And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. The locust removal is as complete as their arrival: not one locust remained. The east wind that brought them is replaced by a west wind that removes them, the same God directing both. The Red Sea — which will soon become the site of Israel's deliverance and Egypt's destruction — receives the locusts first, as if rehearsing the role it will play in the final act of the Exodus narrative. The completeness of the removal is again the sign: no natural wind clearing cleans up every insect from every field in a country. The precision of the removal authenticates the precision of the God who directed it. The land of Egypt is cleared. And Pharaoh's heart is hardened again.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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