Exodus 10:12-19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” 13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. 15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.16 Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” 18 So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.
The Locusts
In the Bible, God afflicts ancient Egyptians with ten plagues for their sins. One of them was the plague of locusts. Moses warned the Pharaoh that God will send so many locusts that they will "cover each and every tree of the land and eat all that is there to be eaten".
The locusts ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: God showed Himself greater than the Egyptian god Set, thought to be the protector of crops.
There remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field. There was a darkness covering the land of Egypt. This was no normal darkness, it had a supernatural element to it that could be felt. Light is not only a physical property; it is an aspect of God’s character (God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, 1 John 1:5). In judgment, God can withdraw His presence so significantly that the void remaining is darkness which may even be felt.
The destruction
What do locusts produce? Well, the land is going to be defoliated, the greenery is going to be gone, the food is going to be gone, there’s going to be nothing to eat. Mass starvation and famine is going to occur.
The devastation from this plague was very extreme. 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. Any vegetation that remained following the hail would have been destroyed by the locusts.
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 o
Pharaoh acknowledged his sin
At the end Pharaoh said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you". Pharaoh did the same thing in Exodus 9:27-28. He said the words of repentance but did not follow through with the actions. His heart was only hardened more after God relented and showed mercy.
Pharaoh gives this superficial confession, but once again he lies. He’s dishonest, and God hardens his heart. Pharaoh was considered to be a god, holy righteous. He was the incarnation of the god Ra. He’s only remorseful because he wants this situation to relent. And the minute that it relents, he goes right back to his former posture. But God is showing His sovereignty in all this. Pharaoh is being humbled before God, step by step, but he is refusing to bow the knee. And so God will break him in showing His sovereignty.
Moses' prayer
In response to Moses' prayer, God made a change in the wind. The prevailing winds in Egypt came from the direction of the Red Sea.
This verse literally says that "Jehovah turned the very strong wind of the sea." In other words, the Lord changed the direction of the wind to carry the locusts into the Red Sea.
God answers prayers!
Job 22:27 “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you; And you will pay your vows.
