The Eighth Plague: Locusts

Study notes

The account centers on the LORD's declared purpose in hardening Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of his servants, namely to multiply signs that future generations will recount and thereby recognize the LORD. This intention frames the warning of locusts that will consume what the hail left, the servants' urgent plea for release, Pharaoh's restricted concession that excludes children and livestock, the arrival of unprecedented swarms that darken the land and strip every green thing, and the swift removal of the insects after a hurried confession and prayer. Yet the same hardening that enables these demonstrations also ensures that the plea for forgiveness remains limited to the immediate crisis, leaving the demand for full release unmet.

What is The Eighth Plague: Locusts about?

The LORD tells Moses to return to Pharaoh because his heart and the hearts of his servants have been hardened. The purpose stated is that further signs may be placed in Egypt so that future generations will hear what happened and recognize the LORD. Moses and Aaron deliver the message that Pharaoh must let the people go to serve the LORD, or else locusts will cover the land the next day and consume everything the hail left behind. The insects will fill houses across Egypt in a way no previous generation has seen. Pharaoh's servants press him to release the men so that the ruin of Egypt might stop. When Moses and Aaron are brought back, Pharaoh offers to let the men go but refuses the children and livestock. Moses insists the whole people must depart for the feast. After the east wind brings the locusts in dense swarms that darken the land and strip every green thing, Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron, confesses sin, and asks them to pray that the plague end. A strong sea wind removes the locusts, yet Pharaoh still refuses to release the sons of Israel.

Where does this passage sit in Exodus?

Exodus 10:1-20 sits immediately after the hail that destroyed crops and livestock across Egypt. The locusts arrive as the next stage in a sequence of judgments that target what remains after each previous blow. Verse 5 explicitly ties the new threat to the hail’s aftermath, showing how each plague builds on the damage already done rather than starting fresh. The LORD’s opening words to Moses in verses 1-2 repeat the language of hardening that has run through the earlier confrontations, yet they add the explicit aim that future generations will hear the account and acknowledge the LORD. This forward-looking statement appears at the moment when the signs reach a new level of visible devastation.

Within the immediate stretch of chapters 7-10, the pattern of announcement, partial resistance, and execution continues, but the servants’ plea in verse 7 introduces a fresh internal pressure on Pharaoh that was only hinted at before. Their question about Egypt’s ruin echoes the earlier warnings yet comes after the hail has already struck the fields. Pharaoh’s counter-offer to release only the men, recorded in verses 8-11, narrows the demand Moses had made since the first audience, creating a sharper test of whether any compromise will be accepted. When the east wind brings the locusts and the sea wind removes them, the land is left stripped in a way the hail alone did not achieve, and the text notes that nothing green survived anywhere in Egypt.

The chapter ends with the same hardening statement that closed the hail account, so the refusal stands in direct sequence with what has gone before rather than marking a new phase. This placement keeps the focus on the cumulative effect of the signs while preparing for the darkness that follows, another judgment that again leaves Pharaoh’s court divided and the land under visible affliction.

How is the passage structured?

The block opens with the LORD directing Moses to approach Pharaoh once more, stating the hardening of heart and the intent to multiply signs so that later generations may recount them. Moses and Aaron then deliver the ultimatum in direct speech, describing the coming locusts that will cover the land, consume what hail spared, and fill every house in a manner unknown to previous generations. After the warning, Moses turns and leaves without awaiting reply.

Pharaoh’s servants immediately intervene with their own question, urging release of the men to avert further ruin. This prompts a recall of Moses and Aaron. Pharaoh concedes partial permission yet probes who will go, receives Moses’ insistence on the entire people with flocks for the feast, and counters by restricting attendance to the men alone before expelling the brothers.

The LORD next commands Moses to stretch out his hand. An east wind blows through an entire day and night, and at dawn the locusts arrive in unprecedented density, darkening the land and stripping every green remnant. Pharaoh responds with haste, summoning the brothers, confessing sin, and requesting only the removal of this death. Moses departs, prays, and a reversing sea wind carries every locust into the sea of reeds. The section closes by noting the renewed hardening that prevents any departure of the sons of Israel.

What is the historical background?

Locust invasions reached Egypt when prevailing winds carried swarms from breeding grounds farther east. The account specifies an east wind that blew all day and night before the insects arrived, then a strong sea wind that reversed their direction and swept them into the sea of reeds. These details align with the seasonal pattern in which spring winds from the east or southeast could deposit dense clouds of locusts across the Nile valley, where they consumed whatever green growth remained after earlier storms.

Pharaoh’s servants appear in the narrative as a distinct group whose counsel carried weight inside the royal court. Their warning that Egypt was already ruined reflects the economic dependence of the land on successive harvests; once the hail had stripped crops and trees, another wave of consumption threatened stored food and seed for the next season. The servants therefore urged a limited concession—permission for the men to depart—so that further damage might be avoided.

The demand that the entire people, including children and livestock, must leave for the feast corresponds to the practice of household pilgrimage in the region. Livestock supplied both the animals for sacrifice and the provisions needed for an extended absence from settled land. Pharaoh’s counter-offer to release only the men shows an attempt to keep the workforce and breeding stock under Egyptian control while still granting a token religious concession.

The sea of reeds itself designates a marshy or lacustrine area lying between the cultivated delta and the open waters to the east. Driving the locusts into that body of water removed them from arable territory without requiring any human intervention beyond the change in wind direction.

What does this passage teach about God?

The LORD states at the beginning that he has hardened Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of his servants in order to multiply the signs performed in their midst. This hardening is presented as the means by which the LORD will make his power known, so that the story can be told to children and grandchildren and they will recognize that he alone is the LORD. The purpose is therefore not merely punishment but the creation of enduring testimony.

Pharaoh is repeatedly called to humble himself before the LORD so that the people may go out to serve him. When the servants warn that Egypt is already ruined and urge him to release the men, Pharaoh offers only a partial concession that leaves the children and livestock behind. Moses answers that the whole community, young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds, must depart because a feast to the LORD requires their full participation. The negotiation shows that Pharaoh continues to treat the demand as negotiable even after the land has suffered repeated blows.

Once the locusts have stripped every remaining green thing, Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron in haste and confesses that he has sinned against the LORD and against them. He asks that the plague be removed just this once. Moses prays, a strong sea wind carries the insects away, and not one remains. Immediately afterward the LORD hardens Pharaoh's heart again, and he refuses to let the sons of Israel go.

The sequence displays both divine control over natural forces and human accountability. Pharaoh can name his sin and request prayer, yet the confession does not produce lasting obedience. The signs are set in Egypt so that later generations will know the LORD, but within the story itself the same hardening that multiplies the signs also prevents Pharaoh from releasing the people. The LORD grants temporary relief after the prayer and then restores the conditions under which the next sign will occur.

What are the interpretive difficulties?

The opening statement that the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of his servants raises a question about the timing and purpose of that action. Verses 1 and 2 present the hardening as the means by which further signs will occur and be recounted to later generations, yet the narrative has already shown Pharaoh refusing release before any explicit mention of divine hardening in this cycle. Readers must decide how much weight to give the stated intention when the immediate result is continued refusal rather than immediate recognition of the LORD.

Pharaoh's servants urge him to release the men after hearing the threat of locusts, warning that Egypt is already ruined. Their intervention produces a limited concession: Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron again and asks who will go. When Moses insists on the entire people, young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds, Pharaoh replies that only the men may depart and then drives them out. The exchange leaves open whether Pharaoh's restriction stems from fear of losing the entire workforce or from a calculated attempt to retain leverage over the livestock and children.

After the locusts arrive and strip the land, Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron in haste, confesses sin against the LORD and against them, and asks for prayer that removes only this death. The request for forgiveness "just this once" is granted when the LORD sends a sea wind that clears every locust from Egyptian territory. The text records no further negotiation at that moment, yet the final verse states that the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the sons of Israel go. The narrative therefore records both a momentary acknowledgment of wrongdoing and an immediate return to refusal without explaining how the two stand together.

The locusts are described as unprecedented in density and destructive reach, covering the land so that nothing green remains. This claim of uniqueness echoes earlier statements about the hail, yet the passage supplies no independent verification beyond the narrator's assertion. The question remains how later generations, the very audience named in verse 2, are expected to weigh such descriptions when the account itself supplies no external measure of comparison.

Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse above for the committee's word-level decisions.