Two Unlikely Women Mediators And How God Used Them to Save the World

(This article was originally published in French at TPSG).

A Dark Night of the Soul

Think back to a dark night of the soul in your life. It may be the death of a parent, the loss of a child due to miscarriage or illness, or a medical diagnosis or accident that turned your world upside down. Perhaps it's the anguish of a broken relationship or a major financial setback. Or maybe it is this current crisis that the world is experiencing. You may have lost your job, your stability, your health, your serenity, your freedom. 

In the midst of your suffering, have you ever felt that God had forgotten you? That you had been abandoned by the one who promised never to forsake you? The sons of Jacob in Exodus 1 probaby faced a similar struggle. They must have asked themselves, "Where are you, O LORD?" But as the rest of the book of Exodus testifies, God had not forgotten them. For it is often in the darkest and most painful times that God manifests Himself. 

Exodus 2:24-25 says:

"So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them."

God hears our cry and he will have compassion on us, too.

Exodus 1: The God of the Impossible Keeps his Promises

As a child, you've probably heard stories from the book of Exodus in Sunday school. You may also have seen the animated film "The Prince of Egypt." For me, that first chapter was once merely the opening scene that set the stage for the rest of the drama of Exodus. But after studying it, Exodus 1 came to life in the light of God's Great Story. For, from its very first verses, we discover a God who is faithful to keep his promises to his people.

When we read that the sons of Israel multiplied from 70 to a mighty multitude, we must look at Genesis 12:2-3 :

"And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

In the Abrahamic covenant, God binds himself to an old man and promises him the impossible: To make him a great nation. And we find the beginning of the fulfillment of that extraordinary promise in Exodus 1. 

From the opening of Exodus, then, we see that Moses wants to remind the children of Israel that the LORD is the God of the impossible. As they face trials and temptations in the wilderness, he wants them to fix their eyes on their great Deliverer and find hope in him. 

What obstacle are you facing? Do they seem to you impossible to overcome? Do you feel that this pandemic may never end? This unprecedented moment for our generation seems beyond our resources. These verses remind us that nothing is too difficult for our God. We can cling to hope in this storm because we are safe under the protection of our great Deliverer. 

It seems that the story begins well. God multiplies the descendants of a barren couple until they become a great nation. Wonderful! But things will get worse before they get better... 

Reduced to a Cruel Bondage

A new pharaoh comes to power. In fact, it's not just a new pharaoh, but a new dynasty, which no longer shares the same alliances as the previous one. That's why the text says this pharaoh "does not know Joseph." Because, in reality, he doesn't care about him or anything he did for the people of Egypt. Rather than renewing the treaty with the clan of the one who saved his nation, this pharaoh reduces them to cruel bondage. 

Pharaoh thought that this would slow down their growth as a nation, but it only serves to strengthen their numbers! 

Two Unlikely Mediators

In vv. 15-21 we see a glimmer of light through two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. ( Incidentally, the name Schiphra means "dawn"). One thing I like about this story is that the two Hebrew midwives are named.

And did you notice anything else? The pharaoh is not named! The omission of a name was an Egyptian literary technique designed to erase the names of their enemies from the historical record. The Lord, through the pen of Moses, returns the favor by leaving Pharaoh anonymous, but by naming two "insignificant" women who dared to defy him.  

Moses thus emphasizes that the Pharaoh is nothing but a pawn. He further emphasizes that God loves to glorify Himself in unlikely ways. After all, Egypt is a patriarchal culture. And, think about it: In the first acts of the book of Exodus, God chose to save his people through five women: Shiphrah, Pua, Jokebed (Moses' mother), Miriam (Moses' sister), and Pharaoh's daughter! 

The Fear of God before the Powers of this World

Stop and think of the courage of Schiphra and Pua. They have just one duty: to slaughter all the male sons born to the Hebrews. Pharaoh's instructions are clear. But they are also unthinkable. 

Shiphra and Pua have a choice: Either they obey Pharaoh or they obey God. Did they not fear Pharaoh? They might have been. But they feared the Lord even more. 

Their choice reminds us of the apostles in Acts 5:29. Shortly before that, the Sanhedrin had put their Lord to death. Now they have arrested them and commanded them to stop preaching the gospel. The threat is serious! Yet, rather than capitulate to such pressure, they courageously respond: "We must obey God rather than men."

And so do our two midwife friends. They risk Pharaoh's wrath to save the sons of the Hebrews... 

And how does the Lord reward them? "God gave them families." (v. 21) Those who protect the household of Israel receive in turn their own households. And this is so remarkable because, according to commentators, in ancient times the profession of midwifery was often reserved for barren women, who could be available 24 hours a day for the demanding work of delivering babies. 

We see, then, that just as the multiplication of Jacob's sons at the beginning of the passage is supernatural, so the reward of the houses for Siphrah and Puah is a supernatural blessing. The God of the impossible acts once again, for the good of those who fear him. 

I can imagine the grandsons and granddaughters of Schiphra and Pua beaming with pride as their grandmother's names were read to the people of God at the foot of Mount Sinai. For without their civil disobedience, not only they, but many other sons of the Hebrews present would not have lived to see the deliverance of the nation. 

So far in Exodus 1, we have seen conditions deteriorate for God's people. In verse 22, conditions reach an all-time low: the Hebrews go from being victims of forced labor to being victims of genocide at the hands of the entire population of Egypt.

Unthinkable Calamity: The Genocide of God's People

Exodus 1 concludes with a verse of unthinkable calamity: 

"Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” (Exodus 1:22)

Having concluded that his strategy of employing Schiphra and Pua as his assassins had failed, Pharaoh opted for a different strategy: to include all of his people in the genocide of the sons of the Hebrews. 

And why throw them in the Nile River? Three reasons emerge: 

1. Because it would be less gruesome than a bloody murder, and therefore easier to carry out on a large scale. 

2. Because it would be the simplest way to get rid of the bodies, the Nile being the sewer, carrying away everything that was not wanted. 

3. Because the Nile was one of the great deities of Egypt and the killing of babies could be justified to the people as an act of religious devotion.  

This is Not the End of the Story: Help is on the Way!

And this is where our chapter ends. In the depths of darkness and despair... Just imagine! It's a good thing we know the rest of the story. Help is on the way! Praise God! For God is about to send a beautiful little boy in a floating basket made of reeds He will grow up to become the deliverer of Israel. 

Yes, we know rest of this story. But that is not all. We know the rest of the Great Story. We know another baby, born in a manger. He will grow up to be the Liberator of liberators of all peoples. And before things get better, they will get worse: wicked men will take our Savior, nail him to a cross and seal his body in a tomb. The night of our Savior's death is perhaps the darkest of all nights. Yet we know that the greatest hour that mankind has ever known came three days later. 

The main lesson of Exodus 1 is this: 

The God of the impossible keeps his promises, so let us fear him and not the powers of this world. 

God's Promises in the New Covenant

And what are his promises? Did he promise that believers would not be infected with or die from COVID-19? Not at all. Did he promise us health, wealth and peace? Absolutely not. 

Then what did he promise us? Let's go back to the Abrahamic Covenant. It was partially fulfilled in the supernatural numerical growth of Jacob's sons. But it is also fulfilled today in the supernatural numerical growth of the spiritual sons of Abraham, the Church! 

A powerful enemy tried to crush the people of God in Exodus 1 and failed in his attempts. Mighty men, the Sanhedrin, nailed our Lord to the cross. They thought they had completely silenced him. The empty tomb bears witness to their failure. Those same ungodly men tried to silence the Apostles in Acts 5. They failed once again. And the forces of darkness are still seeking the ruin of God's children. They too will most assuredly fail! For we have this promise spoken by our Lord Jesus: 

"I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18) 

The God of the impossible keeps his promises, so fear him and not the powers of this world.