In the account of the great plague of Locusts, the wind is mentioned as the proximate cause both of their arrival and their departure. See, for example, Exod. x. 12, 13:
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
"And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts."
Afterwards, when Moses was brought before Pharaoh, and entreated to remove the plague which had been brought upon the land, the west wind was employed to take the Locusts away, just as the east wind had brought them.
"He went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord.
"And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt" (Exod. x. 18, 19).
Modern travellers have given accounts of these Locust armies, which exactly correspond with the sacred narrative. One traveller mentions that, after a severe storm, the Locusts were destroyed in such multitudes, that they were heaped in a sort of wall, varying from three to four feet in height, fifty miles in length, and almost unapproachable, on account of the odour of their decomposing bodies.
We now come to the use of Locusts as food.