And behold, when the locusts came, Pharaoh said (Exodus 10:17): "Now therefore forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only." It is precise that the death caused by the plague of locusts was more severe than the death in other plagues, and it requires explanation why the plague of locusts was more deadly than the other plagues which also involved death.

Ramban explained that Pharaoh feared the famine that the locusts would bring, as it is stated in Bava Batra 8b that death by famine is the hardest of all. Rabbeinu Bachya explained: "Perhaps the locusts blinded them, similar to the hornet in the time of Joshua (Sotah 36a)." And the wording of the verse supports this, as it is stated about the locusts (Exodus 10:5): "And it shall cover the eye of the land that one cannot be able to see the land." This means that the blind are considered as dead. And Baal HaTurim (ibid, 17) inferred from the Masorah that along with the locusts came snakes that killed them.