Obedience Over Horror

 Obedience Over Horror

Exodus 1: ¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

 

¹⁹ And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

 

²⁰ Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.

 

²² So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

 

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Seeing GOD’s blessings over the children of Israel made the new Pharaoh furious. He came up with a plan to murder all males born to the Hebrews to control their birthrate. He did not factor in GOD.

 

My Observations:

• The midwives knew that killing was wrong and they disobeyed Pharaoh’s commands to follow what GOD wanted.
• The midwives chose a dangerous path by disobeying Pharaoh.
• The midwives showed healthy fear of the LORD by disobeying a horrible insecure human.

 

Some people think obedience is a weakness, but in this example, it took strength and courage to say “No!” They would not only disobey Pharaoh, they would be the catalyst for even more reproduction. GOD dwelt with the midwives and the people multiplied.

 

HE also protected them and provided “households” for them. This made Pharaoh even more furious. He told everyone to cast male babies into the river. This was the beginning of the losing fight against GOD.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD tell Moses about the midwives’ fear of the LORD?
• Has a human law that would harm other people, forced you into making a decision to obey GOD or fall in line with the harm?
• Will you stand firm on faith or move because of fear?