“Then
the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah
and the other was named Puah; and he said, ‘When you are helping the Hebrew
women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you
shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.’ But the
midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them,
but let the boys live. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to
them, ‘Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?’ The midwives said
to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they
are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.’ So God was
good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because
the midwives feared God, He established households for them.” (Exodus 1:15-21)
This is what I would consider one of the most exciting, beautiful, and
inspiring stories in the Bible. I have a lot of favorites, but I think this one
stood out to me because of my involvement in pro-life ministry and also my interest
in becoming a midwife. (I recently told my mother that one of the things on my
list of “50 things to do before I die” was to attend a birth. I would like to
become a midwife, but even if I don’t, I really want to attend at least one
birth in my lifetime. I think it would be an amazing experience!)
The first thing I noticed in this passage is that there are two
mentions of the fear of God. In the first one, the midwives themselves say that
they did not kill the boys as they had been commanded by Pharaoh because they
feared God. In other words, the fear of God kept them from sinning. In the
second mention, it was said of the midwives that they feared God and because of
that, God blessed them.
The other thing that I noticed was the answer that the midwives gave to
Pharaoh. Were they lying? Did the Hebrew women really give birth before they
could get to them? Did the midwives wait outside until the woman gave birth? Any
of these are possible, but we really don’t know how it actually happened.
Whatever the case, I would throw in my lot any day with a deceptive, creative
midwife who feared God and knew that every life was precious and worthy of
protection.
No matter what station and occupation each of us holds in life, these
midwives are good examples for us to look up to. They had their priorities
right—the fear of God and the protection of innocent life are held up over and
over again in the Scriptures as important. I’m glad that God preserved this
story for us to read today. Read it again and be inspired!
2 comments:
Inspired! I would throw my lot in with the midwives as well. Though I don't exactly wish to attend a birth lol.
~Theresa
Your comment made me smile, Theresa! God certainly made each of us with different interests ;). You know, it would be really boring if everyone wanted to do historical reenacting, or if everyone wanted to attend a birth, or if everyone wanted to ______. I'm glad that God gave us varied personalities and interests!
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