Y’all know the story…Joseph ends up in Egypt as the number 2 guy to the head honcho (Japanese origin of that word, right Mami?) and 70 or more Hebrews end up moving to Egypt and being blessed and being a blessing. And then in Exodus 1 and verse 8,
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
The term “arose” bears the connotation that one rose up against. So this sounds like a hostile take-over. Was this the Hyksos peoples that ruled the region? Could this be why they did not know Joseph? Supposedly the origin of the term “Hyksos” comes from Egyptian as “rulers of foreign lands.” That would fit nicely, wouldn’t it…seeing as how they were foreigners to Egypt they would not know Joseph or likely even care if they were told of him. There is debate, of course, as to whether or not there even was a Hyksos invasion. Some believe that the Hyksos simply migrated to the area over time and since Egypt was falling into disarray due to famine and plague they merely took over. At any rate, the term “quwm” for “arose” still fits, for this was a foreign take-over.
Oh, and don’t forget that the Hyksos brought interesting new technology and weapons to the area like the composite bow and, yes, the horse-drawn chariot. But I digress…
The foreign ruler then said in verses 9-10,
He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”
Well of course he was scared! The Hyksos either invaded and took over the Egyptians or the Egyptians were fractioned and on their way out anyway and so the minimal Hyksos peoples took over to find out that, oops, there’s an entire nation of people living within the borders of their new country! As such, verse 11,
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
And so the miraculous nation of Israel falls into slavery. But make no mistake about it, the promise to Abraham to make his descendants into a nation was already true and was still working! God miraculously kept increasing the Hebrew numbers even while under the oppressive thumb of this new ruler. Verses 11-14,
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.
God was faithful. God is awesome! God kept increasing Israel and kept increasing the Hebrew numbers not just despite their harsh treatment, but it seems BECAUSE OF their harsh treatment! (verse 12)
And then it turns nasty! I’ll simply post the rest of the passage below so we can read it all together and then discuss it below…(verses 15-21),
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.
And again, God is working miraculously here with the nation of Israel. By the way, all the way back up in verse 9, the Hyksos ruler is the first person to refer to the Hebrews as ” ‘am”. That means “nation”. Notice in verse 9 he speaks to his own nation and says the Hebrew nation is more and mightier!
Now, I say all that as a way of introduction to talking about Shiphrah and Puah and the miracle of childbirth and how much more miraculous it was during this particular time as God was very specifically miracle-ing the Hebrew nation to greater and greater numbers.
According to the Biblical text above, Shiphrah and Puah were Hebrew midwives. Were they the ONLY 2 midwives in all of the Hebrew nation? I doubt it, because of the fact that there were PLENTY of Hebrews and they were growing in numbers…but I’m not going to be dogmatic about it.
Anyway, the midwives were told to kill the babies that were males. So when the midwives were called upon to help deliver the babies, they were to kill the ones that were males.
I’m trying to hit this home with you because the King was very specific about WHEN the killing was to be done…when the midwives WERE HELPING the ladies deliver the babies…that’s when!
Now, what transpired from there? I do not really know…but one thing is for sure…the midwives did NOT do it. Their excuse?
“Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”
Was it a lie? I don’t know. The text doesn’t make that clear. And I’m not going to be the one to assume that they lied. So if we take their word at face value, then God was miraculously making it such that the Hebrew women would have quick deliveries before the midwives could get there. Are there other options? I’m sure there are. Maybe they just ignored the command of the king. Maybe they told all the women of Israel to not even bother calling for the midwife until after the baby was already delivered. I don’t know. But taking their words at face value, it would seem that God was miraculously causing the population of Israel to explode by making labor and delivery a much simpler process amongst the Hebrew women.
And the names of these midwife women, Shiphrah and Puah, will forever be enshrined in God’s revealed Word! How awesome is that?!
The Hebrews did not kowtow to the culture of the foreign rulers. They did not succumb to the unrighteous behavior of the rest of the world. They understood that life was precious and important and should be protected. They did not abort unborn babies or kill young babies.
This all leads into the story of Moses’ birth in Exodus chapter 2. This occurred soon after the decree in chapter 1 and verse 22 to kill all baby boys that were born.
Anyway, Moses’ mother did NOT kill Moses. Again, this shows us that the Hebrews did not kowtow to the whims of foreign culture and did not lower their standard for the sanctity of life. In fact, this brings up a very important topic…the topic of authorities placed above us and whether or not it’s ok to defy that authority.
To make a long explanation short, I say you should do everything that you can to obey the laws and decrees of the governing authorities above you except for 2 types of instances…(1) if the governing authority commands that you do something that runs counter to what the Bible states…like killing babies…(2) if the governing authority commands that you do NOT do something that the Bible commands that you do…like in Daniel they were commanded to NOT pray.
In those instances, it’s totally ok to go against what the governing authority has to say. Of course you must be prepared to pay the worldly consequence like possibly getting eaten by a lion or burned in a furnace (granted in those 2 instances they were delivered from those consequences, but that won’t always be the case).
Ok, so we have Hebrew midwives who refuse to abort the babies before they are born or just after they are born, and we have the Hebrews refusing to kill babies just because they happen to be males.
And that brings me to another story. But to tell it, I need to bring you back a couple years…back to roughly the turn of the 20th century. This is a story about a young girl named Sadie. Sadie was a modern day Shiphrah…or maybe a Puah…although not a midwife!
This is also a story about a man. Whenever he would walk to work, he would pass up an orphanage on his way. And as he would pass the orphanage he happened to catch the eye of a young girl named Sadie who was an orphan. Day after day after day he would walk by the orphanage and see young Sadie…and he fell in love with her…and she fell in love with him.
Eventually, the man married young Sadie right out of the orphanage! How cool is that?!
It came to pass that Sadie became pregnant. Unfortunately, she also contracted tuberculosis. The doctors were adamant that in her weakened condition, due to the tuberculosis, if she continued with the pregnancy and attempted to deliver this child, that she would die. They tried time and time again to convince her to abort the baby and save her own life.
Sadie would not budge.
Sadie would not kill her child to save her own skin.
She went through the entire pregnancy and delivered her son into this world. In an attempt to keep from passing the tuberculosis on to her baby boy, Eddie, she remained in quarantine behind glass and never once held him…not even out of the womb.
Day by day the nurses would bring Eddie to the window so she could see him, until he went home with his father. After that, Sadie’s husband would bring their son to the window so she could lay her eyes upon him…although NEVER touching him. This went on for 18 months before Sadie finally succumbed to tuberculosis and died.
Sadie understood the sanctity of life. Sadie did not take the advice of her doctors and simply abort her child to save her own life. Sadie laid down her life to save the life of her son.
Sadie was my great grandmother.
She laid down her life for me…and Allison…and Pepper…and Drew…
She did not know me. She did not have any idea that I would even be around, but she understood legacy. It is because of my great grandmother, Sadie, that my grandfather, Eddie, was born. Eddie eventually got married and her wife bore him a daughter named JoAnn. JoAnn eventually got married to a man named Jim and bore him 3 children…all boys…the youngest of whom was named Michael Anthony.
I understand, now, what legacy is about. It’s about planting a slow growing wonderful shade tree by seed and not being able to enjoy its shade for yourself, but tending it just the same so your descendants can enjoy it down the road.
And it’s about doing the right thing for the future even though it may cost you everything. The decisions we make today do indeed echo into the future.
Father God, make me the kind of man that thinks about legacy in the decisions he makes…not for selfish purposes, not for my own gain, nor for the approval of man, but for the future of my children and their children and their children until you so choose to end this world as it is and re-create it anew for your own glory. And let me reflect back upon the rich heritage of wonderful saints in my past that made decision after decision that they never realized would benefit me personally, but made those proper decisions anyway.
Soli Deo Gloria
PilliOddsAndEnds 