"But the Midwives Feared God"
Preacher: Ross Macdonald
Scripture: Exodus 1:15-22
Transcript
You have some bulletins up here if you'd like a bulletin to take notes, maybe I could have a couple volunteers
Just put your hand up so that you can have some notes and while those are being passed out
If you're not a note -taker, let me encourage you you ought to be a note -taker a little pedagogical insight your your mind when it's engaged in taking notes will do a better job of Listening and engaging with what you're hearing than if you're only
Listening and then your mind begins to wander and you kind of keep circling back So the old adage that the strongest memory is weaker than the weakest ink is certainly true
And even if you never look at your notes again You will have gotten more out of the fact that you took notes while you were listening
So maybe there's a few that I've convinced to take some some notes. It's not exactly heavy this morning but may be good to develop the habits of taking notes
This morning we're continuing in Exodus in chapter 1 This is now the the second week that we've dipped our toes
Into the shoreline of this tremendous book and we're going to weigh deeper and deeper as we make our way forward over the coming months
Last week we kept in mind that Exodus does follow Genesis not only
Chronologically by a turning of the page but it also begins with a callback to Genesis 46 and so the opening of the narrative of Exodus is meant to be read in Conjunction with the closing of the book of Genesis of course all five books the first five books of the
Bible have a certain unity given to them by Moses and his writing of them and they're often called the first five books or the
Pentateuch And so we're reading Genesis and Exodus as a cohesive narrative and all of this is the outflow of Genesis 1 through 3 the creation of man and God's purpose and intention for mankind and Then the fall and all of the consequences of the fall
But in spite of the fall God's grace and with God's grace God's promise
That he would redeem the curse of the fall as far as that curse would be found
That his good desire and intention for man would be found in the fullness of time
When he sent the promise seed the seed that he promised to the woman into the world to accomplish
What the first Adam had failed to do the last Adam would succeed and so secure
God's blessed intention for man to be in a relationship of glory and enjoyment
Forever without any possibility of sin or fall so that that is taking us into Exodus We're taking further steps into the unfolding of what we call redemptive history not just History as it would stand in a homeschooling textbook.
Let's say but history from the perspective of God's great acts of redemption and the fullness thereof found in the person and work of our
Lord Jesus Remember what God had promised Abram in that dark sleep that came upon him
He said to Abram. No, certainly your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and Will afflict to them for 400 years and the nation whom they serve
I will judge afterward They shall come out with great Possessions that was what he had revealed to Abram when he made the covenant with Abraham And we're walking now in the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise
We left off the Israelites last week in sore affliction in great bondage in the land of Egypt Crying out to the
Lord as Pharaoh begins his programmatic crushing of their spirit and this morning in the remainder of Exodus 1 the programmatic crushing of their seed of their children
We Began to see last week the the contrast between the mercy of God Blessing in multiplying and making fruitful the
Israelites so that they're becoming a mighty nation in the land that does not belong to them Contrasted with the cruelty of Pharaoh who keeps adding burdens that they cannot bear and and soon
We'll see the fullness of that being complete folly make bricks without straw do this work
That's now impossible to do. The point is that I I completely subjugate you to my will and to my yoke
This morning. We're gonna see the beginning of a counteraction against Pharaoh's tyranny and that's all coming in this marvelous phrase
The fear of God that's the focal point this morning the fear of God something needful for the hour men and women who fear
God So we're going to consider first the fear of God briefly we'll consider
The return on that fear the blessing of God. All right, so fear of God first Briefly the blessing of God, which is the return on fear and then moving more toward application the need for God fearers
The need of the day the need of the hour to be God fearing as believers
So first the fear of God beginning in Exodus 1 verse 15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the
Hebrew midwives of whom the name of one was Shifra the name of the other Pua 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
Pharaoh has gone from the brutality of slavery now to the brutality of infanticide.
He seeks to destroy The male lineage among the Israelites. This is a major step forward in his plan
But at this stage, it's very subtle It's not to the very end of the chapter, but now he'll go to the
Egyptians and say cast the Israelite sons into the river This command is done more subtly.
He he finds these two Hebrew midwives We'll talk about that phrase Hebrew midwives in a moment
And he gives the command every son born among them is to be killed
In a secret covert way in a way that it could be seen to be Accidental or stillborn not in a way that was intentional
So he's seeking to cover up this murderous intent through the agency of Shifra and Pua and likely
Those that they had authority over again a note. I'll make in a moment The daughters are to be spared in Pharaoh's mind the daughters don't pose an immediate threat because there's a way of Submerging a people's identity through intermarriage that can take place with daughters
Intermarrying Egyptians or other subject races, but it can't take place with Israelite men forming households of their own so it seems to be
Pharaoh desiring to have still ranks of slave labor in his kingdom and Realizing the way to do that is to allow the
Israelite daughters to intermarry and so be Compromised and yet still be servile
But as for the men who pose the greatest threat to my power and the greatest form of Israelite identity
They must be killed. That's the policy We're given the names of two women
Isn't it ironic we're given the names of two women and we're not given the names of Pharaoh We're given the names of two midwives
Shifra and Pua Some make the case not just modern scholars, but even
John Gill is an example give the case for the amount of women that the Lord had blessed with children
It's unlikely that two midwives Could have handled all of the workload and you can imagine them jogging and sprinting from one
Tent or home or dwelling place to the next so so perhaps these are representative
These are the ones that are named and remembered perhaps they have a position of unique authority in their relationship
Not only as midwives to the Hebrew women, but also in their relationship to the court of Pharaoh So John Gill says perhaps they were the most noted in their profession
And so the king began with these if he could succeed with them, he would go on to others
Or perhaps they were not the only midwives. They may have been representative of those in a similar position
That's how some of the rabbinic interpreters long ago took it like Rashi as an example another debated issue
Calvin Gill all these brothers take different views on this is whether or not Shifra and Pua were actually
Hebrew midwives or Were they midwives over the
Hebrews the translation could go either way In fact the Greek translation of the
Hebrew here what we call the Septuagint Translates it in Greek as they were midwives over the
Hebrews rather than Hebrew midwives and the case is made How could
Pharaoh expect Hebrew midwives to exterminate Hebrew sons that would have been a hard sell
But if they were Egyptians, then it's more likely that he could have coerced them or commanded them to kill the enemy of the people in this case the
Israelites Well, that's possible But we're not told if he was coercing them with the reward or if he was in some ways threatening them with punishment
There's more than one way to skin a cat Don't you ever wonder where that phrase?
Where does that phrase ever come from? I don't want to know Poor Ralphie as it stands in the narrative.
We're not told whether they were Hebrew midwives or midwives over the Hebrews It seems logical that they could have been
Egyptian women and that's why Pharaoh approached them or he simply could have approached them with his power Remember he thinks he's the cream of the crop
He has all of the power in the mightiest kingdom of the ancient world and he would think if I say do this
It's either you do this or I will do this to you. You exterminate who I say to exterminate or you will be exterminated
Scholars note they have not Egyptian names, but Semitic name It's possible that they were given
Semitic names in this position of honor afterward the Hebrews Recognizing the the great mercy that God showed through them
Just like Joseph had a Semitic name you say but was also given Egyptian names up not
Pena As it stands the narrative is not interested in giving us these details it's only interested in portraying their courage and their fear of God in Contrast to the evil and foolish bent of Pharaoh upon destroying
Israel Now let's focus on on that the significance of Pharaoh's desire to destroy
The male lineage among the Israelites as I mentioned briefly last week This part of Exodus this this entree into Exodus is ultimately depicting satanic
Opposition not only to God's people But to God's purpose for the world through his people
Right. It's not just a direct opposition to the Israelites but what God had promised to take place through the
Israelites as a blessing for all of the nations of the world and so on the one hand we're learning from Shifra and Pua how to be faithful to God in times of persecution and Tribulation, but on the other hand the story is meant to open up the cosmic dimensions of everything
We've seen from Genesis 3 15 and forward It's not difficult to peer behind the scenes as Arthur Pink says and find
Pharaoh simply to be an instrument Which is accomplishing the design of the serpent
Seeking to crush the seed of the woman ultimately Exodus 1 is a reminder that God had put enmity
Between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman the promised seed who is the
Lord Jesus Christ in the lineage Through Abraham and through his descendants that ultimately would bring forth that promised seed
John seems to pick this up in his unique Apocalyptic way from Revelation chapter 12 where he typifies the serpent this this dragon from the beginning in moments like Exodus 1 in moments like the massacre of the innocents when
Jesus was about to be born in these very moments We see the serpent opening wide his jaws to devour the promised seed and bring
God's promises to not The dragon stood before the woman who is the woman?
Eve mother Israel Mary the church
Yes to all of the above it's the enmity between the serpent and the woman
The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born
Pharaoh's opening wide his satanic jaws to crush the messianic lineage
Now it's cosmic as we're saying It's ultimately about the promised seed we're unfolding redemptive history
But redemptive history is a way of viewing concrete actual lived and experienced history.
And so I Don't want us to miss the cosmic contour of Exodus 1 this is dealing with principalities and powers
Eschatological promises the storyline of the entire scriptures and how that all comes at its very height
To reveal the person and work of Jesus, but I also don't want us to miss the lived and experienced reality of this cosmic and satanic opposition
Impacting the lives of men and women and children like you and me the commentators
I think on this end are very helpful and when they consider what
Pharaoh was commanding They're incensed John Gill says the scheme was so Barbarous and shocking especially to the tender sex, especially to these two women
So devoid of humanity One would think it could never have entered the heart of me
Calvin says Pharaoh desires the infants to be killed as they're born and he commands the midwives to be the instance in instruments of this dreadful barbarity
We read of no such detestable example of inhumanity since the world began this past week.
I read a report from BBC about doctors in Greenland who inserted intrauterine contraceptive devices into Several thousand local women without their knowledge and without their consent
And this was not some random rogue doctor Shirking the responsibilities of the
Hippocratic Oath. He had taken this was a government policy from the
Danish government this is a quote from the report when Danish authorities noticed a dramatic growth in the native
Inuit population a growth ironically that came with the wonders of modern health care
The decision was made by the government to artificially limit the ability of Inuit women to have children
This was done without their consent or their knowledge. This is from the report Convinced that Greenlandic women were constitutionally incapable of taking birth control pills
Danish doctors secretly inserted IUD devices without informing them a Source told
Danish journalists that doctors often would joke About how Inuit women wanting treatment for swollen fingers would come to their clinic only to leave with an
IUD Ultimately about half of all of the Inuit women on the island were sterilized between 1966 and 1970 with an investigation now looking up to the same figures through 1991 and some reporting an
IUD being implanted without their consent as recent as five years in China you're familiar with perhaps their policy and They relied also on IUD devices
I some months ago came across an artwork by a Chinese artist named Wenjing Zhou And if you saw it you'd perhaps be a little confused at what it was, but the title of the piece is
IUD It's sort of a blank dark wooden board And there's these intricate little pieces of copper wire all different shapes very similar but each one unique and They're put in sort of this grid like pattern on this board
Well the artist Zhou explains the work There is a traditional piece of art in China where people write the same character over and over a hundred a thousand ten thousand times and the more you write it the more your meaning to To reward or give to someone the significance of the character that you keep repeating and so often
It's blessing so the Chinese character for blessing you write out a hundred a thousand a hundred thousand times and in each little
Calligraphic stroke is meant to show your desire for the recipient What I use was pieces of copper wire
That were actually not manufactured by me, but by companies medical manufacturers that made
IUD devices these pieces of copper wire were in fact IUDs The sharp edges would be prongs that were inserted into an otherwise healthy woman
When inserted they would cause a local inflammation and therefore a higher amount of white blood cells which would act to prevent pregnancy between 1980 and 2014 three hundred and twenty four million
Devices were planted into Chinese women and Joe the artist who made this piece said in China Fertility was a disease that needed to be cured fruitfulness blessing
Becoming a curse the jaws of Satan Opening wide to deform and destroy
God's good design and good intentions for humanity to Thrive and flourish to be blessed and enjoy him to glory and worship as his creatures on the earth
In our day Has not abortion Been aided and abetted because we've been silent
Perhaps more silent in ways than we know we could be But we comfort ourselves to say we're more vocal than a lot of other people that we know
Now you don't need to have copper wire Implanted without your consent.
You can simply go to Walgreens or CVS and take a pill It may be different as far as the mode
But the design and the ultimate source isn't different at all It's from the evil one and it's direct rebellion and opposition against God a hatred for anything that resembles his image
It's the satanic monstrosity That deforms and makes men and women miserable.
It makes doctors killers rather than healers There's a born -alive act.
Perhaps you read about that or heard about that this week Where so many politicians on the left
Kept simply repeating the lines. We will always stand for a woman's reproductive, right? We will always stand for choice
When the act was simply describing That if an abortion had been attempted and yet failed and a baby was born alive
The doctor must not make any attempt to save that baby's life all of a sudden
Exodus 1 isn't that far away from where we are and The question is where are the shifras and the
Pua's today? What delivery wards are the shifras and Pua's going to stand not in fear of man, but in fear of God There's certainly no shortage of pharaohs today whether in China in Denmark in Greenland or here in the
United States of America There's no shortage of pharaohs acting as pawns of the satanic hatred for God's intention for man and woman for God's love for his image bearers to walk in the glory of his
Design intricately knitting them in his womb giving them life and health
Happiness and and all of the propensity of man in the world to be dominion takers and meaning makers to bring glory to God as his image bearers and seeking to exterminate and crush and Mutilate that purpose of God to mar and deform the image of God in human life without thought without Remorse without hesitation.
There's no shortage of pharaohs. They're in the Congress. They're in the halls of power
They're in the state chambers. They're in the city hall councils. They're your neighbors
If Pharaoh were alive in 2023, he would simply put on his
Twitter account The Kingdom of Egypt will always stand with women for reproductive rights, but the reality behind that subterfuge of rhetoric is
The dragon opening his jaws looking to devour the child Where are the shifras and the
Pua's today? Shifra is a semitic name as we mentioned that it means beautiful one
Pua very similar splendid one Perhaps these were honorary names that were given to these two midwives
They did a beautiful thing. They did a splendid thing They had been commanded perhaps with their own necks on the line to murder children
But in direct opposition they ended up saving all of the male children alive
Pharaoh Had a final solution for the Israelites and they didn't say well
Personally, I oppose this Personally, I have a very different view about this
But I recognize my view is not everyone else's view and it is legal And of course if it's legal, my hands are somewhat tied.
So while I would make the argument This is an ethical who am I to assume the ethics of the person that I'm treating or I have responsibility
Toward and after all there probably is more things that I have to enter into dialogue with about climate
Catastrophe and potential food shortages in the Nile. Maybe in some ways. This is a wise measure that Pharaoh is taking
That's not what Shifra and Pua said and they didn't even say something a little closer to home.
What can we do? Our livelihood is bound up in our positions We don't eat if we don't obey and much less if we disobey we may be killed
Better some Hebrew boy on the birthstool than me That's not what Shifra and Pua said
What did they do? Verse 17, it's the central text of this section of chapter 1 they feared
God The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them
But saved the male children alive What did
Shifra and Pua do? They feared God and they disobeyed man
What did Shifra and Pua do they disobeyed an evil policy of Infanticide and instead of killing male children let the male children live saved them alive
Now Shifra and Pua almost surely were afraid of Pharaoh's power But they were more sure of God's power for them.
The choice was clear Pharaoh and the state of Pharaoh had given a command that was directly against God's command
And therefore they knew there was only one right way to act and there was no gray area Surrounding it they simply had to choose
Will we fear God or will we fear Pharaoh? Will we obey
God or will we obey the state? I don't know that we ever up to this point in reading the
Bible Come across two women of this caliber certainly, we've seen godly women in the account of Genesis and women also that failed just as we've seen godly men who were also failures, but Shifra and Pua are held out as the examples
Before we get to Moses the Deliverer We have Shifra and Pua the Deliverers These are,
Philip Rykin puts it, these are the first pro -life heroines the first pro -lifers in the
Bible Shifra and Pua Courageous women, clever women
Wise as serpents and how they respond to Pharaoh as we'll see in a moment They did a beautiful thing.
They did a splendid thing. They feared God Pharaoh was the most powerful man in the world.
Pharaoh, above all rulers in the world, had the most resources at his disposal, the most luxury.
If he couldn't win them by the corruption of that luxury, by the promise or the elaboration of some bribe or some offer of a greater position and status, then he could certainly make them tremble with the power of torture and dungeon to see their own body, perhaps their own loved ones, taken from them
But Shifra and Pua dared to risk their lives, perhaps the lives of their relatives or family lines beyond them, because they feared
God. They understood that obeying God is always the safest thing to do
But it never seems to be the safe thing to do Do you understand that obeying
God is always the safest thing to do? Even when it feels like it's the most unsafe thing you could possibly do.
In the bitterness and corruption of Egypt we find fear of God.
I love that. I love that because when we read it with Genesis we notice this great contrast.
Remember what Abraham said about Egypt in Genesis 20? When he was pressed with the the vexing question, why would you do such a thing?
Why would you lie to me? And Abraham said it's because I thought surely there's no fear of God in this place.
There's no fear of God in Egypt Well, there is now Shifra and Pua are in Egypt and they have a fear of God Do you remember later on when
God was commending Abraham because he did not withhold his only son and what did
God through the angelic proclamation say now I know that you fear
God now I know that you fear God It's not your thought to your sentiment or reaction to some news piece that you've read in Action with your life and livelihood on the line now.
I know that you fear God brothers and sisters If you haven't been licking your finger and putting it in the wind, we're rushing toward fork roads quite like these
Sooner or later most of us in this congregation will have opportunities to prove whether we fear
God or not Jacob swore by the fear of his father
Isaac Joseph said in Genesis 42 do this and live for I fear
God There's been this faithful Correspondence of God raising up his promises
Because people were walking with him in fear of him and therefore not of man
More and more because of Shifra and Pua there were little Hebrew boys sprouting into tents and homes
There were Hebrew boys crawling down the sidewalks Hebrew boys napping in pack in place and sooner or later
Pharaoh's going What happened to this little policy we were supposed to have there shouldn't be any
Hebrew boys that are above the age of perhaps One something like that.
There should be a complete decimation of Hebrew toddlers And so he calls for them.
Can you imagine what it would have been like for these women to be called before Pharaoh? But they're still fearing
God Why have you done this thing? Why have you saved the male children alive?
Pharaoh's a fool, but he's not that foolish How inept are you at your job that not one of them has been killed?
Why are you saving them and the midwives said to Pharaoh?
Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women They're lively they give birth before the midwives come to them
We get the telephone call at 1 a .m. We get there at 110 and there's the baby nursing
Now there's translation Issues with what what is meant by the phrase? They are lively.
It's a very very difficult to translate In fact, there's some ancient translations going back to for instance
Simicus and the translation from Simicus is for they are midwives and the Vulgate in Latin takes that up They are skilled in midwifery.
The idea is they don't even ask for us They don't call for us because the Hebrew women are so good at midwifery that they don't even need us and that's a possible
Translation another thing for lively is it would be the the idea of their they're like beasts
How's that ladies The Hebrew women are like beasts when they give birth. Well, I can attest to that I've seen my share of the birth experience
But what's meant by that is they're they're animals that don't need any help they're able to do it all for themselves
They're that lively that rugged when it comes to giving birth Whatever was meant whatever the best translation is
They have doubled down on their fear of God and Pharaoh Simply does not respond to them the most powerful man in the world cowed by two midwives
The most powerful ruler the world had ever seen up to this point in history Huffing and puffing in the backcourt
Because these two midwives were afraid of God but not of him that is power These were not
Women with neon purple hair saying hear me roar That's not power,
I know that the world likes to pretend that that's power that's actually just debased corruption and degradation
Godliness has power holiness has power reverential fear has power were they
Exaggerating the situation This is always the issue, right? We've been encouraged over the past several weeks at SLBC and in some other conversations to to be
Teaching the Ten Commandments little ones little ears little minds and hearts need to be formed around the law of God Why?
Because this is the law that corresponds to what is written on their hearts and their conscience needs to be informed by what's written on Their heart rather than them repressing and pushing down and ignoring the law
That's on their heart the law that they should hear Externally because in their conscience it accords with what is written internally.
So we've been talking a lot about that So I'm sure there's some astute ten -year -old that will say did
Shifra and Pua break the ninth commandment That's a great question they certainly are not presented in the text as anything less than godly women of faith
Now You can be really hard -lined about this and take the approach that John Calvin took or Augustine took who don't deny these women were praised as many other figures that seem to be
Saying less than the whole truth and nothing but the truth are often praised within the narrative
There's of course several examples we won't take the time to look at them, but you can look at Joshua 2 as an example of deception or delusion or lying
Joshua 8 Judges chapter 4 1st Samuel 16. You remember the Prophet says I'm here to sacrifice
Certainly wouldn't be anointing a new king Not the whole truth And if it's not the whole truth, is it the truth?
So this is viewed as a problem. It's been a historical problem for Interpreters Augustine who wrote one of the great treatises day mendaki on lying
He said basically this is wrong. It's wrong. It's wrong There's no way no situation in which lying can be seen to be right this is a breaking of the ninth commandment and then he can go on to praise their courage and their virtue and show that God was pleased to show them mercy and Forgive this wrong for the sake of the good that led to it
So that's the most that you'll get from Augustine Calvin or perhaps even that's where your sentiment lies on the other hand as Robert Rayburn would argue
Christian ethicist has sometimes said there is what we could call the dutiful lie an untruth
That's that's politician speak, isn't it an untruth? That is nevertheless right to tell
Because it is necessary to save life Of course the the classic conundrum that systematic theologians and Christian ethicists deal with you could find this in Wayne Grudem and John Frame as if you were a
Dutch farmer in the 1940s and the Gestapo showed up on your door and the leather boots were there and men with Lugers and Mausers were barging into your room and they said are you hiding any
Jews? In your home or in your barn What do you say? If you were to bring your neighbors out from the attic or the crawlspace, you know that they'll be lined up against your barn and shot
But you're also a good Dutch Calvinist and you know, I Don't want to break the Ninth Commandment Shouldn't I be the one that's fearing
God like Shifra and Pua? And so Christian ethicists come up with this idea of what's called sometimes by them the dutiful lie a bald -faced untruth that's
Rayburn says But one that's right and necessary That still may not take away the issue that It is indeed a breaking of the
Ninth Commandment But Christian ethicists argue it depends how we understand it.
For example, the Sixth Commandment They would say a soldier kills as an act of his duty and function as a soldier
As he broke in the Sixth Commandment We tend not to view
Enforcement of laws or military actions as murders, right? Our justice system certainly doesn't view it that way
So there's a sense in which not all killing is murder Is there a sense which then that not all not all deception is a lie at least a
Ninth Commandment breaking lie and then We're just assuming from the way the text is coming to us that they lied to Pharaoh when he pressed them on the matter a
Puritan like Matthew Poole said maybe they didn't even lie at all They certainly said a truth concerning some of the
Hebrew women Maybe that wasn't the case with all of the Hebrew women. So though it wasn't the whole truth
They certainly weren't speaking a lie and they were never obliged to give the whole truth. Anyway, so that's
Matthew Poole trying to say We're good. So those are your options I'm not choosing a hill to die on this morning.
Those are your options You can take the pool approach the Calvin approach or the Rayburn approach. Is it a dutiful lie?
Is it something that God has to forgive because it was a sin? But he highlights his mercy to them because they did a great thing or were they not lying at all?
They were just presenting one aspect of something. That was true. I Will agree and I think all shot all sides should agree should agree with this when the midwives were called before Pharaoh And Pharaoh was thinking
I can crack the whip and make sure that if they'd been half -hearted now They won't doubt and they won't ignore my command
For them to simply double down and say what can we do our hands are tied we're trying to obey you
Pharaoh the Hebrew women are just beastly in the way that they bear children and Lightfoot JB Lightfoot says in this sense.
The midwives are not lying They're giving the most glorious confession of their faith in God, and I love that They're giving their most glorious confession of their faith in God Shifra and Pua had been sent out like sheep in the midst of wolves
Christians are often sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves And that's why Jesus says be as innocent as does but be as wise as serpents and Here I think we have a good illustration of what
Jesus meant by being perhaps as innocent as a dove and as wise as a serpent So let's talk briefly about the blessing that attends
Shifra and Pua the blessing that attends fearing God remember this great verse
The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them and then we read verse 20 therefore
God dealt with the midwives well and the people multiplied and grew very mighty and So it was because the midwives feared
God That he provided households for them So what we have repeated in the narrative is the midwives fear of God.
That's what that's meant to stand out to us That's the highlighted portion the midwives feared
God and because they feared God he provides Households for them and the question is what's the them is it?
Households for Shifra and Pua perhaps they were in midwives because they didn't have husbands and families of their own
Because they had preserved other families by not killing the male offspring God had blessed them with families and households of their own.
That's a possibility It could be that the them is simply referring back to the growth of Israel in its might so it would read something like this
The people grew and multiplied and became very mighty and so it was Because the midwives feared
God he provided households for Israel In other words more and more homes the next generation and the generation was being formed all
Because of the fear of God in these two women Perhaps it's a little bit of both.
I think the text is wanting to hold out They had a courage that was led by the fear of God and God took care of them
Rather than being cast into a dungeon to rot away in oblivion God actually blessed them and gave them families in a lineage of their own
I certainly think that's open to the text But then also what are they doing by not killing the male offspring?
They're making households for Israel God's giving households for Israel through the fear of God in these two women
Israel's becoming more and more mighty even as Pharaoh is more bent than ever on destroying them
So we're meant to see that God rewards faithfulness Major theme it's part of the law of reaping and sowing
Sometimes the rewards are late Sometimes the rewards come in strange packaging
Sometimes the rewards may not be what we pray for or what we would even initially want
But God rewards faithfulness we also see with faithfulness
Comes the blessing of God and with the blessing of God comes opposition
The same spirit in the world who wants to open his jaws and devour the the children is enraged when he sees the blessing of God attend
Shifra and Pua and the Israelites and So blessing is not without opposition.
The more the people are blessed the more they're opposed And that leads us to the last verse of the chapter
Pharaoh commanded all of his people fine. If I can't get Shifra and Pua to do it I'll get my people to do it and the command goes out
Every son who is born you shall cast into the river every daughter.
You shall save alive the slave population now being raided at random by the
Egyptian populace that had this hatred this racist hatred for the Israelites and Their children being cast into the river to drown with blessing comes opposition
Pharaoh is now seeking to destroy is your light strength, whatever it takes If he couldn't do it secretly in the dark through this arrangement with the midwives and he'll do it openly as in the day
Don't be surprised when the things that our opposition can't do in the dark. They just do openly in the day
We always want to think there'll be some restraint Surely there'll be jaws dropping in the floor and that will repel them from being as vicious and as cruel as they would be.
Otherwise Read Exodus 1 carefully That's not necessarily the case
And of course all of this is setting up our entrance into chapter 2 because Moses is one of these little
Hebrew boys Whose life is on the line and his mother has to take action to save him
So we have the backdrop to the birth of Moses and this providential unfolding of what
God will do For Israel through him as the great deliverer in mediator
We're reminded again, and I love what Calvin says on this point The whole design of Pharaoh was meant to frustrate
Essentially the Church of God. All right, Israel was that the Church of God the people of God Pharaoh's whole design as Calvin says with that was that Israelite men would die without any hope
But the name and the race of Abraham would be cut off that all of God's promises would fail
In these days and these days are the 1500s Where we have to bear similar insults and our urge to despair as if the church would soon be utterly destroyed
Let us learn to hold up this example like a strong shield because it is no new case
When immediate destruction seems to await us the divine aid comes suddenly and unexpectedly
You can picture Calvin preaching that to French exiles huddled there in Geneva thinking all our
Huguenot cousins and uncles are being Massacred back home and the whole church itself was about to be destroyed
And Calvin saying take hearts God moves mightily to deliver his people
Jesus says it and perhaps even better words Matthew 10 27 and following whatever
I tell you in the dark Speak in the light and what you hear in the ear preach on the housetops and do not fear those who kill the body
But cannot kill the soul But fear him
Who's able to destroy both body and soul in hell? Don't have a fear of man
Have a fear of God Have a fear not of what Pharaoh could do to you bodily or financially
But have a fear of God if God can destroy both body and soul something no ruler No tyrant no dictator could ever do if he can destroy both body and soul
Can he not also preserve both body and soul so fear God? We shouldn't stop short in what
Jesus says in Matthew 10 Right fear him who's able to destroy body and soul in hell and every fundamentalist preacher wants to stop there.
Amen. Yeah What does Jesus go on to say? All right, he's able to destroy body and soul in hell.
So you tyrants better back off my sheep You might afflict my people outwardly my father will get all of you forever
No hiding place from him No end to what he will do to avenge his beloved
I Think he's primarily speaking to the persecutors in that passage
Fear God because of what he's able to do and then what does Jesus say to the sheep? That are sore pressed and in bondage and afraid.
What does he say are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? Not one of them can fall to the ground without my father's notice.
The very hairs of your head are numbered do not fear therefore You are worth much more than these
Shifra and Pua a part of God showing his concern for the sparrows
And that's why like The Israelites needed a shifra needed a Pua they needed two women that above all
Israel at this point in time Were God -fearing women they were the deliverers before Moses was a deliverer
They were the deliverers that allowed Moses to be a deliverer How many generations of Israelites were marching through the
Red Sea? Centuries later because of what Shifra and Pua had done the power of fearing
God so brothers and sisters We need God fearers today. We need men and women that fear
God not status quo Not Christians who dutifully go to church and then jump through the hoops of the workweek
But have the right insignia and status on Sundays. No, we don't need more of that.
We've got enough of that We actually need men and women that fear God The psalmist gives a description of this blessing that attends those who fear
God blessed is everyone who fears the Lord Not everyone fears the
Lord. Not everyone is blessed But blessed is everyone who fears the
Lord So the fear of God is first and foremost a way of living under the blessing of God and the
Bible gives so Many descriptions of what this means of of what the fear of God entails
The first thing the most basic thing we take away is for Christians for believers we do not view the fear of God as a sort of base dread of Repulsion a
Horrified terror that causes us to flee from the presence of God in what way would that be a blessing?
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. They're so blessed to be running in panic away from God's presence
No, the fear of God is not Adam running darting through the limbs and trying to cover himself
That's not the fear of God That's fearing God, but that's not what is meant by the phrase the fear of God and often these things are held together sometimes as in Matthew 10 a
Fear that would be rather heart -melting is held together with the Command don't fear you saw that in Matthew 10, right fear him who's able to destroy both body and soul and then do not fear
You're of much more value than Sparrows Exodus 20. We'll see it when we get there.
Moses says to the people do not fear God has come to test you so that his fear would be before you right don't fear
God's doing this so that you'll have fear That's essentially what he's saying. Well, what kind of fear?
What is the fear of God what does it mean to fear God a Definition that I've worked out
I've used this over the past few years. I think I've shared it before and this is I think a good well
Well measured definition Taking up some of the
Psalms and Proverbs and other descriptions of what the fear of God entails. So here's my definition the fear of God is revering
God Rooted in knowing God Resulting in obeying
God. All right. I'll say that again. The fear of God is revering
God Having a reverence for God Rooted in knowing God Not a
God you don't know that you're afraid of it's not being afraid of hell. That's not knowing God The reverence comes from actually knowing him knowing his character knowing who he is
So the fear of God is revering God rooted in knowing God resulting in Obeying God it can't just be flat empty reverence
It is borne out in acts of obedience Shifra and Pua had a reverence for God That in some way the text doesn't elaborate was rooted in their knowledge of God And it resulted in them obeying
God rather than Pharaoh The most basic sense of that definition is of course reverence
Scripture commends that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Pharaoh has no fear of God and as we see he's acting most foolishly
He's doing everything in his power to destroy Israel and in all of his power. He's making
Israel stronger by the day The fear of God is
Primarily a reverence for God rooted in knowing God that results in obeying
God that entails several things I'm just gonna gallop through some of these the fear of God is
Keeping his word Ecclesiastes 1213 let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear
God keep his commandments That's what the preacher Says everything else that he's seen under the
Sun has been vanity vanity of any's all of life is vanity good things end up Decaying the best of times end up evaporating.
I've seen everything and everything is vain. So what's the end of it all? fear God Keep his commandment the fear of God is delighting in his word
Psalm 112 one blessed is the man who fears the Lord who delights greatly in his commandments
The fear of the Lord is not that the sort of proverbial Roman Catholic expurgation
Self -flagellation. I messed up again. Oh father. Forgive me for us It's a delight in his commandments.
That's the fear of the Lord even when we Delight because of the contrast of our sin
We know that he's given us mercy and we see why his command is wholly just and good That's how we delight greatly in his commandments.
The fear of God is trusting in him Psalm 115 11 you who fear the Lord trust in the
Lord. He is their help. He is their shield The fear of God is hoping in his mercy.
Psalm 147 11 The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him in who in those who hope in his mercy the fear of God if it's
Reverencing God rooted in knowing God resulting in obeying God the fear of God delights in the company of God's people
When you reverence God you like to be around other people that reverence God When your reverence for God is rooted in knowing
God not knowing about him But knowing him you want to be around people that know him too
When your life is being characterized by a striving to obey you want to be around people that are striving to obey, too
Psalm 119 63. I'm a companion of all who fear you of those who keep your precepts
The fear of God is hating evil and perhaps I'll end the sort of gallop here. This is the closest to Shifra and Pua Proverbs 8 13 the fear of the
Lord is to hate evil That's Shifra and Pua the fear of the
Lord is to hate evil How can you imagine when they were assembled before Pharaoh and this command came down from him?
And as they sort of silently bowed you don't you don't interact with a command like that When they looked up the
Golden Throne, I wonder if any of you want to go see the National Geographic presentation of Tutankhamen's tomb where they have all these walled projections and so the
Glittering gold and light and it was meant to recreate the sort of splendor of Egyptian royalty you can imagine these these two midwives stumbling into the halls of power and And the command comes down from the
Golden Throne surrounded by guards and idols And when they humbly bow and make their way out they get outside and they say how could we do this is evil?
How could we this is evil? We can't do this. What are we going to do? The fear of the
Lord is to hate evil If you're growing in the knowledge of God you're growing in the fear of God If you're growing in the fear of God you're growing in obedience to God We should take with a grain of salt someone who says oh,
I fear God Of course, I know God and I fear him but their life is pockmarked with disobedience
The simple answer is you neither know God and you certainly do not fear God Fearing God is keeping his commandments.
Remember Joseph the story of Joseph His brothers cast him into the pit
Cut out from his family life cut out from all he had known cut out from that position of favor that that robe that status symbol that symbol of his father's love torn from him an abject slave there in the land
He works his way up blessed by God in Potiphar's household So easy for him to think well,
I once thought I had this relationship with religion But that didn't really get me far not in my family life, but you know what?
When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. I started at the bottom and look what I made of myself All right.
I'm a self -made man. No wonder I rose to the top. I just mustered it deep within myself
I found some great podcasts that were just positive Enforcements in my life, you know,
I had some great life coaches I read some really good books about the power of positive thinking and here I am The master over Potiphar's house a self -made man if ever there was one
That's not how Joseph lives that's not how Joseph thinks of himself and so when Potiphar's wife
Tempts him flirts with him calls for him grabs him begins to strip him And he's he's halfway compromised already
Here I am in a land far from God far from family for all far from all I've known here I am
I made it And here I am halfway into the bed with this woman What does
Joseph say How could I do this evil against God And he runs out into the streets
And then ends up back in a dungeon to start from scratch all over again Do you see the fear of God?
It's easy to seem like you're fearing God when things go well, but that's never the test is it? It's when you're in the wilderness it's when you're at the lowest ebb of your life
It's when you have Every reason to be dismayed and depressed and discouraged and what does it even matter?
To follow through in any of these things that I used to do, but I used to want to do it doesn't matter anymore
Joseph his whole life could be gutted and he says how could I ever do evil against God? That's a fear of God in Oracle within my heart
David in Psalm 36 concerning the sin of the wicked
There's no fear of God before his eyes He flatters himself in his own eyes
When he finds out his iniquity he flatters himself in his eyes. It's not that bad better than that guy when he finds out
His iniquity when he hates other people he flatters himself in his eyes the words of his mouth wickedness deceit
He ceased to be wise he ceased to be good he devises wickedness on his bed He sets himself in a way that is not good.
He does not abhor evil Let me tell you something that I find between the lines in the lives of Shifra and Pua And without knowing too much about your own lives.
I can tell you it's it's also there between the lines of what anyone else sees For Shifra and Pua to take a stand here in this way
It could not have happened if their lives up to that point had not been consistently
Characterized in many small ways throughout every day by the fear of God You don't compromise a thousand times and then get the biggest trial the biggest fork in the road the biggest crisis
You've ever experienced and think that's all of a sudden when you're gonna do a 180 of everything You've been leaning toward for the past year
Have you ever seen stacks of dominoes I'm not very good with physics a few years after homeschooling.
I'll be better at physics So I don't have an intelligent way to describe this, but perhaps you've seen you have a small domino and Then the next one is slightly larger and the next one is slightly larger and maybe you begin with a three inch
Tall domino, but by the end of that chain as long as you make it you'll knock down a 30 -foot domino
Simply by the collective momentum of a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more
To not have a life that's characterized by the fear of God in the way that we have described is to think that when that crisis comes
When that test inevitably comes because the Lord is always proving his people You can take your little three -inch domino and put it against that wall and really hope it knocks it over How different it is when you have a life of momentum from the smallest things in your life
To the greatest moments. That's the difference of Schiffer and Poole. That will be the only difference in your life
You will buckle you will fold you will compromise you will fall If you think you can muster it up at the ninth hour as a
Christian It's daily obedience In all that God has required
It's a delight in all that God has commanded It's seeing light and life and goodness and hope in all that God has provided That's the way 30 -foot walls get knocked down.
That's the way two midwives can sit down a Pharaoh That's the way that men and women who fear
God transform an evil society This is a calling brothers and sisters for the whole church, don't you love the little summaries and acts?
It's like the hallmark moments of the book of Acts and you know what? The best one is that I've read so far
Acts 9 31 and Walking in the fear of the
Lord and In the comfort of the Holy Spirit They were multiplied wouldn't you like that to be a summary of GRBC from this year forward?
Walking in the fear of the Lord And with the comfort of the Holy Spirit God knows it's hard comfort your people
They were multiplied without these faithful women.
The Messiah would not have come Without these faithful women the
Maniacal and genocidal tyrant would have crushed out the very purpose of God for the world The hope of all the nations even the hope of Egypt itself rests in the promised seed of the woman
No monarch. No Pharaoh is ever named in the Old Testament, but we know the names of Schiffer and Pua This is what the fear of God will do to a humble or a meek woman or a humble or a weak man
In that humility and weakness they'll make Kings bow and so and I close with perhaps this observation
We can fear God and trust him because God has all power and all wisdom and all might when
Pharaoh the sort of serpentine puppet when Pharaoh Tries now in verse 22 to drown the children of Israel.
Do you know what God does in? due time He drowns all the soldiers of Pharaoh in the
Red Sea God has all power and all might therefore we shall not be afraid.
What can man do to us? Let's pray Father we thank you for your word.
We pray Lord. You would give us a reverence for you that we currently do not possess a reverence as individuals as Households here
Lord that you would be the fear in our homes That we would reverence you however awkward it may be we would follow through on your commandments
That we would not fail in the day of trial Because we've put on the armor day by day to keep what you've given to us out of fear
Out of love that we would see the conclusion of the whole matter truly is to fear you and keep what you have commanded us
Help us in this church Lord to walk together Collectively not just as individuals not just having you as the reverence of our homes
But even as a church Lord that we would walk together Collectively in a fear of you and in the comfort you give us by the paraclete and that you would so multiply us
Lord That even where your blessing begins to attract the attention if not the opposition of those around us
We would not lose heart. We would not be distracted we would see your great purpose for your kingdom in this world and how it it has a
Great calling on every believer in whatever station or season they may find themselves It has a purpose in the sphere of the home.
It commands the nation in the state and ultimately Lord It will be your kingdom that brings forth that promised seed and the fullness of the curse will be eradicated forever the serpent finally and forever crushed
Help us Lord to be motivated and moved by these things give us momentum Lord and strength where we are weak
Give young women in this church a fear of you might they be worthy of the names beautiful one and splendid one