3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘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 territory. 5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. 6 They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. (Exodus 10:3-6)
Locusts in Egypt this time of year are not all that uncommon. However, the sheer number of them that is being seen all over that country is indeed out of the ordinary. That the arrival of such a huge mass of locusts at a time when Egypt’s economy is in a shambles doesn’t seem to be lost on even some in the liberal media. Check this out from the left-leaning Atlantic:
As if we hadn’t already seen enough Biblical events this year, a plague of over 30 million locusts swarmed over Egypt’s cities and farms just three weeks before Passover begins. But put your apocalyptic fears to rest. This happens every year as part of the locusts’ natural migration pattern, though this year’s swarm is especially large. That doesn’t mean Egyptians aren’t freaked the heck out by millions of nasty bugs buzzing through the air at all hours of day and night, possibly descending upon the agriculture fields where they’re known to destroy entire crops, just like in the actual Passover story.
In the days of Moses, it was the Jews whom the Pharaohs persecuted and held captive. In 2013, just two years after the ‘Arab Spring’ and before the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi has completed his first year (making it his first passover as President), this extraordinarily large mass of locusts is descending on the same region they did during Moses’s time as Coptic Christians are being persecuted en masse.
The timing of this event couldn’t come at a worse time for Egypt’s economy, nor at a more ironic time in light of what’s transpired there since 2011. Egypt has been descending into a pit of lawlessness ever since and this isn’t likely to help.
11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.
How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise,
The son of ancient kings?”
12 Where are they?
Where are your wise men?
Let them tell you now,
And let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;
The princes of Noph[b] are deceived;
They have also deluded Egypt,
Those who are the mainstay of its tribes.
14 The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst;
And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,
As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 Neither will there be any work for Egypt,(Isaiah 19:11-14)
Got faith yet?
Here is video of the locusts that have descended on Egypt. Pay attention at about the 1:00 mark (listen for the noise):