seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Exodus 1:15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
I got the commentary this morning from the "working preacher".
The systematic mistreatment of the Hebrews by Pharaoh escalates from enslavemen to ethnic cleansing as Pharaoh commands that the Hebrew boys be killed at birth or drowned in the Nile. These verses give us keen insight into the kind of psychology of hate that, driven by fear, can move whole societies to engage in genocidal acts. And yet these verses also capture the ironies of human psychology and planning.
Pharaoh, who does not know Joseph or recognize how Joseph helped save Egypt from famine, seeks to be shrewd and wise, even as others around him show him to be a fool. The very things that Pharaoh fears and seeks to avoid nevertheless happen, as a result, in part, of his own efforts. His attempts to control the Hebrew population lead to its exponential increase instead! His plan to keep the Hebrews from escaping the land ('alah) moves God to commission Moses (3:8) to bring the people out ('alah). Pharaoh's desire to kill the boys spurs the women to action. With gracious defiance, the women of Exodus 1-2 shelter and nurture the boys, among them the one boy who will become the future rescuer of the people.
It would not be out of line to ask where God is to be found in this story of hate, oppression, death, and defiance. The first mention of God in this story is not until 1:17, which speaks of the midwives' fear of God. Already, the story of oppression is well underway. But God's first explicit action does not come until 1:20, close to the end of the chapter, and God remains in the background as abuse and oppression grow. When God does act, these chapters depict it in ironic ways. It is through God's providence that the Israelites are "fruitful and prolific" , something God had promised to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 15:5; 17:2). But this same blessing and promise of multiplication has become the source of Pharaoh's fear and the Hebrews' oppression. Indeed, the more God multiplies the Israelites, the more Pharaoh opposes them with abuse and death.
Unlike the later chapters of Exodus, in which God takes direct action against Israel's opponents, this story reveals God's workings to be more subtle and indirect. In the work of the midwives, Pharaoh's daughter, and Moses' mother and sister, God's agency aligns and intertwines with human agency to accomplish salvation.
The story highlights the cleverness and understated bravado of the women agents who defy Pharaoh. The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, commanded by the king to kill the boys in stealth when they see one being born, protect the babies and disguise their life-saving actions. In the ruse, they appeal to Pharaoh's own prejudices. The Hebrew women are like animals (khayot) and give birth too quickly, the midwives say to Pharaoh. Indeed, Pharaoh's genocidal plan indicates that he has ceased to regard the Hebrews as fully human, and the midwives use this to satisfy Pharaoh's inquiries. At the same time, the midwives contrast the Hebrew women's animalistic vigor with the delicate constitution of the Egyptian mothers who are forced to labor harder and longer during childbirth. Apparently, the midwives intend Pharaoh to hear such a statement as echoing his own loathing of the Hebrews and his own positive valuation of the Egyptian women and their delicacy.
Pharaoh, who does not know Joseph or recognize how Joseph helped save Egypt from famine, seeks to be shrewd and wise, even as others around him show him to be a fool. The very things that Pharaoh fears and seeks to avoid nevertheless happen, as a result, in part, of his own efforts. His attempts to control the Hebrew population lead to its exponential increase instead! His plan to keep the Hebrews from escaping the land ('alah) moves God to commission Moses (3:8) to bring the people out ('alah). Pharaoh's desire to kill the boys spurs the women to action. With gracious defiance, the women of Exodus 1-2 shelter and nurture the boys, among them the one boy who will become the future rescuer of the people.
It would not be out of line to ask where God is to be found in this story of hate, oppression, death, and defiance. The first mention of God in this story is not until 1:17, which speaks of the midwives' fear of God. Already, the story of oppression is well underway. But God's first explicit action does not come until 1:20, close to the end of the chapter, and God remains in the background as abuse and oppression grow. When God does act, these chapters depict it in ironic ways. It is through God's providence that the Israelites are "fruitful and prolific" , something God had promised to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 15:5; 17:2). But this same blessing and promise of multiplication has become the source of Pharaoh's fear and the Hebrews' oppression. Indeed, the more God multiplies the Israelites, the more Pharaoh opposes them with abuse and death.
Unlike the later chapters of Exodus, in which God takes direct action against Israel's opponents, this story reveals God's workings to be more subtle and indirect. In the work of the midwives, Pharaoh's daughter, and Moses' mother and sister, God's agency aligns and intertwines with human agency to accomplish salvation.
The story highlights the cleverness and understated bravado of the women agents who defy Pharaoh. The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, commanded by the king to kill the boys in stealth when they see one being born, protect the babies and disguise their life-saving actions. In the ruse, they appeal to Pharaoh's own prejudices. The Hebrew women are like animals (khayot) and give birth too quickly, the midwives say to Pharaoh. Indeed, Pharaoh's genocidal plan indicates that he has ceased to regard the Hebrews as fully human, and the midwives use this to satisfy Pharaoh's inquiries. At the same time, the midwives contrast the Hebrew women's animalistic vigor with the delicate constitution of the Egyptian mothers who are forced to labor harder and longer during childbirth. Apparently, the midwives intend Pharaoh to hear such a statement as echoing his own loathing of the Hebrews and his own positive valuation of the Egyptian women and their delicacy.
So if the babies weren't destroyed by partial birth abortion, then they were to be drown in the river Nile like rats.
