| DAY OF THE LOCUSTS |
| The ten plagues proved a point for both Jews and Egyptians. |
| "And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." 7:5 |
| Locusts, or grasshoppers, normally live a solitary life, hopping from stalk to stalk and placidly munching on leaves and flowers. Then something happens - whether in response to climate, food supply, or crowded conditions - that triggers a change. The locusts grow restive, flush an ominous pink color, and begin to seek other locusts. They become a plague. Great clattering hordes of them, millions strong, blacken the sky, shutting out sunlight. Groups of them fall to the ground like cluster bombs and disperse to destroy every sign of vegetation. Pesticide spraying may kill a few million, but the migratory swarm will barely notice such losses. A single swarm crossing the Red Sea was once measured at 15 miles wide, three miles deep, and 100 miles long. Upon landing, the locusts consumed crops, leather, fences, and even tool handles, leaving behind total devastation over 2,000 square miles. Why the Ten Plagues? Exodus (7-12) depicts ten cataclysmic plagues on Egypt - including a locust swarm - in brief but graphic detail. The Bible does not concern itself with the question of how these natural phenomena occurred; it merely affirms that something superntural took place. The miracles were an unprecendented display of God's power. A nation was about to be born, and the Jews' uprooting from Egypt called for such power. The Israelites had, after all, lived for centuries in Egypt. It would take a strong incentive indeed to motivate a massive, abrupt departure. And Egypt woult not easily let thousands of valuable slaves walk away |
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