Locusts

Story: Locusts

Passage: Exodus 10:1-20

Characters:  Moses, Aaron, God, Pharaoh

Summary:

God warned Pharaoh through Moses that He was going to cover the land with locusts.  Pharaoh’s servants begged him to give in to Moses’ demands.  Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron back and said he would let the men go worship. He refused to let all of the Israelites go however.  So God sent locusts into the land and they ate whatever plants survived the hail.  Pharaoh repented and asked Moses to plead on his behalf to God.  God took away the locusts.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

Notes: First of all, God says that He is doing these plagues so that the Israelites and their children will know that He is the Lord.  This is interesting because God is hinting at the fact that they would need some reminding.  God’s issue with Pharaoh was that Pharaoh refused to humble himself.  The root issue here is pride.  I think this is the root issue for all sin, but this was a blatant representation of it.  Pharaoh’s servants realized what was happening and begged Pharaoh to let them worship God.  They pointed out that Egypt was already ruined.   Pharaoh agreed and said that they could serve the Lord in the desert, but he wanted to know who all was going to go.  Moses told him that the adults, children and animals were all going to go.  Pharaoh was not happy and assumed that Moses was trying to trick him.  I love that he swears by saying “the Lord be with you if I let your little ones go.”  Obviously the Lord was with Moses and Pharaoh did let everyone go eventually.  Pharaoh told him to take the men and worship since that is all they need.  Moses left and God sent in locusts.  I find it interesting that the passage specifies that the locusts came in with an east wind.  Pharaoh then sounded repentant.  He admitted to sinning against God and Moses, He asked for forgiveness and asked Moses to plead to God for him.  Moses did and God blew the locusts into the Red Sea.  Interestingly, He did not have the locusts die in the land like He did with the frogs.  Pharaoh hardened his heart again though.  This story shows that you can say all the right things and sound repentant but you might not be in your heart.  Pharaoh said the right things but he did not mean it.  I just want to point out that Pharaoh’s issues stem from him worrying about his image.  As one of the most powerful men on earth, it would look terrible if he allowed his entire slave base to just walk out of the country.  If he wanted to maintain his image, he could not afford to let them go even for a short time.

Questions:  How many of Pharaoh’s servant supported Pharaoh by this point?  What did the Egyptian public think?  Was Moses surprised that Pharaoh knew that the Israelites were going to try to run for it?

Lessons:  This passage shows me the importance of being truly repentant in your heart.  As prideful humans, this is impossible unless we let the Spirit convict us of our sin an.  If we listen to the Spirit, we will see how insufficient we are compared to Christ and He will lead us to His forgiveness.  If our repentance is based in making much of God rather than making much of ourselves, Christ’s amazing grace and mercy is ready for us.  If we are not truly repentant though, we are leaving ourselves open to His punishment and judgment.