Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt, Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

Story: Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt, Pharaoh oppresses Israel

Passage: Exodus 1

Characters:  Pharaoh, Israel

Summary:  Jacob’s sons settled in Egypt and eventually all died.  Israel however thrived and grew.  The new Pharaoh did not know Joseph and he was intimidated by Israel’s strength.  He forced Israel into slavery.  He told the Hebrew midwives to kill all of the baby boys, but two of them refused and got away with it.  God gave them families to reward them.   

Notes: Egypt was filled with the Israelites.  God took Joseph’s adversity and used it to turn Israel into a great nation, theoretically devoted to Him and separate from the nations around them.  Pharaoh obviously saw Israel as a threat.  He saw them as a resource and he didn’t want to lose them, so he enslaved them.  Pharaoh’s order to the midwives was cruel, but I imagine many of the midwives obeyed.  To disobey was to most likely forfeit your life.  We are given the names of two of them however who were faithful to God.  Shiphrah and Puah were their names.  I feel like if your name is mentioned in the bible, you did something special.  I try not to glaze over names when they are mentioned.  I may not know their significance, but God does and I like thinking about it.  These two women disobeyed Pharaoh and then lied to him about why.  Apparently Pharaoh believed them.  Ultimately though, they were favored because of God and not Pharaoh.  The passage says that because they feared God, He gave them families.  This blessing is a direct result of their obedience to Him.  Pharaoh saw the Israelites continued to grow so he then commanded the entire nation to throw any son born to Israelites into the Nile.  Apparently, he decided that the midwives were not reliable but the people would obey him.  I imagine it would have been scary to be a Hebrew mother.  Any Egyptian you met was allowed to take your son from you.  I see no age limit on this and the fact that the order went out to the people in general implies they were targeting children old enough to be seen by the public.  It should be noted that while the midwives disobeyed and lied to Pharaoh, we are told in the Bible to obey those in authority over us.  We are caught in a dilemma though when our obedience to the government compromises our obedience to God.  Obviously the midwives’ actions were rewarded by God.  Unless your earthly authorities command you to directly disobey God, we are supposed to respect and obey those authorities. 

Questions:  How many midwives obeyed Pharaoh?  Did Pharaoh really believe the midwives?  When is it okay to disobey the government and lie? 

Lessons:  The midwives were not afraid to risk their lives to obey God and they were rewarded.  The rewards were not their motivation, but rather the result of their living their lives for the glory of God.  It is important for us to live our lives for the glory of God and not the blessings of God.  The ultimate reward we as Christians will receive is being able to fully experience the glory of God and worship Him for eternity.  Let’s not get caught up in Earthly blessings which are fleeting, but rather in the ultimate blessing we will receive from God.