LOCUSTS AND DARKNESS

“Pharaoh hurried to summon Moshe and Aharon and said, ‘I have sinned against Adonai your God and against you.’”
Exodus 10:16

Having kids, or better yet having been a kid, I sometimes find myself asking the old question, ‘When will they learn?” Unfortunately I find myself asking the same thing in reference to Pharaoh. When will he learn? Granted I understand that Adonai continued to harden his heart, I still find myself wondering why he kept making vows and then changing his mind. In Exodus 10:8 Pharaoh gave permission for the people to leave, but then questioned who all would be going. The response was everyone. Pharaoh didn’t like this answer and tried to talk Moshe down to just the men going. But that was not Adonai’s terms. As such he took back his offer and again had a hard heart.
Following the hard heart came the plague of locusts, which had been forewarned by Moshe already. With the locusts eating every plant that the hail had left behind, and so numerous that the ground looked black, Adonai was once again showing His power. The Egyptian god Seth was known as the god of wind and storms. Adonai had caused a wind to blow in over Egypt, and with it brought the massive intrusion of locusts. When Pharaoh surrendered once more, Moshe prayed and a wind again blew the locusts, this time forcing them west.
After this surrender, though, the heart of Pharaoh was hard once more. The cycle continued. But Adonai wasn’t done. Commanding Moshe to reach out his hand again, this time toward the sky, a darkness covered the land of Egypt. The Torah records the darkness was so think I could be felt. This was worse than the eerie feeling one gets when watching Scooby Doo. The people could not see each other and for three days no one left. Yet again, proving not only His power but also His love for His people, the Hebrews in the land of Goshen had light. The Egyptian god Ra, the god of the sun, had now also been defeated, its power void. The strength of Egypt was being defeated and defaced with each plague Adonai was sending. Yet one strength remained to be conquered.

Exodus 10:12-23