Exodus 10: 1-20, Locusts!

The Eighth Plague

We get so used to rattling off the Plagues of Moses, that we often don’t stop and think what they mean. In fact, we often don’t stop and think what a great deal of the Bible is really talking about!

For instance, I used to somehow have a picture of an oasis as I had seen in cartoons or ‘illustrations.’ They were sort of like little ponds, maybe, or even just a well, with a palm tree or two and some tufts of grass. And I wondered how a few million people encamped about one of these could manage, especially with all their livestock.

If you have that same ridiculous picture in your mind, here:
http://www.fao.org/NEWS/GLOBAL/LOCUSTS/EGY0011/EGYmap1.htm

While I was doing research on the locusts for this plague, I ran across this map. Click on one of the numbers that is in a green area and you will see what ‘oasis’ really means and it will help to understand how the entire Israelite encampment plus livestock was able to get enough water!

But back to the locusts. When I was in Australia a year and a half ago, in Feb. of 2001, we were trekking through the Flinders Ranges in South Australia and saw something I had never seen or even really imagined before: baby locusts. The ground was MOVING with them. We got out of our car and walked through a carpet of them – so thick you could not see the ground. They were extraordinarily tiny – they could not have hatched too long before. But it would be no exaggeration to say there were several million of them spread across the road and fields. I will never forget that sight. And these were the tiniest of the babies.

Here is a little more about the locusts Egypt faced during the plagues – the desert locust:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/ereserve/biol120/locust/locust.htm

The warmer it is, the more quickly they mature; the more quickly they mature, the shorter their lives. Rainfall, which produces green vegetation, is necessary for nymphal and adult survival, adult migration and/or egg development. Egg laying usually follows either migration or rainfall. How long it takes for a locust to reach maturity depends on the species, conditions of the habitat and on temperature.

For an idea of what a swarm looks like, and what they can do even in a small swarm: Australian plague locust:

<a href="http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/locust/aboutlocusts2.htm" target="_blank">

http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/locust/aboutlocusts2.htm[/URL]

From: http://www.fao.org/NEWS/GLOBAL/locusts/LocFAQ.htm#q9

· What is a Desert Locust?
The Desert Locust is one of about a dozen species of short-horned grasshoppers (Acridoidea) that are known to change their behavior and form swarms of adults or bands of hoppers (wingless nymphs). The swarms that form can be dense and highly mobile. The Latin name for Desert Locust is Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal).

· What countries are affected by the Desert Locust?
During quiet periods (known as recessions) Desert Locusts are usually restricted to the semi-arid and arid deserts of Africa, the Near East and South-West Asia that receive less than 200 mm of rain annually. This is an area of about 16 million square kilometres, consisting of about 30 countries.

During plagues, Desert Locusts may spread over an enormous area of some 29 million square kilometres, extending over or into parts of 60 countries. This is more than 20% of the total land surface of the world. During plagues, the Desert Locust has the potential to damage the livelihood of a tenth of the world's population.

· How big are swarms and how many locusts are there in a swarm?
Locust swarms can vary from less than one square kilometre to several hundred square kilometres. There can be at least 40 million and sometimes as many as 80 million locust adults in each square kilometre of swarm.

· How much food can a Desert Locust eat?
A Desert Locust adult can consume roughly its own weight in fresh food per day, that is about two grams every day. A very small part of an average swarm (or about one tonne of locusts) eats the same amount of food in one day as about 10 elephants or 25 camels or 2,500 people.

Locusts will only eat green vegetation. They are still enormous threats. Here are a couple of links on locust watches in the East:
Locust report:

http://www.cidi.org/locust/2001/DL269e.html

March of this year: http://www.cidi.org/locust/DL282e.html

And so the 8th Plague was locusts, blown in on the east wind. There was a goddess, Serapia, who was to protect Egypts crops from locusts. She failed that day…

The Egyptian Court is warned about the coming plague of locusts. The officials beg Pharaoh to let the Israelites go! But when the Pharaoh finds out that not just the men, but the women and children are to be taken, he balks.

And so, at Moses’ command, an east wind begins to blow. All day, the Bible says, and all night. And in with the east wind came the largest swarm of locusts ever known in Egypt. Billions of them. And they ate everything green in the entire land.

“Nothing green remained on a tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Moses and Aaron are summoned by Pharaoh who claims now he has really sinned! He asks Moses to pray for him. Moses prays, and a west wind comes and there go the locusts, on the wind.

But true to what He had told Moses before, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the Israelite people were still slaves.

[ August 10, 2002, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: Helen ]