Summer At Sea: Week 3 Day 4

Exodus 1:18-21

 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.

Yesterday we were introduced to Shiphrah and Puah, the heroes of this week’s Scripture. Today we find them faced with that question that they knew would come when they made the decision to save the baby boys: “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” (Exodus 1:18).

Can you just imagine Pharoah, the top man in all of Egypt, as he listened to the ladies’ answer to why the boys were still alive? As such a powerful man, the ways of women in childbirth probably didn’t interest him a whole lot, and if that were true, Pharoah was in no position to argue with the two women who did this for a living! Apparently, Pharoah was so out of his element in regards to the situation that he accepted Shiphrah and Puah’s excuse. 

Regardless of how ill equipped Pharoah might have been to debate what occurs at childbirth, the two women risked their own lives in order to obey God; the world of the Israelites would be forever changed because of their obedience. 

When we are faced with danger or hardship because of a decision we must make, the right choice is to obey God, even when it’s risky. Even when we don’t know the outcome, we are to be obedient; the rest is up to God.