REFLECTION

In Exodus 1:15-22, we see the early context of Moses’ life, but through the courage of two women who feared God more than they feared their government. After Joseph brought his family to Egypt, he and his brothers eventually died. Their descendants, however, continued to grow. Exodus 1:6 tells us that they multiplied so greatly the land was filled with them. A new king eventually came into power who had no awareness of Joseph, no understanding of how Joseph saved his ancestors from famine, and no memory of how Joseph helped Egypt expand and acquire new land. All the king saw was a growing people who seemed strong and threatening.

In response, he chose to oppress them. Yet verse 12 tells us that the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they increased. Their expansion led the king to enslave them, and the Egyptians were brutally harsh.

In verse 15, the king ordered the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the newborn boys and let the girls live. But the midwives feared God. Despite the Israelites’ enslavement and the brutality they endured, Shiphrah and Puah still held a higher allegiance to God than to the king of Egypt. They let the boys live.

Consider the weight of that moment. These were two women standing against the entire force of Egypt. They received instructions that would have created a mass genocide of Israelite boys. They knew Egypt held both physical and political power over them. Yet they feared God more.

Their act of courage did more than briefly halt a genocide. Their reverence for God set a chain reaction in motion. Because they refused to obey Pharaoh, he changed his order and commanded the people to throw every baby boy into the Nile. It was the Nile that carried Moses in a basket. It was the Nile that brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh. The life of Moses, and the liberation he would later lead, can be traced back to two midwives who stood in the gap when everyone else bowed to fear.

Shiphrah and Puah are not alone in this kind of righteous defiance. Rahab protected the Israelites in Jericho. The wise men refused to return to Herod with information about Christ. Scripture repeatedly shows that godly people often must choose between obedience to human authority and obedience to God.

There are others who risked their own lives for the sake of fidelity to God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the golden statue and were thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel continued to pray and was thrown into the lion’s den. Each of these individuals stood firm when human laws clashed with divine conviction.