Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Plague Eight (אַרְבֶּה)

This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. They will cover the face of the ground so that it cannot be seen. They will devour what little you have left after the hail, including every tree that is growing in your fields. They will fill your houses and those of all your officials and all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your forefathers have ever seen from the day they settled in this land till now. - Exodus 10:3–6
Yes, if you haven't figured it out, there are hordes of locusts, and they have descended on Egypt.  and not a regular horde.  Like 30 million.

Just three weeks before Passover, Egypt's cities and farms were inundated with the swarm.  It's said they're not the apocalypse, and just part of their annual natural migration pattern...only incredibly large. As the plague made its way from the Red Sea through Saudi Arabia, Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abdel Moamen explained the situation, "The current inspection teams at areas targeted by locusts did not witness swarms damaging a single inch of crop". He added that the locusts are "sexually immature and do not depend on plants for energy since they mainly rely on fat stores."

He added Egyptian armed forces and the border guards are attempting to fight the swarm with the means at their disposal, though he did not elaborate how soldiers would battle insects.  Of all the things from his attempt to calm the Egyptian citizens, this was my favorite: "I ask the families living in the locust-plagued areas not to burn tires. This does not chase away the locusts, but only causes damage and could ignite large scale fires that would cost in lives."

Egyptians and their tire burning...oh, don't ever change.

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