Exodus Chapter 10 verse 19 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 19. - And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind. Literally, "a very strong sea-wind" - i.e. one which blew from the Mediterranean, and which might, therefore, so far, be north, north-west, or north-east. As it blew the locusts into the "Sea of Weeds," i.e. the Red Sea, it must have been actually a north-west wind, and so passing obliquely over Egypt, have carried the locusts in a south-easterly direction. Cast them into the Red Sea. Literally, "the Sea of Weeds." No commentater doubts that the Red Sea is here meant. It 'seems to have received its Hebrew appellation, Yam Suph, "Sea of Weeds," either from the quantity of sea-weed which it throws up, or, more probably, from the fact that anciently its north-western recess was connected with a marshy tract extending from the present head of the Gulf of Suez nearly to the Bitter Lakes, in which grew abundant weeds and water-plants. There remained not one locust. The sudden and entire departure of locusts is as remarkable as their coming. "At the hour of prime," says one writer, "they began to depart, and at midday there was not one remaining.", "A wind from the south-west," says another, "which had brought them, so completely drove them forwards that not a vestige of them was to be seen two hours afterwards" (Morier, 'Second Journey,' p. 98).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) The Lord turned a mighty strong west wind . . . --As locusts come, so they commonly go, with a wind. They cannot fly far without one. It often happens that a wind blows them into the sea. Pallas says, speaking of Crimean locusts in the year 1799:--"Great numbers of them were carried [from the Crimea] by northerly winds into the sea, where they perished, and were afterwards washed on shore in heaps" (Travels, vol. ii., p. 424).The Red sea.--Heb., the sea of weeds, or of rushes. The Red Sea probably acquired this name among the Hebrews from the fact that in the time of Moses its north-western recess communicated with a marshy tract, extending as far as the Bitter Lakes, and abounding in aquatic plants of a luxuriant growth. (Comp. Exodus 2:3, where the same term designates the water-plants of the Nile.)There remained not one locust . . . --Niebuhr says of locusts in Arabia:--"Souvent il en reste beaucoup apres le depart general" (Description de l' Arabie, p. 153). But, on the other hand, there are times when the whole swarm takes its departure at once. "A wind from the south-west," says Morier, "which had brought them, so completely drove them forwards that not a vestige of them was to be seen two hours afterwards" (Second Journey, p. 98).