Exodus 10:15 - Printer Friendly

ESV: They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

NIV: They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

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. Therefore nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.

CSB: They covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green was left on the trees or the plants in the field throughout the land of Egypt.

NLT: For the locusts covered the whole country and darkened the land. They devoured every plant in the fields and all the fruit on the trees that had survived the hailstorm. Not a single leaf was left on the trees and plants throughout the land of Egypt.

KJV: For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

NKJV: For they covered the face 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. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

Egypt was threatened with an eighth plague (Exodus 7:21; 8:6, 17, 24; 9:6, 10, 24) if their king still refused to free the Hebrews slaves (Exodus 1:11–14; 10:4–6). Scripture now describes what happened when this unimaginable cloud of insects arrived (Exodus 10:14). The claim that there was nothing "green"—meaning not a single uneaten stalk or leaf—fits with the behavior of large locust swarms.

Locusts are a phase of common grasshoppers. Under certain conditions, they breed a generation with a slightly different appearance and drastically different behavior. Normal grasshoppers prefer to be alone. Their locust form is compelled to close grouping, is much more aggressive, eats more, and breeds faster than the standard version. A "small" swarm of a square kilometer, or less than one half of a square mile, can eat as much every day as thirty-five thousand people. As vegetation is consumed, locusts will eat virtually anything they can chew. In extreme cases, that has included leather, fabric, softer woods, paint, and the corpses of fellow locusts.

Locust devastation of crops is disastrous. Yet major swarms create many other problems. A locust's bite is not dangerous, but it is painful and irritating. The insects make a loud, raspy buzzing noise in addition to the sounds made when flying and bumping into things. They produce waste that contaminates food and water. Since they fly and land everywhere, those who are crushed leave a mess, in addition to the bodies of those who die. They invade buildings and homes, bringing all the same problems.

A late-nineteenth century locust plague in North America was estimated to cover an area the size of California. That nation-sized cloud was estimated to contain as many as twelve trillion insects: twelve thousand million locusts. Here in the book of Exodus, Egypt faces a swarm so dense and wide that it blocks out the sun and covers every surface. The insects also get into homes, polluting and eating everything inside. The only other biblical account similar to what happens in Egypt is found in a combination of prophecy and history recorded in Joel chapters 1 and 2 (Joel 1:4, 7, 13–20).

Pharaoh's advisors were already terrified to face a locust swarm (Exodus 10:7) after hail destroyed so many crops (Exodus 9:31–32). This is even worse than they imagined. It's no surprise that the king scrambles to correct his mistake (Exodus 10:16–17).

Exodus 10:12–20 describes the eighth plague, an unimaginable cloud of locusts. These are grasshoppers which respond to weather patterns by spawning a generation of aggressive, hungry, fertile, insects who travel in close-packed swarms. This event is beyond anything ever seen before or since. Locusts completely cover the ground and eat every leaf, stem, and fruit which survived the plague of hail (Exodus 9:31–32). Pharaoh again begs for mercy, obtains it, and then goes back on his word to release the Israelites.

Moses warns Pharaoh that an eighth plague will come if the Hebrew slaves are not set free. This will be the worst locust invasion the nation will ever see. Pharaoh's advisors beg him to negotiate. He offers to release only Israelite men, which Moses rejects. The locust plague eradicates everything that survived the earlier hailstorm. Pharaoh pleads for relief, only to break his promise once again when the danger has passed. Next come three days of intense darkness. Pharaoh once again tries to arrange a partial release. When Moses refuses, Pharaoh threatens to kill him if he ever comes back.

Seven times, God has sent supernatural judgment against the nation of Egypt (Exodus 7—9). Each time, Pharaoh has refused to obey God's command to release the Israelite slaves. As a result, God will no longer give Pharaoh the ability to repent (Proverbs 29:1). Despite an epic, devastating locust invasion and three days of darkness, Pharaoh still refuses to submit. Rather, he threatens Moses with death. This will lead Moses to predict the last and worst of the ten plagues (Exodus 11). The tragic death of Egypt's firstborn during the Passover (Exodus 12) will finally lead to Israelite freedom.