again this fails to reduce the population. They are afraid of a slave rebellion overthrowing them.

1. The Faithful Midwives

Pharaoh It is not clear if the midwives are Hebrew or not. It can be translated as the Hebrew midwives of the midwives of the Hebrews.

It is clear here that Pharaoh is trying to reduce Israel to only a feminine role by getting rid of the Israeli male babies. He wants them to produce future slaves but not families. There is talk about making them work in the fields and making their life bitter and relating them to the building part of the country (Bricks and mortar). It relates Egypt to Babel with this idea of the two Tyrants who wanted to build great monuments with brick and mortar. They want to reduce Israel to potential for the nation of Egypt.

Table: Evidence for Egyptian vs Hebrew Midwives

We know the midwives “feared the God”. The word for God here is the word “Elohim” rather than “Yahweh” which was the universal word for the God of Israel.

Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”

The fear of the Lord is a precondition for freedom. Why is it called “fear”. There is fear of the tyrant which is normal which we are compelled to obey. We are to speak up and be more afraid of the alternative to the tyrant. You don’t bow to the tyrant. It is difficult to avoid within a secular framework. It is a religious framework that helps you overcome the tyrant.

2. Lessons Learnt from the Midwives

1. You can take an easier path but pay for it eventually as the lies build up  – The worldview is that there is nothing except the “Towers of Babel” that we build for ourselves without interference from God. There is still that tyrannical need for power. The world is trying to remake people into the image of their ideology – no God and no truth. There is only power.
2. Is Pharoah using extreme feminism here? – The tyrant is empowering women to kill their future men. Whether these women are Hebrew or Egyptians, they fear God above and before the tyrannical man seeing himself as a god. They are courageous but also cover their tracks! The midwives collectively rebel against the highest authority in their sphere and at the risk to their own lives.
3. Pharaoh knows that those who oppose the tyranny need to be disposed of and the main danger is tough men! It seems most likely that these were Egyptian midwives who had empathy or had indeed converted to follow the same God as the Hebrews. This is another example that God is ETHIC-centred and not ETHNIC-centred. He calls people based on their ethics (good) rather than their race. It is interesting how much the Torah speaks positively about non-Jews and negatively about the behaviour of Jews.
4. The midwives are the first example of civil disobedience by standing against a crime against humanity. The midwives did not have the Torah, so they intuitively knew that it was wrong to kill a human newborn. The Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946) established the existence of evil without any pre-existing laws on whether what the Nazis did was evil or not. If evil exists, then its opposite (good) exists. In Exodus, we see this transcendent goodness that seeks to interfere where evil goes too far.
5. There is a need for a vision of goodness or people perish. See Proverbs 29:18. People will otherwise cast off restraint and become ungovernable. This itself can lead to the rise of a human tyrant to bring order. Atheists are confronted with the problem of goodness. The Nazi defence was that there were no laws against their actions, and they were just following orders. What grounding do atheists have that this is self-evidently wrong? They have no documents to look up for guidance. If they look to evolution, then they might say the strongest chimp is the leader. However, the evidence suggests that this type of leader doesn’t last long. It is the chimp that can build good relationships that lasts. This reinforces “treat your neighbour as yourself” Mark 12:31.
6. One of the highest moral acts is to lay down your life for others. To face death/extinction yourself to prevent it from happening to others. The Titanic is an example of where men sacrificed themselves for women and children. For survival of the species, we need more women than we need men! The midwives put their lives on the line to save the Hebrew male newborns.
7. The crucifixion of Christ is an evil symbol of dark suffering, pain, and cruelty. However, there is a good that transcends the evil. There are many who feel that death is the only way out but there is good that can help you escape and not need to kill yourself to escape it.
8. Do you want God or Pharaoh on your side? For the midwives they chose God and as a result God blessed them for their actions in disobeying and deceiving Pharaoh.
9. Abortion is wrong – Today we also have a population problem, and it’s being solved by killing babies before they see the light of day.  Like the gods of Egypt, the secular world doesn’t like to have any moral dictates. The moral midwives caused a crisis for the Pharaoh because they feared God more than the Pharaoh. Today it is the moral Christians who are the annoying problem because they will not be complicit in the death of the innocent. Christians need to be midwives and save babies’ lives, not end them.
10. It is thought that many of those who were midwives were women who were barren and thus helped others to have children. However, due to their honour to God, they would now have children as God opened their wombs! They were rewarded for their work even if they didn’t tell Pharoah the whole truth with their words!

Categories: Exodus

Tags: bible, egypt, Exodus, god, moses