Context No. 2488 of 4322 · Exodus

Exodus 1:15-22: in context

15The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, 16and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. 18The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?” 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. 21Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Pharaoh, bent on crushing the Hebrews, gives the midwives Shiphrah and Puah a monstrous order: when you deliver the Hebrew women, kill the baby boys. But the midwives feared God more than they feared the king, and they did not do it; they let the boys live. Called to account, they deflect, and the text simply records that God dealt well with them and gave them families of their own.

Two ordinary women, whose names Scripture bothers to preserve, quietly defy a king's murderous decree because they feared God. Their fear was rightly ordered: the throne in front of them was fearsome, but God was more so, and that settled which command they would break. They had no army and no platform, only their position at the birthstool and a decision about whom to obey. God noticed, and blessed them. Faithfulness sometimes looks like a small, unremarkable refusal to carry out a wrong that those in authority are counting on you to perform.

When someone with authority over me presses me to do what is wrong, whom do I fear more, and which command am I willing to break?

Sources

Exodus 1:17: But the midwives feared God, and didn't do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
Exodus 1:21: Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
Acts 5:29: We must obey God rather than men.