Shiphrah And Puah

Women Who Protected The Vulnerable

READ Exodus 1:15–21

One of the classic questions of ethics is, When is it okay to break a rule to achieve a greater good? For example, is it ever okay to take what isn’t yours to help a starving person? Or, as in our story today, is it okay to lie to protect human life? When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus offered a twofold answer: love of God and love of neighbor (Mark 12:28–34). These commands, taken from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, are to be the guiding principle of all our behavior.

Shiphrah and Puah were remarkable women. When the pharaoh of Egypt grew fearful of the power of the growing population of Israelites in his country, he subjected them to forced labor. Made into a slave class, the Israelites were compelled to build storage cities and building projects for Egypt, all while harsh taskmasters worked them ruthlessly. However, this act of enslaving the people he feared was not enough for the king.

In a command that foreshadowed Herod’s attempt to kill the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:16), the pharaoh commanded the midwives who assisted in Hebrew deliveries to kill any baby boys born to the Hebrew women. Shiphrah and Puah, however, feared God, not Pharaoh (Exodus 1:16–17).

Shiphrah and Puah disobeyed the pharaoh’s command in a bold act of faithfulness to God. Rather than fearing for their own lives, they courageously protected the lives of others. When the pharaoh summoned them to give an account of why the baby boys were not being killed as he commanded, they lied, saying they simply weren’t able to make it to the birth in time to obey him. Far from condemning the midwives’ deceit, God rewarded them for fearing and obeying him rather than the king of Egypt (1:20–21).

As we remember the faithfulness of these heroic Hebrew midwives, our goal should not be to find places in our lives where it is okay to lie. These amazing women teach us a much greater lesson. In the face of powerful voices or authorities around us, we need to remember that our highest allegiance is to God. Like Jesus said, we need to fear and honor God over humans (Matthew 10:28).

Thankfully, most of us do not live in contexts where our lives are under the same perilous threat as the Israelites in Egypt. Nonetheless, there are still believers in many parts of the world who risk comfort, status, or even their lives for their obedience to God.

The story of Shiphrah and Puah reminds us that our focus should always be fixed on faithful obedience to God. These two women stood up against the most powerful man in their world and stood firm in faithfulness to God, a wonderful testimony that our strength is not in ourselves, not in our power or status or human resources. Our strength is in God alone, who invites us to be his faithful witnesses today, just like Shiphrah and Puah were faithful witnesses so many centuries ago.