Wisdom's Corner
God Against Geb and Osiris

Moses and Aaron once again come to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Israelites leave. They warn him that if he does not let them go that God will bring locusts into Egypt. This will be the worst locust invasion since Egypt had come into existence (Exodus 10:1-20).

Pharaoh's servants beg him to allow the Israelites to leave. They now believe in the True God. Pharaoh still refuses. So Moses stretches out his hand holding his rod and a strong east wind begins to blow. It will blow for almost a full day and night. The next morning the locusts come.

Locusts can only fly for very long if there is a wind. These locusts must have come from a long distance for it to have taken 24 hours for them to get to Egypt (It has been shown that locusts can travel up to 15 miles per hour with a strong wind). This alone demonstrated to the Egyptians that God was over the world, not just over Egypt.

The locusts eat everything that was left by the hail. They eat every green plant. They eat all the fruit off of the trees. And they eat the leaves and bark of the trees (locusts have been known to even eat the wood). There are so many locusts that the ground cannot even be seen. The locusts completely cover the ground over all Egypt, except where the Israelites are.

Geb was the god of the earth. He is shown as a man with green skin representing the colors of life, the soil and plants. He many times had leaves on his skin. This plague of locusts had just eaten Geb. Geb had no more leaves. Geb instead of being bountiful with plant growth was completely without power. He had no plants of plenty to give to Egypt.

Osiris was a god of the earth and plants. He also was pictured as having green skin. He was considered as helping oversee the plant life. Osiris was also supposedly the god who brought civilization to Egypt. He taught them the art of agriculture. He also taught them how to worship all of the gods. Osiris was helpless before the One True God.

Another god hurt by the locusts was Min. Min was responsible for the growth forces of nature. One of the symbols associated with him was lettuce. At the harvest festivals, Pharaoh would go out in the fields and hoe under Min's watchful eye. The locusts left nothing to harvest. There would be no harvest festival this year. Min had been shown to have no power.

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He states that he has sinned and asks them to ask God to remove the locusts. Moses does this and God causes a strong wind from the west to blow them into the Red Sea and kills all of them. Not one locust was left alive. But Pharaoh will not let the Israelites leave.

God is in control of all things. I want to obey the God who is all-powerful and all-wise. I know that you want to do the same. Until next time, keep reading and studying your Bible. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)