Exodus 10: Locusts, Darkness, and Pharaoh's Last Bargain
There is a stretch of the Provo River where the cottonwoods went quiet a few years back. I noticed it on a September morning when the usual noise was gone. No grasshoppers in the brush, no cicadas, nothing. A local told me the canal district had sprayed the month before, and it took everything. Every insect within reach of the drift. The river was still there and the water was still cold, but the banks felt hollow. Like something essential had been stripped away.
That came back to me reading Exodus 10. The locusts don't just eat the crops. They strip every green thing the hail left behind. There is nothing left to negotiate with. And Pharaoh keeps trying anyway.
What Does the Plague of Locusts in Exodus 10 Mean
By the time we reach Exodus 10, the plagues have been coming for a while. Water turned to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail. Each one peeled back another layer of Egypt's strength. Pharaoh's magicians stopped keeping up somewhere around the third plague. The hail destroyed whatever grain had survived the earlier plagues. The economy was in pieces.
The locusts finish the job. Moses warns Pharaoh that if he still refuses, locusts will cover the land and eat what is left. Everything the hail spared will go.
This time, Pharaoh's own officials reach their limit. They plead with him to let the people go. Pharaoh tries to negotiate, asking who will go. Moses says everyone. Young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds. Pharaoh counters: let the men go, but keep your families here. It is a trade. He wants to hold the women and children hostage to the deal.
He doesn't seem to understand that you cannot bargain with the creator of the universe. You can't keep the parts you like and give up the parts you don't. It doesn't work that way.
The east wind brings the locusts, and they cover the face of the whole land until the ground goes dark with them. They eat every herb and every fruit the hail left. Nothing green remains in all of Egypt.
Pharaoh calls Moses back and says he has sinned. He asks for forgiveness, and Moses prays. The locusts lift, and the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart again.
The repentance lasted about as long as the plague did.
What Is the Meaning of the Thick Darkness in Exodus 10
Then comes the plague that doesn't destroy crops or kill livestock. It destroys the thing Egyptians relied on most.
The Lord tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and a thick darkness covers Egypt for three days. The text says it is darkness that may be felt. It isn't just the absence of light but something with weight and presence that you could reach out and touch.
For three days, no one in Egypt could see anyone else or move from their place.
And they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
— Exodus 10:23
The Egyptians worshiped Ra, the sun god. The supreme deity of their pantheon. And for three days, the sun might as well not have existed. It wasn't a dust storm or an eclipse. It was a direct statement.
I think about what it would feel like to have darkness that has texture. Total blackout in the shop is one thing. You hit the main breaker and you cannot see your hand. But you know the switch is there and the light will come back. This was different. This was darkness with intent.
The other detail I can't get past is the contrast between the Egyptians who couldn't see and the Israelites who had light in their dwellings. Same region, same sky, completely different experience, and scripture gives us this contrast for a reason. The covenant doesn't mean you avoid the storm. It means you have light in the middle of it.
The article I wrote on Exodus 9: Livestock, Boils, Hail and Pharaoh's Hard Heart covers the plagues that came before. Exodus 10 takes it further. The locusts strip what is left, and the darkness hits the thing Egypt trusted most.
Why Did Pharaoh Try to Bargain in Exodus 10
Pharaoh's pattern is the same every time. He feels the pressure, makes a promise and the pressure lifts. He goes back to what he was doing.
In Exodus 8, he told Moses he would let the people go if the frogs were removed. The frogs died. He changed his mind. In Exodus 9, he said he had sinned after the hail. The hail stopped. He changed his mind again. Now in Exodus 10, he offers a partial release. Send the men, keep the families. It is the same pattern in a different wrapper.
I have seen this in my own life, just not at this scale. The promise I make during a hard stretch. When the deadline is closing in or something unexpected goes wrong, I say I will fix the thing I have been putting off. And then the pressure eases, and I go right back to the same habit. Pharaoh's heart was hard. Mine is softer than his, but I still recognize the shape of the bargaining.
Darkness is harder to bargain with. You can't promise Ra will come back. There is no way to make a deal with the dark. So Pharaoh's response shifts from bargaining to expulsion. He tells Moses to get out of his sight. He doesn't want to see him again.
How Does God Provide Light in the Midst of Darkness
The part of Exodus 10 that I keep coming back to is the single verse about light in the dwellings of Israel. It gets one line. The chapter spends most of its time on what Pharaoh did and said. But the quietest verse is the most important one.
The Israelites had light because they were in covenant with God. Not because they built better houses or faced a different direction. They had light because of whose they were.
There is a woodworking analogy here and I am going to use it because I spend a lot of time with it. A few years ago I built a walnut desk for my daughter. I finished it in the shop and carried it into the house, and I noticed something I hadn't seen under the shop lights. The grain was warmer in the house. The same finish, the same wood, but the light source changed the way it looked.
I am not saying the Israelites had better lighting fixtures. I am saying the source matters, and light in the dwelling isn't about the building. It is about who is there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Pharaoh offer to let only the men go in Exodus 10?
Pharaoh was trying to keep control. If the women, children and livestock stayed in Egypt, the men would have to come back. It was a hostage negotiation, not a real release. Moses wouldn't accept it because the terms of the covenant were clear. Everyone had to go.
What was the spiritual significance of the plague of darkness?
Egypt worshiped Ra as the supreme sun god. The thick darkness was a direct statement that the Lord is above any god Egypt trusted. It showed that light and darkness both answer to Him. It also created a visible difference between the Egyptians and the covenant people.
Why does Exodus 10 say the darkness could be felt?
The phrasing suggests this was more than a natural event. It was a darkness with weight and presence. The people could not move or see for three days. It was a judgment that forced stillness and showed the limits of human power. You can't fight darkness you can touch.
What is the contrast between light and darkness in Exodus 10:23 teaching us?
It shows that the covenant relationship with God provides guidance and peace even when the world around you is in chaos. The Israelites didn't escape the plague. They experienced it differently, and light in the dwelling isn't about the building. It is about who is in it.
I still think about that quiet stretch of river sometimes. The cottonwoods have started coming back. It took about three seasons. The grasshoppers are there again, fewer than before, but enough that the noise is returning.
The locusts in Exodus 10 stripped Egypt down to nothing. The darkness settled in like a weight. And in the middle of it, the Israelites sat in houses with light in them. Not because they earned it. Because they belonged to the one who made both.
-- D.