Locust swarms can contain 4-8 billion, eating in a day what 3.5 million people would consume.
As Exodus 10 opens, the Lord explains that these plagues are also lessons “that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt” (v 2). Every generation must personally discover the Lord for themselves; God has no grandchildren. But we can show them God’s goodness in our lives. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children” (Ps 103:17). Again, Moses and Aaron arrived at the palace and declared on behalf of God, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go…Or else…” (Ex 10:3-4). Or else what? Bloody Nile. Frogs everywhere. Itchy lice. Swarms of flies. Murrain on their cattle and boils on their bodies. Hail hammering everything, even though God graciously spared the later crops (9:32). Now locusts “shall cover the face of the earth,…and they shall eat the residue of what is left,…They shall fill your houses” (10:5-6). The ravaging of Egypt is attributed to Pharaoh’s refusal to humble himself, but who does this plague expose as a hoax? Set, the god of chaos, storms, and pestilence, whose name means “Instigator of Confusion.” You like chaos, Pharaoh? You’re welcome to it. That’s always the alternative to God’s will. Pressed by his courtiers, the king calls Moses back. Let’s make a deal, he says. You adults go, but leave the young ones here. Not a chance, says Moses. An east wind blew all night, and in the morning, Egypt was blanketed with locusts. Dear Christian, mere worldly success is greatly overrated. Please don’t allow Egypt’s attitudes and values into your home, eating away, locust-like, at the young. Show them the reality of a living relationship with the Lord.