<\/p>
Exodus 10 contains the first biblical references to locusts, and in that chapter the word is used 7 times.\u00a0 It\u2019s enough to make one suspicious \u2013 suspicious that there\u2019s a creation motif here, suspicious that the seven references might obliquely hint at the days of creation.\u00a0 Let\u2019s follow that suspicion: <\/p>\n
1. Yahweh threatens to bring locusts to cover the land, vv 4-5; Day 1: Waters cover the earth \u2013 the verb \u201ccover\u201d is first used of the flood waters that turn the earth back to Genesis 1:2 <\/p>\n
2. Yahweh tells Moses to stretch his hand to bring locusts, v 12; Day 2: Moses as \u201cfirmament\u201d mediator, and locusts come to cover the earth, like a firmament <\/p>\n
3. East wind brings locusts, v 13; Day 3: Wind pushes back waters so dry land appears <\/p>\n
4. Locusts go up over land (verb is \u2018alah, <\/em> \u201cascend\u201d), v. 14; Day 4: heavenly rulers <\/p>\n 5. Locusts are unprecedented, v 14; Day 5: swarming things <\/p>\n 6. West wind blows locusts into Red Sea, v 19; Day 6: see below <\/p>\n 7. No more locusts, v 19; Day 7: Sabbath reprieve <\/p>\n The sevenfold reference to an agent of destruction is, like many of the heptamerous lists and patterns of Scripture (cf. Revelation), shows that the locusts are agents of decreation. <\/p>\n Numbers 3 and 6 here clearly foreshadow what is going to happen to Pharaoh and his armies.\u00a0 In Exodus 14:21, an east wind blows all night and opens up a path for Israel to cross the Red Sea, a \u201cDay 3\u201d image.\u00a0 Verse 19 foreshadows the drowning of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea.\u00a0 If we can overlay the creation story here, then Pharaoh appears to be an \u201cAdam\u201d figure who exalts himself against God and is cast down.\u00a0 In any case, Pharaoh and Egypt are devouring locusts, but the wind of Yahweh blows them all away. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Exodus 10 contains the first biblical references to locusts, and in that chapter the word is used 7 times.\u00a0 It\u2019s enough to make one suspicious \u2013 suspicious that there\u2019s a creation motif here, suspicious that the seven references might obliquely hint at the days of creation.\u00a0 Let\u2019s follow that suspicion: 1. Yahweh threatens to bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-exodus"],"yoast_head":"\n