Locusts
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs among them; 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done to Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am Yahweh.” 3 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 5 and they shall cover the surface of the earth, so that one won’t be able to see the earth. They shall eat the residue of that which has escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. 6 Your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” He turned, and went out from Pharaoh. 7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” 8 Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God; but who are those who will go?” 9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to Yahweh.” 10 He said to them, “Yahweh be with you if I let you go with your little ones! See, evil is clearly before your faces. 11 Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve Yahweh; for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. 12 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.” 13 Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt. They were very grievous. Before them there were no such locusts as they, nor will there ever be again. 15 For they covered the surface of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. 16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death.” 18 Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed to Yahweh. 19 Yahweh sent an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the borders of Egypt. 20 But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the children of Israel go.
Pharaoh's own officials tell him the country is finished, and he offers to release the men while keeping the children.
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs among them; 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done to Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am Yahweh.”
A purpose is stated that has not been stated before, and it reaches past everyone in the room. The plagues are being performed for grandchildren. What is happening in Egypt is meant to be told, and the telling is part of the point — which is why the instructions for the Passover in the next chapter are framed around a child's question.
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, “This is what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.
The demand has narrowed. It is no longer about a festival in the wilderness; it is about a man's estimate of himself, and it always was.
Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh, their God. Don’t you yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”
The court has changed sides. The men whose careers depend on the king's judgment tell him to his face that his judgment has ruined the country, and their question uses the same words God's messenger had used a moment earlier. When the advisers and the prophet are asking the same question, a ruler is alone with an opinion.
He recalls Moses and opens a negotiation, and the second of his four offers is the cruelest. Go, serve Yahweh your God; but who are those who will go? Exodus 10:8. Moses answers with a list that leaves nothing out: with our young and with our old... with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds Exodus 10:9.
Not so! Go now you who are men, and serve Yahweh; for that is what you desire!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
The men may worship; the children stay. It is offered as a concession and is in fact a hostage arrangement, and the king says the quiet part aloud beforehand — see, evil is clearly before your faces Exodus 10:10. He understands perfectly that a religion permitted to adults and withheld from their children lasts one generation. So does Moses, which is why the refusal is absolute and why the terms are not negotiated downward by a single name.
The locusts come on an east wind, and the description is total: there remained nothing green, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt Exodus 10:15. What the hail had spared, because it was still under the ground, is now eaten as it comes up. The two plagues are one judgment in two parts, the second timed to catch exactly what the first could not reach.
16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God, and against you. 17 Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death.”
The confession is fuller than the last one, includes an apology to Moses, and admits the repetition with the word again. It is also, by now, entirely predictable, and so is what follows the relief. A west wind takes every locust into the sea, and the heart closes Exodus 10:19–20. Nine plagues have produced two confessions, four offers, and no change whatever.
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