Exodus
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.[1] 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?
[1] National Geographic Society, “Locusts.” http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/locusts/
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