YouTube video sermon
Exodus 1:15-22
If you missed last week, we started a new sermon series through the book of Exodus. So, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 1. Last week was a bit of an intro. We were introduced to the people, the prosperity, and the problem.
The people are the Israelites: the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we read their names right at the beginning. So, Exodus is first and foremost a story about God and people – people with real names and real families and real lives. And that led us to the question: Do you know God in a real and personal way; specifically, do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Is your name – like the names of these 12 tribes – written in the Lamb’s book of Life?
Then we saw their prosperity. They multiplied. They grew into a sizeable nation. Just as God had promised Abraham back in Genesis 12 & 15, they were like the stars in the night sky and the sands on the seashore. But this prosperity, this accomplishment, this achievement – if you will – wasn’t due to them. It wasn’t because of their intelligence, or their wealth, or their fame, or their greatness. Their prosperity was solely because of God’s faithfulness to Himself and the promise that He made to Abraham. And the connection for us is similar – our status as God’s children is not a result of our hard work, or our intelligence, or our good looks, or our fame, but is solely a work of God’s grace through Christ Jesus.
Finally, we noted the problem (v. 8) “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” And we asked ourselves the question: How is it possible that someone could grow up in Egypt and not know the story of Joseph? How could an educated and privileged person such as the king of Egypt not know Joseph, and more specifically, Joseph’s God? There are two likely answers and they’re somewhat connected. The first is that there was a change in the political dynasty, almost like our political system. The Hyksos Dynasty, which is the kingdom of pharaohs that was in power when Joseph became the Prime Minister, was displaced by the Ahmose Dynasty. And the theory is that the celebrations and arrangements that had been established under Joseph’s government were abandoned. And because of that (here’s the second part), because those remembrances were removed and ignored, the next generation was never taught about Joseph and how God used him to save Egypt.
And the parallel question for us was: How is it possible that the world doesn’t know about Jesus? Why are new generations of people growing up not knowing about Jesus? Do our families and friends and neighbors know about Jesus because of our relationship with Him? And the uncomfortable, but realistic, answer, is we aren’t telling them. We aren’t teaching them. We’ve chosen to leave evangelism and discipleship to those “called to be” missionaries and pastors. Certainly, those people have a responsibility to share and show the love of Jesus but aren’t we all called to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that [He] commanded.” (Matthew 28:19-20a)? And the answer is obviously, “Yes.”
So, the people are the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their prosperity is to grow in number because of God’s faithfulness to Himself and His promise. And their problem is a ruler that doesn’t Joseph and how God used him. That’s a quick review of last week. This week, we’re looking specifically at verses 15-22, but I want to read verses 8-22 for a fuller context.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 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.”
“Our Father and our God, once again, we thank You for the Bible, and as we seek to try and understand its broad scope, we pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, that our minds may be active, that our wills may be submissive, and that our hearts may be ready to receive the truth contained in it. We offer this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
January is Sanctity of Human Life month, and by the providence of God we find ourselves having to deal with these verses and this scenario. To be fair, you didn’t have any say in the matter. No, what really happened was that I found myself having to deal with it. And by “deal with it,” I mean, I had to look in the mirror and ask myself whether or not I was going to preach this sermon or whether I was going to move on to chapter 2. Trust me; it wasn’t an easy decision.
Oh, I wish that I could tell you that it was a “no-brainer,” that I was ready and eager to take up the text and bring this message. But that’s just not true. The truth is this:
- The voice of Satan is real (“You can quietly move on; no one will be the wiser. Shoot, many folks probably wouldn’t blame you”),
- The temptation to please men rather than please God is real (“You want people to like you, right, then don’t preach this message”), and
- Societal pressure is real (“Word is going to get out, and you’re going to be labeled as one of those fanatical preachers. What’s worse, Mountain Hill will be labeled as a fundamental church”).
But the Holy Spirit put the words of the apostle Paul in my ear, “I charge you [Timothy] in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5). So, we’re going to deal with these verses and there are seven things I want us to see.
The Midwives Revealed (v. 15)
“Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah.” It’s interesting, to me. We clamor to know who the king is, who the queen is, who’s the President of the United States, who’s the Prime Minister of England, who’s the Speaker of the House, who’s the leading Senator or Congressman, or Governor, who’s the newest head coach at such and such a school, and yet the Bible never lists the name of this pharaoh, or the pharaoh before him, or even the pharaoh on the throne during the actual exodus from Egypt. But God, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has Moses record the names of these two midwives: Shiphrah, meaning “fair/beautiful” and Puah, meaning “fragrant/splendid.”
One commentator that I read this week said this, “There are more compact ways in Hebrew to give names. But what we have here is typical of how a narrator might carefully choose to identify prominent characters at the beginning of an account. In other words, Moses chose to be sure the reader had a good chance to remember these women.”
I’m reminded of the account of Mary, Martha’s sister, anointing Jesus’ feet with oil in John’s gospel (John 12:1-8). Matthew’s account of that same incident doesn’t mention Mary by name, but listen to what Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her” (Matthew 26:13). That seems to be the point that Moses is making here – these women, like Mary, will be remembered not because of what their names mean, but because of the power of their faithfulness to God. Now, let’s move to verse 16, and the murder requested.
The Murder Requested (v. 16)
“When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” There it is – partial birth abortion. That’s what happens when we use human wisdom instead of godly wisdom. That’s what happens when we rely upon ourselves, rather than God. That’s what verse 10 suggests, “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, let us deal wisely with this situation, lest it get out of hand” (paraphrased). And what does that get you? Murdering babies.
Let me give you just a small taste of what the Bible says about human reasoning and human wisdom, apart from God.
“The thoughts of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful” (Proverbs 12:5). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12). “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Proverbs 29:2). “If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:14-15).
We’re dealing with an evil man in Exodus 1. And whenever you begin to esteem and honor human wisdom over the Word of God, then you’re playing with fire. Is it any wonder that a color-coded map of our country looks like Clark Griswold’s Christmas tree when it comes to our positions on abortion. We’ve abandoned the Bible in favor of humanism. We’ve abandoned the truth of God’s Word for the lies of Satan. And instead of one law (i.e., illegal), we have at least 11 different positions when it comes to the life of the unborn.
Never mind the fact that 75% of our country has fetal homicide laws that make it a crime to cause a miscarriage in the womb, but those same laws don’t apply to abortion. High risk pregnancy specialist, Dr. Steve Calvin, in a letter some years ago to the Arizona Daily Star, wrote, “There is inescapable schizophrenia in aborting a perfectly normal 22-week fetus, while at the same hospital performing intra-uterine surgery on its cousin.”
When the unborn are wanted, they’re treated as children and patients. When they’re not wanted, suddenly, they’re not children. It’s madness. The pharaoh exalted human reason and requested murder, and America 2023 has done the same. Why, just two weeks ago, on January 5 the SC Supreme Court overturned our own ban on abortion – claiming it’s “unconstitutional.”
Keep this in mind; God never forgot this. He didn’t let this go. There’s a reason that the final plague upon the Egyptians is the death of their first born, and I wonder if this isn’t it. Thankfully, we have verse 17 and the moral response of Shiphrah and Puah.
The Moral Response (v. 17)
“But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.” These two women believed in the sanctity of human life. Now, to be sure, they certainly didn’t have a full knowledge of exactly what that phrase means. Chronologically speaking, Moses hadn’t even been born yet, much less penned the first 5 books of the Old Testament. So, they didn’t have the Scripture to inform them how to respond, but they did understand that there are simply some issues that are right and others that are wrong – and killing babies was simply wrong; it’s contrary to a divinely created world.
I think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, and how they refused to bow down to the golden idol of King Nebuchadnezzar. Or Daniel, himself, in chapter 6, when he defies King Darius and the command to pray to him and no other king. Or the story of Peter and John, in Acts 4-5, where they’re arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus, and we get that wonderful quote, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, [as for us] we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard… We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 4:19-20, 5:29).
These women may not be preaching the gospel, but there’s no doubt that they’re bearing the truth of the invisible God before the visible king. And that leads to the meeting (v. 18).
The Meeting Resumes (v. 18)
“So, the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and let the male children live?’” There’s something that happens between the period at the end of verse 17 and the first word of verse 18. You can’t see it, but a lot of time passes.
See, prior to the invention of retail stores like Babies ‘R Us and the social rule that girls wear pink and have long hair and boys wear blue and have short hair, most Israelite children probably looked very similar. They dressed the same. The probably had similar haircuts. So, it’s easy to see how boys could be confused for girls for the first 12-24 months (maybe longer).
Plus, don’t forget that the original instruction was given to Hebrew midwives. So, it’s probably not in pharaoh’s best interests to order Egyptian soldiers to openly go into the tents and houses of Israelite women and forcible determine the gender of the children. That would only make public what he wished to keep private. Nevertheless, they still had to answer for their disobedience.
And one day, we’ll have to give an account, too. Not to an evil king, but to a good and gracious King. Not for disobeying an evil command, but for every careless word, and indeed for everything we’ve done in the body, whether good or evil (Matthew 12:36, Romans 14:12, 2 Corinthians 5:10). The next thing I want us to see is the masterful reply (v. 19).
The Masterful Reply (v.19)
“The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘[the] Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’” That’s not necessarily a lie. Most of us have probably been told, at some point or another, that these women lied to pharaoh. I’m not so sure. In fact, while God can do whatever God wants to do, it’s not typically in His nature to bless a blatant sin.
The Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women… That’s not really an answer; it’s more like a general statement – and it’s true. Hebrews aren’t Egyptian and Egyptians aren’t Hebrews. Sure, there are many similarities between pregnancy stories. But not every experience is the same. I’m sure that most mothers here today experienced pain and discomfort during their delivery. But not every mom does. I’m sure that many of the moms here today relied on doctors for their delivery(ies), but not every mom has. It could be that Shiphrah and Puah said, “Listen, pharaoh, before our company of midwives can get to the 911 call, the baby has already been born.”
Or it could be a sociological difference and not a physical difference. In other words, it could be that Hebrew women were more actively involved in their own deliveries than Egyptian women. Egyptians were like me on a Sunday afternoon – laid back with my eyes closed. But Hebrew mommas were so involved in their own deliveries that they didn’t require the midwives all that much. I tend to think that these midwives were simply telling the truth, rather than constructing a well-devised lie. After all, Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are His delight.” Like Shiphrah and Puah, may we all trust that God will deliver us from whatever situation we find ourselves in, if we’ll just tell the truth – and that includes the truth of abortion. The next thing is the miraculous reward.
The Miraculous Reward (vss. 20-21)
“So, God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families.” Because of the obedience of two women, the Israelites multiplied. Because of the obedience of two women, an entire nation was blessed – they multiplied and grew very strong. And one can’t help but wonder if the next page of American history, yet to be written, says, “So, God dealt well with a little church on a mountain. And the people of America multiplied and grew very strong.” God dealt well with Dale and Julia, Paul and Kitty, Tom and Cindy, Steve and Bonnie, Lee, Ray, Danielle, Linda and . . . (fill in the blank). God dealt well with His Bride because they stood up for life.
Can I let you in on a little something? You already know this, but if it wasn’t for these midwives and their courage and bravery and integrity and faith there wouldn’t have been a Moses. If these women had followed the command of pharaoh to its ultimate end, then Moses would’ve been killed. And without Moses there’s no escape. And without the exodus there are no Israelites. And without a Jewish nation there’s no king David, and there’s no Mary, and there’s no Joseph, and there’s no Jesus.
If you’re ever tempted to think that because you’re not some famous pastor or Bible teacher or Hollywood star or famous singer or Fortune 500 CEO or whatever that God can’t use you to make a difference in the Pro-Life Movement, then just memorize the names Shiphrah and Puah. Being a midwife was a menial, blue-collar, thankless job, and yet their names are remembered, and an entire nation was blessed. And when the Body of Christ takes a stand for life in the Pro-Life Movement there are at least two possible outcomes: 1.) indeed, a physical life is saved, and 2.) in many cases a soul is redeemed.
Our financial support of the Piedmont Women’s Center doesn’t just go to help avoid and overturn abortion in Greenville County and SC, though that’s certainly part of their ministry. Our financial and prayerful support of PWC and those volunteers involved on the front lines means sharing the grace, love, and forgiveness that Jesus offers, and we get to be a part of God redeeming another person from the bondage of sin and shame and adding them to the spiritual family of God.
That brings us to the last point today,
The Mandate Required (v. 22)
“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.’” Pharaoh deputizes and authorizes all the people of Egypt to get involved in this murderous plot. And this wouldn’t be the last time that the Jews were singled out for destruction. King Ahasuerus and Haman in the book of Esther, King Herod, in Jesus’ day, and in our own lifetime Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich all attempted to annihilate the Jewish people.
It seems inconceivable to you and me that anything like this would ever happen here, or anywhere, but it does and it will, which is why it’s so important for the Church of Jesus Christ to take a stand for physical and spiritual life – to share in the excitement and joy of childhood, to encourage those that are considering abortion to consider life instead, consider adoption, and most importantly to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Only in Him can we find the forgiveness of our past, present and future. Only in Him can we find our purpose. Only in Him can we find new and eternal life.
Let’s pray. There are some of you here this morning that have been down this road. You’ve told me. There may be others that have never confessed the sin of abortion. Men, maybe you helped to facilitate an abortion and you’ve been secretly hiding the shame and guilt and you need to receive the grace that only Jesus can offer. Give that over to the Lord, today.
Others are here today, and you’ve played by the rules. Abortion has never entered your minds, and you’ve been pro-life as long as you can remember, but the conversations and issues have become too political in recent days, and you’ve allowed the pressures of the world to silence your voice rather than offer testimony on behalf of Jesus and His Word.
Perhaps God is calling you to get involved as a foster family or consider adoption (yourself). Maybe you’re looking for a place to volunteer. Piedmont Women’s Center would love to show you around and tell you where you can get plugged in. Maybe you just need to commit to pray for those who find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy.
Others are here and this whole “church thing” is new, but you’ve heard about Jesus in song, and experienced something of His love in the fellowship, and you know that – unlike Shiphrah and Puah – your name isn’t written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You know, in the inner recesses of your heart that you haven’t been saved. You haven’t confessed your sin. You haven’t received the free gift of God’s salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If that’s you, then, as we sing, would you just come talk to me.
There are some of you that have been visiting and you need to come and make Mountain Hill your official church family. You want to get behind the ministry and missions of this church. You want to be counted among those who seek to preach the Word in season and out of season and not simply attend at arm’s length. However, God is speaking to you, as we sing would you come.
“Father, in these moments, would You draw us to Yourself as only You can. Would You bring people into a saving relationship with Jesus, as only You can. Lord, I’ve spoken to their heads, but only You can impress the truth of Your Word upon their hearts. I pray that You would move in our hearts and lives, for I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”