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As We Depart the Plague of Hail
When the tempest of hail ceased Pharaoh hardened, and then strengthened his heart, against God. In ancient thought stubbornness is derived from the liver, our detoxification organ. Bile, which is produced by the liver, is associated with anger. Pharaoh's heart had taken on the characteristic of the liver.
We must not forget that during the Exodus God projected a different pattern, unlinked to the natural order, and made manifest wondrous effects and evident sustained miracles associated with His Name. We know this truth and frown upon the behavior of Pharaoh, but in all honesty, at times we all forget or harden our heart to some of the faith lessons God is teaching us.
Pharaoh stood in bold defiance of God for the third time.
By means of three sets of three plagues it compels the Egyptians to three cardinal aspects of true doctrine:
- My signs which I had placed among them
- You will know that I am the Lord
- All knowledge and supervision is from God
The Plague of Locust
Before and After- Image: Courtesy BBC
Locusts a symbol of the judgment of the Lord, Heaven's displeasure at human behavior, or some natural event stimulated visions of an apocalyptic moment in time. For when you hear of the Plague of Locusts it should lead your mind to cannibalism. Locust invasions were truly seen as plagues that could destroy a country's economy and bring the population to the brink of starvation. The word cannibalism is quietly being spread in certain circles, that due to global conditions that will soon visit the earth that a famine will occur. In those conditions, it will only take seven days for people to begin cannibalizing their own flesh and that of their offspring.
Robbery, Debauchery, and Cannibalism
Current climatic conditions are being engineered to favor a global plague of locusts that brought terror to the minds and lives of ancient peoples. One of the grievous sins of Sodom and Gomorrah not only was sexual debauchery but also robbery. Today our lives are filled with robbery: relationships, taxes, removal of biblical living and teachings, health, and so many other things. We are laid bare and naked as we are robbed blind, poised for cannibalism.
Before we examine the Plague of Locusts in Exodus let us take a quick peek at some verses from the prophets.
Due to the sin of robbery, locusts emerge, and famine prevails, and people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, as it is stated: “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords: Bring, that we may feast” Amos 4:1.
Afterward it says: And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places Amos 4:6 which refers to starvation.
Recall at the end of the Plague of Hail as a consequence of the hail, blight sets in on the remaining few crops.
It is written: I have smitten you with blight and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees has the palmerworm devoured Amos 4:9. The prophet Amos reports how God brought about a plague of locusts among other disasters including many species, in order to bring the people to repentance ‑ all to no avail.
The Book of Joel refers repeatedly to the day of the Lord as a time of doom and terror.
It is written: That which the palmerworm has left the locust has eaten; and that which the locust has left the cankerworm has eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left the caterpillar has eaten Joel 1:4. One may observe that the central horror of the Book of Joel is a plague of locusts, one species, the cutter.
Joel 1 and 2 presents us with a graphic depiction of an unprecedented locust plague, which attacks like a raving enemy that wipes out the food supply of the people 1:2-7,10‑12, 16‑19. The prophet urges the people, the elders, and the priests to don sackcloth and beseech God’s mercy through repentance, fasting, and prayer. He tells the people to rend their hearts and turn back to their gracious Lord‑for out of compassion He may turn and relent. If we have learned anything from the Ten Plagues thus far, it should be to examine our hearts and fully submit them to God.
Even in the darkest hours of judgment God provides His people with compassion and hope, if they will but follow Him:
He tells them that: He will provide new grain, wine, and oil in abundance 2:18‑19.
Rains will come; the threshing floors will fill to overflowing 2:23‑24.
God will manifest His presence... 2:27.
In Joel 3 and 4, goes on to speak of the end of days: there will be a renewal of prophecy 3: 1‑2, but soon a great and terrible day of the Lord comes v. 3, when the sun shall turn into darkness and the moon into blood v. 4. Only those who invoke the name of the Lord shall escape v. 5.
The leitmotif of disaster in both parts is a day when the land’s bounty is laid waste and the lights of heaven go out. By contrast, God’s grace is a time of flowing water and healthy fields. The poles of death and life are starkly registered: the dependence of human life upon divine care for existence is manifest.
Raw Cannibalism
It is written: And one snatches on the right hand, and is hungry; and he eats on the left hand, and is not satisfied; they eat every man the flesh of his own arm. Isaiah 9:19.
When we read these passages about eating our own arm we should consider that this also can mean the flesh of our own offspring. This is even more poignant when we consider that in antiquity the right hand was considered the clean hand that one would offer in greeting, serve normal food, take an oath and such. The left hand was used for unclean business such as attending to excrement or other dirty tasks.This has happened in history such as when Jerusalem was besieged and described in the Book of Lamentations.
Apocalyptic Imagery and Hopes for National Revival
LOCUST APOCALYPSE A locust swarm descends on, and will destroy, a wheat field in this drawing from an 1874 Missouri entomologist’s report. Giant swarms were one of the most feared disasters of frontier life. C.V. Riley/The Locust Plague of the United States 1877
Does America have a sacred cow? The biblical liturgy and language of this plague suggests a time when an apocalyptic fantasy commingles with more than a trace of the smoldering hopes for national revival and the imagined collapse of the foreign rulers.
We can see this clearly in our own country, a fantastical illusion that government will solve the plight of the human condition exclusive of God and that our enemies foreign and domestic will be eradicated with our prowess. This is pure delusion, to believe that in a state of defiant wickedness, that we can see justice without the True Judge.
I have good-hearted, Christian friends, who acknowledge the sins of our nation but think that we are under a revival of blessing. Rather, we should be falling on our faces in repentance, fasting and pleading His mercy while looking over our shoulder for a Plague of Locusts.
Locust Plague’s Ravaging of the Land
Image: Courtesy BBC
God beckoned Moses to come to Pharaoh when he was sitting on his throne, the seat of his authority.
That I might set these signs of Mine in his midst…here is another time that God hints to the next plague. This type of language is used in Isaiah 16:3 Set your shade (as dark) as the night, alluding to the plague of darkness
So that I might set is spelled defectively in the Hebrew and is understood as two. This can mean a couple of things to us: an allusion to two more plagues, excluding the death of the firstborn and the two witnesses as spoken of in Revelation.
God mentions only the second and third generation, ears of son and grandson, acknowledging human tendency to extend mercy to ones descendants.
The Blood
When the biblical narrative states, the evil intent is opposite your faces, the final letters of the word in the original language spells the blood. Pharaoh who practiced astrology saw a star of blood rising to confront the Hebrews. This star's name was Ra'ah (literally evil), which symbolizes the blood. He was correct in what he saw, but that which Pharaoh interpreted as the blood of death, was in reality the blood of redemption. This phrase hearkens back to the narrative about the sin of the Golden Calf when Moses prayed, Why should Egypt say the following" 'With evil intent did He take them out," and can be read as, "Under what sign of evil did He take them out." One commentator identifies with the red star as the red planet Mars whose name is related to red and blood. Of course, Ra, is also the Egyptian sun god who is being confronted.
You will be confronted with evil or evil will come back upon you. This is one reason my grandmother always said, "What you cast upon the waters, will come back to you in waves."
Image: Courtesy BBC
The East wind, a shamal, is the burning desert wind that often blows from Saudi Arabia but can also blow from Iran, Pakistan, to India carrying locusts, Of the Nature of Animals, 3:12. It is often an atmospheric agent for conveying natural phenomena in a plague. Today we do see swarms of Desert Locusts practicing for future incursions. It will be implemented again during the war of Gog and Magog.
In verses 5-6 they will cover the eye of the earth, the locusts will cover the sun and prevent it from illuminating the earth, and then they consume.
Locust and Egypt's Infanticide Plan
The locust ate all the bountiful fruit. And it will eat… embedded within this small phrase is an interesting biblical nugget. According to Legend Jethro, Moses' father-in-law was asked to advise Pharaoh on his infanticide plan, he flatly refused and fled. Jethro later provided hospitality of food and drink to Moses. Although upside down we may glean insights into some players in the Book of Revelation for we see a False Prophet mentioned in Kings who fed the man of God, he merited to have God speak to him. And in 1 Kings 21:10 when men become base two witnesses called to testify against Naboth. If nothing else, as we see infanticide in the news we should know that the season of the false prophet and two witnesses is not far off.
One trivia thing about locusts is that they prefer arid conditions, the same conditions as demons and howling spirits. Locusts to this degree were not known in the moist Nile delta. I have discovered this to be true in my own gardens, that when dampened, it deters a locust invasion.
Because of the rot and stench they will fill your houses with mold and decay, until you cry out remove this death from me. One wonders was this a toxic form of mold that lets off volatile organic gasses which poisoned the people.
Walking Out
Then he [Moses] turned and left Pharaoh's presence… Customarily when one is withdrawing from the presence of a king one walks backwards (oftentimes on bended knee) but instead Moses turned about face and exited as if Pharaoh were a commoner.
God brings many experiences into our lives. For a season I was a small agricultural lobbyist. There was an important hearing to be conducted in the Senate. People traveled from distant and remote locations to testify. Two hours was allotted for this hearing. What met us was an Asian Trade Delegation who caught the eye and attention of the Agricultural Chair. For one hour and fifty five minutes the Chair engaged the delegation, literally prostrating herself before the delegation. She sighed when she saw the time and allowed one person a three minute testimony. I was sitting in the front row. In a hearing it is protocol and etiquette to remain seated until the end of the hearing. The Lord quickened me to stand up, grab my brief case, and walk out as a clear and evident sign to this Chair of my disrespect for all that she stood for, which was certainly not American values.
The Plague of Locusts arrived in terrifying hordes of grasshoppers that swarmed ancient Egypt, stripping it bare of all greenery; fully destroying its agriculturally based economy. This plague will be so unique that they will speak of to their children in the future, for it made a mockery of the Pharaoh— more than any of the other plagues, that such a small creature could devastate an Empire. He in the heaven smiles, the Eternal mocks them Psalm 2:4. It also was directed at the Egyptian god Serapis, a god, that supposedly protected Egypt from locusts. These winged invaders densely darkened the skies, God's troops of judgment
In verse 13 we see that the Lord propelled…Stressing that this wind was not the outcome of a natural factor but the Lord propelled, implying direction by force (in contrast to guidance)
Image: Courtesy BBC
These locusts came up and covered the eye of the earth meaning while suspended in mid-air in many layers expending to a thickness of a few cubits, once again we see that the locusts darkened the face of the sun, consequently the land was darkened.
They settled upon Egypt and consumed everything in sight that remained from the hail to the degree that nothing green remained.
Desert Locusts, which change color as they develop, can devour their own weight - 2g - in fresh food in 24 hours.
A ton of locusts, which is a tiny part of the average swarm, eats the same amount of food in a single day as 10 elephants, 25 camels or 2,500 people.
Image: Courtesy BBC
Imagine billions of locusts covering everything for hundreds of miles. Wherever you look, there are locusts. Wherever you walk, there are locusts. There are at least five different words in Hebrew that are translated into English as locust. In reality, each of these Hebrew words refers to a precise and distinct type or species of the locust family. Even Wikipedia describes the Rocky Mountain locust was a grasshopper species that occasionally built up such numbers that they massed together and flew in giant, ravenous swarms a terrifying time.
Several years ago we had a locust invasion although nothing like this plague. I went out to change the hoses and I had on my flip-flops. I felt this cold green slime between my feet and my flip-flop. Upon closer examination the locust had sandwiched in-between my shoes and my feet and as I walked I was squishing them. Ewww….The heat, eerie shadows, swarms of locusts, the smoke, and the dry air made for a surreal hellish landscape that year.
The scope of the invasion of locusts of the exodus plagues was so unprecedented that it was never reproduced in human history.
Darkness Over the Land
I would humbly submit to you that the last set of plagues was a dismantling of creation of sorts to thwart the practitioners of the forbidden Dark Arts embedded within the Egyptian culture.
The beginning of the Bible describes how God's first creative act was to bring light into the world. Until now, the sun and the moon gave light regularly, according to the Divine command. Suddenly, God overturns nature itself to punish the Egyptians. Indeed, the plagues represent nothing less than the dismantling of creation itself:
The plague of locusts, the plague of darkness, and the plague of the killing of the firstborn all come from the air and all darken the earth.
By the plague of locusts, it states, "And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened."
By the plague of darkness, it states, "And there was darkness over all the land of Egypt."
By the plague of the first-born, it states, "It was in the middle of the night"
"He placed them in darkness, like the eternally dead, (paraphrasing Lamentations 3:6).
The common thread among their approaches is that just as the Bible began with God's creation of the universe and the division of the world into clear, identifiable categories such as light vs. dark, water vs. land, different beings according to each one's kind and place; the plagues represent more than just the destruction of Egypt's resources, but the very unraveling of the tapestry of creation. All previous known boundaries disappear. As day becomes darkness, we sense that the very light that began creation has slipped away. At the end, only God himself remains. With this approach, the Exodus has become something more than merely the release of a people from bondage. As the Hebrews leave Egypt, we sense that even the world itself is restarting, much as in the days of Noah.
Insincere Repentance
Pharaoh hastened …when the stench was to a degree of danger for an epidemic Pharaoh states that he had sinned, asks for their forgiveness, and begs their intercession.
With this a west wind blew and carried the locusts and plunged them into the sea, not a single locust was left.
Fifth Trumpet
The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. And out of the smoke, locusts came forth unto the earth, and power was given to them, like the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.…Revelation 9:2-4
In this plague we see locusts coming from the Abyss, the belly of the earth. Will technology or a spiritual gateway be breached we do not yet know. These will be locusts will not devour the green of the earth as normal locusts consume but have a supernatural imbued lust for people who do not have the seal of God on their forehead. Humans will be the hunted instead of greens. These locusts also have the power of a scorpion which seems to indicates some type of venomous activity. One thing that caught my eye when contrasting this event with the Plague of Locust of the Exodus is that in Revelation it was not the mass of locust that darkened the sky but the smoke. Are these 'locusts' very small, such as nano-locusts (with no mass), or are they the ether of magic, or the vaporous spirits of the nephilim seeking embodiment? What is known is that these locust accompany the smoke from the Pit darkening the earth. As these locust emanate from the Abyss will we see a surge to cannibalism? Time will tell.
Eternal Truths
The retelling of the story of these plagues, and of the plagues in our lives, must be conveyed to future generations about the power of God's deeds and mastery. You are a continuum. No individual stands on his own, but you are a by product of the lives of your parents, grandparents, and all previous generations.
What did we learn during our sojourn here on earth? What eternal truths are we passing down to the generations?
A loving parent does not bequeath a false legacy to a child. Before you leave this earthly existence, you as a parent or even a mentor, must carefully weigh every gesture and nuance would can be indelibly ingrained in the heart and mind of your attentive child. Your heavenly Father wants to bestow this upon you, His children.
He desires to redeem you. Instead of being a node in the BlockChain of slavery, He desires each of us to be a written in His Book the Lambs Book of Life for eternal freedom.
Such is the legacy that God!
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Going where angels fear to tread...
Celeste has worked as a contractor for Homeland Security and FEMA. Her training and activation's include the infamous day of 911, flood and earthquake operations, mass casualty exercises, and numerous other operations. Celeste is FEMA certified and has completed the Professional Development Emergency Management Series.
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Celeste grew up in a military & governmental home with her father working for the Naval Warfare Center, and later as Assistant Director for Public Lands and Natural Resources, in both Washington State and California.
Celeste also has training and expertise in small agricultural lobbying, Integrative/Functional Medicine, asymmetrical and symmetrical warfare, and Organic Farming.
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