(Exo 10:1 NASB) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,
(Exo 10:2 NASB) and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the LORD.”
Exo 10:2: Once again, Elohim hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Elohim once again states His reason for this hardening. Future generations are to be told of this and He is to be glorified.
That is also the reason behind Torah (Deut. 6:20-25). When we remove or discard His Torah, we are not giving Him the glory He so richly deserves.
(Exo 10:3 NASB) And Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
Exo 10:3: Once again, the problem is that Pharaoh thinks he is a god and refuses to humble himself before Elohim. Pharaoh refuses to let the people serve Elohim.
(Exo 10:4 NASB) ‘For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
(Exo 10:5 NASB) ‘And they shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one shall be able to see the land. They shall also eat the rest of what has escaped– what is left to you from the hail– and they shall eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field.
Exo 10:5: Locusts are one of the most destructive creatures on earth. the following is stated on http://sdsd.essortment.com/locustsplagues_rkgh.htm:
“Locusts closely resemble grasshoppers in appearance, yet are larger, measuring around 2 inches in length. What makes them different from their grasshopper cousins is that locusts can actually go into two behavioural states, depending on population densities and environmental conditions. Normally locusts remain in what is called a solitary phase. But if favourable breeding conditions cause more young to hatch than usual, resulting in overcrowding and scarcity of food, or the locusts migrate to regions where the habitat is unsuitable, the insects will go through what is called a phase change. This second state is called the gregarious phase where the locusts become agitated, begin to gather in very large numbers and finally evolve into a single migrating swarm, or plague.
Once a plague of locusts breaks out there is little that can stop it. A single band is sometimes miles wide and besides blotting out the sun will interfere with land and air travel, clog machinery like car radiators, not to mention devour an entire country’s food supply in a matter of days. Like grasshoppers, different species of migratory locusts are found in many regions of the world from the deserts of Australia and Africa to the plains of the United States and Canada. Since locusts travel on wind currents its not uncommon for swarms to cross oceans, jumping from one continent to another. Consequently these insect pests continue generating billions of dollars in crop losses around the globe.”
(Exo 10:6 NASB) ‘Then your houses shall be filled, and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day.’” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
Exo 10:6: The locust swarm is devastating to Egypt. All the remaining vegetation that still exists after the previous plagues will be destroyed.
(Exo 10:7 NASB) And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?”
Exo 10:7: We finally see some division in the ranks. Pharaoh’s servants refer to Moses as “this man” and asks Pharoah to let the people go. The servants say Egypt is already destroyed before the plague of locusts appear.
(Exo 10:8 NASB) So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God! Who are the ones that are going?”
(Exo 10:9 NASB) And Moses said, “We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
Exo 10:9: If the Feast Days were not yet known, why did Moses say they were going to celebrate one? This was already mentioned in Ex. 5:1. While many of the Feast Days may or may not yet have been fully defined, they were already part of the Hebrew culture and Law.
(Exo 10:10 NASB) Then he said to them, “Thus may the LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Take heed, for evil is in your mind.
(Exo 10:11 NASB) “Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the LORD, for that is what you desire.” So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
Exo 10:11: All the people were to go worship Elohim, not just the men. Pharaoh is still under the false impression that he has any say-so on this matter.
(Exo 10:12 NASB) Then the LORD 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 plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.”
(Exo 10:13 NASB) So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Exo 10:13: Elohim is once again using a natural occurrences and magnifying it’s effects. Ordinary locusts were brought in by the East wind from Arabia, but the numbers were staggering.
(Exo 10:14 NASB) And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again.
(Exo 10:15 NASB) For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.
Exo 10:15: The locusts appeared at the precise time Moses predicted. There could be no doubt that this plague was sent by Elohim. The Middle East is no stranger to locust plagues. As recently as 1938, locusts have swarmed to a depth of about six inches on Syrian and Palestinian rail beds. When a locomotive stopped in their midst, it could not start again under its own power because of the lubricating effect of crushed locusts on the rails in response to the engine’s drive wheels.
(Exo 10:16 NASB) Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
(Exo 10:17 NASB) “Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to the LORD your God, that He would only remove this death from me.”
Exo 10:17: Pharaoh returns to his false humility and false repentance.
(Exo 10:18 NASB) And he went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the LORD.
(Exo 10:19 NASB) So the LORD shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt.
(Exo 10:20 NASB) But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
Exo 10:20: A strong west wind drove all the locusts into the Red Sea. There was not even a single locust left in the land.
But once again, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by Elohim.
(Exo 10:21 NASB) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.”
(Exo 10:22 NASB) So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
Exo 10:22: We do not know the cause of the darkness, but it is an attack on Ra, the sun god. Ra (or Re) was an old solar-god from Heliopolis and a major deity over all Egypt. He was traveling over the sky in his boat every day with his life-giving sundisc. He stood for life, rebirth, children, health, virility etc, and the myths about him are several. His cult was pushed forward during the fifth dynasty when the pharaohs took the title – son of Re, and this would last to the very end of Egyptian history. During the New Kingdom he was combined with Amon* as Amon-Re and Horus* as Re-Horakhte. He was shown as a falcon-headed man with the sun disc upon his head. In later times he got a wife – Ret, and she looked just like Hathor. Hathor was also depicted with a sun disk on her head. It is obvious from the depictions of Ra and Hathor that sun worship was still prevalent in the depictions of early “Christian” art and worship practices.
(Exo 10:23 NASB) They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.
Exo 10:23: The plague of death that brings deliverance to the people was preceded by a plague of darkness for three days and three nights. In a similar manner, darkness fell upon the earth for three hours before Yeshua died and spent three days and three nights in the belly of the earth before our deliverance came in in the form of His resurrection.
(Exo 10:24 NASB) Then Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be detained. Even your little ones may go with you.”
Exo 10:24: Pharaoh does not trust anyone. That is because Pharaoh is not to be trusted.
(Exo 10:25 NASB) But Moses said, “You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice them to the LORD our God.
(Exo 10:26 NASB) “Therefore, our livestock, too, will go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD.”
(Exo 10:27 NASB) But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.
Exo 10:27: Livestock is necessary for the feasts.
(Exo 10:28 NASB) Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!”
(Exo 10:29 NASB) And Moses said, “You are right; I shall never see your face again!”
Exo 10:29: Moses and Pharaoh finally agree on something. Moses and his message are rejected by Pharaoh and Moses said, “You are right, I will never see your face again!” In another similarity to Moses, Yeshua said the same thing to those who rejected Him and His message (Luke 13:35).
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas