The eighth plague, the plague of locusts, is a significant event in the narrative of the Exodus, where God demonstrates His power over Egypt and its deities. The purpose is to ensure that the Israelites will recount these events to future generations, recognizing the Lord's sovereignty and power.
The locust swarm has always been one of the worst scourges to afflict humanity. An area of one square kilometer can contain fifty million such insects. In a single night they could devour as much as one hundred thousand tons of vegetation. If this plague had stood alone it would have been devastating, but Egypt was already in ruin.
When reading the book of Exodus it is important to keep in mind that the Exodus event represents a great contest. The ten plagues and the exodus event were confrontations between the God of the Hebrews and the false gods of Egypt. The gods of Egypt include Pharaoh, as the incarnation of Ra, Horus, and the various other gods personified in the elements of nature.
Several of Egypt's false gods were personified through the Nile river, the waters of Egypt, the land, and the sky. In the last series of plagues, which originated with the sky, Jehovah was making a mockery of the Egyptian deities associated with the sky. By now, this had become a pattern.
Most of the plagues were an assault upon the Egyptian gods. The plagues showed that Jehovah is the Lord. It highlights the futility of resisting God's will and the consequences of hardening one's heart against Him.
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In the book of Exodus the conflict was not just a local or regional conflict. God gave two reasons for this plague. First, this plague was a judgment against Egypt. The verb translated "to deal harshly" in verse 2, bears a sense of mockery. Brown, Driver & Briggs; the standard Hebrew Lexicon, translate this clause: "how I have made a toy of Egypt." Through the plagues, God has humiliated Egypt, as if Egypt were a toy. The second reason for the eighth plague had to do with Israel.
We are told that God had hardened Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of his officials so that He might perform miraculous signs, "that you might tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians, that you may know that I am the Lord" (10:2). God intended that the plagues would be used to educate the Israelites and their children, so they would know that Jehovah is the Lord. Here is a summary of the plagues mentioned in the Book of Exodus:
| Plague | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Blood | The Nile River and all water sources turn to blood, killing fish and making the water undrinkable. | Exodus 7:14-25 |
| Frogs | Frogs emerge from the Nile and infest the entire land. | Exodus 8:1-15 |
| Gnats | Dust turns into gnats that torment humans and animals. | Exodus 8:16-19 |
| Flies | Swarms of flies infest the land, except for the region of Goshen where the Israelites lived. | Exodus 8:20-32 |
| Livestock Death | A plague kills the livestock of the Egyptians. | Exodus 9:1-7 |
| Boils | Painful boils break out on humans and animals. | Exodus 9:8-12 |
| Hail | A severe hailstorm destroys crops and kills livestock. | Exodus 9:13-35 |
| Locusts | Swarms of locusts devour what is left of the crops after the hail. | Exodus 10:1-20 |
| Darkness | Total darkness covers Egypt for three days. | Exodus 10:21-29 |
| Death of Firstborn | The firstborn of every Egyptian family and all firstborn livestock die. | Exodus 11:1-12:36 |
The broader purpose of the Exodus was being brought to light. When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, they asked him this question "How long will you refuse to be humble before Jehovah? Let my people go, so that they may worship me." Up to this point Pharaoh had refused to humble himself before the Lord of creation.
There was a striking contrast between Moses and Pharaoh. In Numbers 12:3 we read, "And the man Moses was more humble than any man who was upon the face of the earth." Pharaoh was the total opposite of Moses. Pharaoh denied the existence of Jehovah, and when he finally acknowledged His existence, he denied His right to rule.
By the seventh plague, Pharaoh pretended to humble himself by claiming that he has sinned, but it was only an act. There is a sense of poetic justice in this passage. The verb "to humble" was first used by Pharaoh regarding the Hebrews. Pharaoh attempted to humble the Hebrews by placing taskmasters over them. Pharaoh's actions, however, came back to haunt him.
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God will bring locusts upon the land of Egypt. The locust will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. The plague would affect all of Egypt; the plague would effectively destroy any vegetation left intact from the hail. The devastation from this plague would have been extreme.
The climate in Egypt was ideal for locusts. As a result the Egyptians looked to the gods for divine protection from locusts and other pests. The eighth plague made a mockery of the Egyptian gods responsible for defending Egypt against insects and other pests.
Moses gave Pharaoh no time to respond. He knew how Pharaoh would respond. God had said He would harden Pharaoh's heart. At this point Pharaoh's counselors stepped in to give advice. They ask a similar question to the one that God raised earlier when God had asked, "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?"
In like manner, Pharaoh's officials asked Pharaoh, "How long will this man be a snare to us?" The court officials had no desire to accede to the demands of the Hebrew prophet. They recommended that Pharaoh let "the men" go, referring only to the adult males. Notice the scorn in the way that the officials referred to Moses. They did not call him by name, but merely said "this one". It is clear that Pharaoh's officials had not humbled themselves before the Lord. There was no fear of God in their hearts. They continued to wallow in their sin.
Pharaoh was still trying to act as if he was in control. First he had Moses and Aaron brought back to the court. Then, he tried to send them out of the land, but he did so in such a way that he would still be in control. He tried to determine who would go and who would stay, but Moses rejected any conditions or limitations set by Pharaoh. God had commanded that all His people should go.
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Moses made the point that the Hebrews would celebrate a festival to Jehovah. Pharaoh's response is bitter and condescending. He denies Jehovah's existence and His imminent presence with His people. The king of Egypt commands the Hebrew men to go, but he is unwilling to release the women and children. Pharaoh knew that the men would never leave their families. He held the men in subjection by holding their families hostage.
In response to this, Moses stretched out his rod upon the land of Egypt. This was the first time Jehovah employed a secondary means - an east wind. This was important because locusts usually approached Egypt from the south; therefore their coming from the east indicated an abnormal condition. An east wind was later used to divide the Red Sea (14:21). The east wind appears throughout the Scriptures as a means of God's judgment. The Lord shattered the ships of Tarshish with an east wind (Psalm 48:7).
As the plagues intensified, Pharaoh's response became more and more desperate; he called Moses and Aaron in haste, he said, "I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you." While there may have been desperation in Pharaoh's response, there was no true repentance. This was the second time that the king acknowledged his own sin. This time his confession was fuller than it was before. Pharaoh admitted that his sin had been directed against Jehovah and His servants, Moses and Aaron; but he does not acknowledge any wrongdoing against God's people.
The king acknowledged his sin, but there was no true remorse. He did not seek forgiveness, and there was no repentance. The fact that Pharaoh admitted wrongdoing is significant, given the prevailing belief that he was sinless. The ancient Egyptians believed that Pharaoh was divine and sinless. As a result it was impossible for Pharaoh to face judgment even at the time of his death. Upon his death, it was believed that he would be fully deified and transformed into the god Osiris.
Osiris was the god who presided over judgment and death. At this point in the exodus narrative it is easy to see how the exodus stands in opposition to Egypt's religious foundation. In the exodus, Pharaoh is depicted as an enemy of Jehovah. Sometimes we forget that the unregenerate may appear to us as nice people, and by our standards they might be, but fundamentally they stand in opposition to Christ.
In response to Moses' prayer, God made a change in the wind. This event foreshadows what God would do to Egypt's army. Jehovah would hurl Pharaoh's most elite fighting men into the Red Sea; not one of them will survive the waters of judgment. The drama of the exodus continues to escalate. Twice in this passage we are told that God had hardened Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of his officials.
By beginning and ending with the same theme, the Scriptures emphasize that although Egypt had been destroyed, the unbelieving leaders failed to comprehend what was happening to them. They had a distorted view of creation and the operation of the universe. This continues to be true of unbelievers today. They do not realize that a sovereign God is in control of history and creation.
And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. In the book of Exodus, the locusts devoured every remaining form of vegetation, but this is not true of the locusts at the end of time.
At the end of the age, the locusts will torture ungodly men and women lacking the seal of God on their foreheads. There is a dramatic increase in the intensity of the plagues as we move from Exodus to the book of Revelation. In the Old Testament the Israelites were condemned for rebelling against Jehovah and not remembering God's mighty work of salvation. Likewise, we too should not forget God's work and how this work is fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
It is necessary and good that we reflect upon God's redemptive work, and that we teach our children about the mighty acts of God.
The biblical account amplifies this natural occurrence into a miraculous event, emphasizing the scale and intensity of the plague as a direct act of God. The locust plague is part of the broader narrative of the Exodus, which is central to Israel's identity and faith. It serves as a reminder of God's deliverance and the covenant relationship between God and His people.
The Eighth Plague teaches the importance of obedience to God and the dangers of pride and stubbornness. Pharaoh's repeated refusal to heed God's command results in escalating judgments, illustrating the principle that rebellion against God leads to destruction.
As we begin to recover from a modern plague in our times, uncontrollable fire, there is a deeper empathic sense of the impact of the plagues in Egypt. When nature turned into a consuming monster, fear for the Egyptians must have been profound. After losing life-sustaining water, the animals that provided dairy and meat, suffering personal indignation and pain from lice and boils, and then massive and powerful balls of hail, we meet the eighth plague, locusts, which are grasshoppers run amuck.
Feeling traumatized, the Egyptians now faced impending death. Every source of nurturance was stripped away making us wonder why the last two plagues are even necessary. But the goal was not just to punish and bring just retribution to the people who had enforced Pharaoh’s commands but also make them suffer psychologically and spiritually by minimizing the power of their gods through each of the ten constructs targeted by Adonai, diminishing them in comparison to the Gd of the Israelites. Seth, associated with their nurturing fields and grains, was destroyed before the people and Pharaoh as well.
The plagues were an unending attack on all they believed and depended on. Breaking their spirits and Pharaoh’s self-complacent arrogance was the goal.
Locusts represent the Oneness of God overturning the duality of Egypt, the land of many gods. But why send locusts to demonstrate this point? The locusts eat all the crops and produce remaining from the hail. These crops symbolize Israelite enslavement. After all, straw, the byproduct of crop, is withheld from the Israelites after Moses returns to Egypt, while the brick quota remains unchanged, crushing their spirits with such intensity that they are unable to even hear the call of redemption.
In a classic move of “measure for measure” divine justice, just as the Egyptians take away the straw, God takes away the crop itself. The locusts eat everything, rendering the Israelite task of brickmaking impossible, releasing them from their burdens, and reducing the mighty Egyptian empire to a wasteland. The Israelites could finally look up from the mud pits and witness the many miracles displayed by the God of their forebears-never would there be so many again.
The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 13:6) explains that because the Egyptians forced the Israelites to sow wheat and barley, God sent the locusts to destroy those fields. In His infinite justice, Hashem determined that slavery should yield nothing-no sustenance, no benefit. The fruits of oppression cannot be consumed, for to reap from the soil of slavery is to violate the sanctity of the land that God has created.
As partners with Hashem in creating a more just world, where every human being is seen as unique, equal, and of infinite value, we too must ensure that nothing is gained through the desecration of another. In a world rife with the exploitation of the most vulnerable members of society, we must be prepared to raise our voices in moral courage. To stay silent is a form of acceptance.
God punishes them by having their crops totally consumed by the locust. Furthermore, Arbeh in Hebrew mean many the locust came in great numbers as punishment for the Egyptians trying to limit the Jews from multiplying and stopping Gods blessing of Harbeh Arbeh you should be fruitful and multiply.
In the ancient Near East, locusts were a well-known and feared natural disaster. Swarms could devastate crops, leading to famine and economic ruin.
Exodus 10:3-6 The Eighth Plague: Locusts
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