for
Arnon is the border of Moab, between
Moab and the Amorites.
Numbers
22:36 And when Balak heard that Balaam
was come, he went out to meet him unto a city of Moab, which is in the border of Arnon, which is in the utmost
coast.
The National Geographic website explains
that locusts are related to grasshoppers and look very much alike but their behavior
is much different. While locusts are solitary insects like grasshoppers they
have a phase they can go through which is called the, “gregarious phase.” They
can, under the right environmental conditions, with plenty of food and
conditions ripe for breeding, grow into, “thick, mobile, ravenous swarms,” that
can destroy crops and cause major agricultural damage, famine, and
starvation.(3) This swarm of locusts will be unlike anything anyone has ever
experienced before so there is no use trying to find a comparison with swarms
of locusts you read about in the news today. God is working through these
creatures as He works through men and women.
Solomon, in Proverbs, makes a statement
about four types of creatures that goes against all modern concepts, such as
evolution, in ascribing personhood, which is based on self-identity, and wisdom,
which is a synonym for understanding, to specific creatures which we have been
taught are not much more than simple and annoying biological machines. People, folk, and going out by bands, a term used again when talking
about the Roman military units or a group of people, all imply something more
than the modernist and the evolutionist give them credit for. Is the following
simply metaphorical speech, an anthropomorphism, or describing something with
deeper meaning?
Proverbs
30:24 ¶ There be four things which are
little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they
prepare their meat in the summer; 26 The
conies are but a feeble folk, yet
make they their houses in the rocks; 27
The locusts have no king, yet go
they forth all of them by bands; 28 The spider taketh hold with her hands,
and is in kings’ palaces.
We all play our part in the bundle of life (1Samuel 25:29).
After the counsel of Pharaoh’s servants to
let the Hebrew men only leave, the Pharaoh calls them again and tells them he
will let the men go to worship, leaving their families. That is the limit of
his concession at this point, to let the men go to worship after the advice of
his servants, probably not meaning domestic servants but ministers and
advisers.
1Kings
10:5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers,
and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto
the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
Esther
6:3 And the king said, What honour and
dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done
for him.
Moses and Aaron are then driven from the
Pharaoh’s presence. A rod turned into a serpent, infestations of frogs, lice,
flies, a great plague among the Egyptian cattle, boils on the Egyptians themselves,
hail mingled with thunder and lightning and fire and now a gigantic swarm of
locusts. A nation is being brought to its knees by God and still, its leader
will not listen or yield. There is always a question isn’t there? God has not
spoken directly to Pharaoh but through Moses and Aaron and these terrifying
signs. Pride is a great blinding mechanism, though. Has it been in your life?
(3) National Geographic Society,
“Locusts.” http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/locusts/
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