Exiting Egypt Chapter 10 P4

Exiting Egypt

Eighth Plague – Swarms of Locust

Exodus 10:1-20

By Dennis Lee: Chapter 10 P4

Remember that it was Pharaoh who had professed to Moses that he had sinned and promised to obey God and free the Jews (Ex. 9:37). But once more he soon forgets and turns away from God more hardened than ever.

Also remember that while it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it wasn’t until after Pharaoh hardened his own heart towards God and His people.

The Lord then asks, “how long,” which is the consummate question. I find this an interesting statement in that how often we read of God’s longsuffering. How He is longsuffering wishing none to perish, but God’s longsuffering should never be thought of as forever suffering. There is going to come a time and a day when it’s going to be all over.

Concerning the Day of the Lord, Jesus likens it to a thief who comes in the middle of the night. No one knows when he is coming. In like manner, God is longsuffering with all of us, but that longsuffering is going to come to an end.

Now, the “how long” that the Lord is referring to is in Pharaoh’s inability to humble himself before the might and power of God. “How long with you refuse to humble yourself before Me.”

Why do people refuse to humble themselves? I think the reason may be because God demands our life, which means to sacrifice everything to the Lord. This really doesn’t sit well with most people. We are a self-sufficient lot we are. We are full of pride where it is all about us.

And so the Lord wants to know how long before we finally get it and humble ourselves before the All-powerful, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth. The sovereign I AM.

Now the Bible makes it clear that pride comes before the fall (Prov. 16:18). Therefore, we are encouraged to humble ourselves before the Lord God, and then He will lift us up (James 4:10).

This time, it’s the king’s advisors that are telling Pharaoh he needs to do something, but it wasn’t to repent, but to do something nonetheless because Moses was becoming a snare. They were blaming Moses for what was happening, not Pharaoh’s or their own hardened hearts. In the immortal words of someone, “don’t shoot the messenger,” but that is exactly what they wanted to do.

But seeing that Egypt was becoming a skeleton of its former self and glory, they urged Pharaoh to do something before Egypt would be completely annihilated.

And so Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and offered a compromise, but Moses was having nothing to do with it. It would be God’s way or no way, and all these negotiations were nothing more than show, because both Moses and Pharaoh knew what was going to happen. But because Moses wouldn’t compromise, so Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron tossed out on their ear, which is the literal translation of them being driven out.

Just some food for thought, God doesn’t compromise His word, and neither should we. If God says it, we need to believe it and follow what it says, to the letter. God doesn’t except a half-hearted commitment on the part of His people, it is a distasteful thing to Him.

And so God sends his next plague, a plague of locusts. And this is one plague that literally strikes fear in the hearts of those who hear that such a plague is coming.

In 1958, just to get a feel for what this might have been like, although the plague that hit Egypt was like no other. But in 1958 aircraft measured a 400 square mile swarm of locusts in Ethiopia. At that time crop losses were estimated at $30 million, and four million people lost two years’ supply of food.

It has been estimated that there could be at least 40 million and sometimes over 80 million locusts in a square half mile during a swarm. They have been known to travel more than 60 miles a day, destroying everything in their path

Further, such a plague has become known as a symbol of God’s judgment. This is seen in the prophet Joel’s account of the end times, of the Day of the Lord. And there will come an army of locust, so great and so strong that and sun and moon will grow dark and the brightness of the stars will diminish. And the people will writhe in pain before them and greatly fear (Joel. 2:1-11).

The Lord through Joel is actually recalling an earlier locust invasion that happened upon the land of Israel.

Now, the particular Egyptian god that this plague went after is Seraphis, the insect god. He was worshipped by the Egyptians in the hope of protecting from such a locust swarm. But, like all the gods before him, he miserably failed with this one.

In the end, Pharaoh confessed that he had sinned once again and made it sound like he accepted God’s and His word, and that he would follow through and obey. But, as we have seen in the past, this was just another false confession and profession. Which brings us to the ninth plague next week.