A large swarm of locusts can consist of billions of locusts spread out over an area
of thousands of square kilometers. The Chasil species is the most damaging of all
locusts, destroying crops entirely. They sing how Hashem should be exalted
beyond natural limits and thanked for fulfilling all His assurances without fail. He
did so when he saved us from the Egyptians through the Chasil-locusts, and He
will likewise redeem us in the future. The Talmud
teaches that because of the sin
of theft, locusts prolferate and crops are destroyed. Theft in itself is a relatively
small crime, but if committed repeatedly within a whole society, it corrupts the
system entirely. It is therefore fitting that theft is punished by insects which are
individually insignificant, but which altogether devastate a country.
Thankfully, locust plagues are a rarity, yet the locusts’ very existence is a constant
song of Hashem’s exalted justice. In the same way that unnoticed locusts can
proliferate into billions at a designated time, so too can Hashem’s salvation will
one day quickly fill a horizon previously empty of hope.