The ten plagues of Egypt

The Plague of Locusts

The eighth plague · Exodus 10:1-20 · The book of Exodus

The eighth plague brought locusts on an east wind to devour everything the hail had left, covering the ground until it was dark and stripping every green thing from the land. Pharaoh's own servants pleaded with him to relent, but he would only bargain, and the locusts came and ate all that remained.

And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.Exodus 10:13 (KJV)

What happened

Moses warned that if Pharaoh still refused, locusts would cover the face of the earth and eat the residue that had escaped the hail, filling the houses of all Egypt as none had seen since their fathers' fathers. Then Moses stretched forth his rod, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day and night, and in the morning the east wind brought the locusts. They covered the whole land until it was darkened, and they ate every herb and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left, so that nothing green remained in tree or field through all the land of Egypt.

This was the ruin of what little Egypt had left. The hail had broken the barley and flax; the locusts now stripped the wheat and everything else that had survived. Between the two plagues, the food of a nation was gone. Famine now stared Egypt in the face, and still its king would not let the people go.

The two plagues together, hail and locusts, tell a single story of ruin. What the ice had beaten down, the locusts now devoured; what the storm had left standing, the swarm stripped bare. The LORD had said the locusts would eat the residue of that which had escaped the hail, and so they did, until there remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field through all the land of Egypt. A nation that had been the granary of the ancient world stood empty.

The gods of the harvest

Egypt looked to gods to guard its crops and fields, and some readers connect this plague to deities of the harvest and of the land's fertility, whose whole purpose was to keep the fields fed and safe. If those associations stand, the locusts made a mockery of them, devouring under the empty gaze of gods who could not lift a wing to stop them. Once more this is a fair and common interpretation rather than a claim of the text. What Exodus underlines is total loss, nothing green left in all the land, and behind it the plain declaration the LORD had made to Moses, that he was doing these signs so that Israel would tell their children and grandchildren how he had made a mockery of Egypt, and that they would know he is the LORD.

Pharaoh's servants plead

By now even Pharaoh's court had had enough. His servants said to 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? It is a striking moment, the king's own officials seeing clearly what he will not. Pharaoh, pressed, called Moses back and seemed to yield, but then bargained: only the men could go, not the women and children, and when Moses refused he drove them out from his presence. His concessions were always partial, always designed to keep a hold on the people, never a true release. It was the nearest his court ever came to open revolt against his stubbornness, and the clearest sign yet that Pharaoh stood almost alone in his defiance, holding the whole land hostage to his own hard heart while even his officials begged him to relent.

Pharaoh's hard heart

When the plague came in full and Pharaoh saw his land stripped bare, he hurried to confess again, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. He begged forgiveness and asked that this death only be taken away. Moses prayed, and a mighty west wind carried every locust into the Red Sea, so that not one remained. But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the children of Israel go. The now familiar pattern is complete: confession under pressure, relief granted in mercy, and hardness returning the moment the danger passed. Scripture names both his choosing and God's judgment, a heart set in rebellion and a God who confirms it and works through it toward the freedom he has promised.

What it revealed about the LORD

The locusts revealed a God who governs the winds and the smallest of creatures alike, bending them to his word. He brought the swarm on an east wind that blew a day and a night, and swept it away again on a mighty west wind that cast every locust into the sea, so that not one remained. The same power that sent the plague removed it, on the breath of a wind God commanded. Nothing in it was random; it came and went at his word.

It revealed, in the mouths of Pharaoh's own servants, how plain the truth had become. How long shall this man be a snare unto us, they cried. Let the men go; do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? The king's own court could see what he refused to see, and their words stand as a witness against him. The hardness was his alone; even his servants had run out of patience with it.

Most of all, this plague revealed why God was doing all of it. He told Moses that the signs were so that Israel would tell their sons and their sons' sons what he had wrought in Egypt, and that they would know he is the LORD. The plagues were not only to break Pharaoh but to make a people who would remember, generation after generation, the God who brought them out with a mighty hand.

The shadow of redemption

God's stated reason for the plagues rings out here: that his people would tell their children how the LORD humbled Egypt and brought them out. The exodus was always meant to be retold, a rescue rehearsed in every generation so that faith might be handed down. That is exactly what the church still does, for the exodus is the pattern of the greater rescue in Christ. As Israel would gather to remember the night they were freed, so believers gather to remember the greater Passover, telling their children of a Redeemer who broke a bondage deeper than Egypt's and led his people out into life. The locusts stripped Egypt bare so that the God who fills the empty and feeds the hungry might be known and remembered forever.

And this is why the story is told at all. God commanded that the exodus be rehearsed in every generation, and the church still obeys, for the deliverance from Egypt is the shape of the greater deliverance in Christ. As Israel gathered to remember the night they were freed, so believers gather at the Lord's table to remember a greater Passover and a greater rescue, telling their children of the Redeemer who broke a bondage deeper than Egypt's and led his people out into life. The locusts stripped a proud land bare so that the God who fills the empty and feeds the hungry might be known, and remembered, and trusted, by children not yet born.

A note on reading the plagues: this account follows Exodus faithfully and does not add to it. The idea that each plague confronted a particular Egyptian god or power is a widely held and often persuasive reading, and it is presented here as an interpretation, not as a certainty. Except on the final night, where Exodus itself says the LORD executed judgment against all the gods of Egypt, the text names no specific deity. What Scripture states plainly is that the LORD alone is God, that he heard the cry of his people, and that he brought them out with a mighty hand.

Related: The plague of hail · The plague of darkness · The ten plagues