I’m reading the Book of Exodus about the birth of Moses and I am amazed by the resourcefulness of several women in this story. Their actions literally enable Moses to survive Pharaoh’s edict to exterminate all the Hebrew baby boys. It is surprising that they are actually mentioned by name since women in ancient times were treated much like simple slaves or property. In some countries, this is still true today.
Here in this Bible passage, four women and a young girl were acknowledged for their brave acts of civil disobedience. Two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, defied Pharaoh’s order to kill the baby boys as they were born. They made the excuse that the Hebrew women delivered before they could arrive. After Moses was born, his mother, Jochebed, hid him for 3 months. When she was unable to hide him any longer, she made a basket and coated it with pitch so that she could float it in the Nile River. Jochebed must have known just the spot that Pharaoh’s daughter bathed and she placed him there. Moses’ sister, Miriam, remained to keep watch. When Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and saw that he was a Hebrew baby, she took pity on him. She adopted him as her son to protect him. She defied her own father’s order by not turning Moses over to be killed. Miriam wisely asked if she could find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. She went to get her mother and Jochebed was paid to nurse her own child. How ironic!
One special baby was spared due to the wisdom and brave acts of these four women and one girl: Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Pharoah’s daughter and Miriam. They defied the current government, risking their own lives to do what was right. Were they able to change Pharoah’s edict and save all the baby boys? No. There likely were hundreds killed by the Egyptian soldiers carrying out their leader’s cruel wishes. But they were able to save Moses and a few others. They must have felt the risk was worth it. As far as we know, only Miriam was still alive 80 years later to see her brother free nearly a million Hebrew people from slavery.
In a different time, hundreds of years later, people chose to take similar steps to save Jews who were sent to die in Hitler’s concentration camps. Corrie Tenboom and Oskar Schindler were two who risked their lives to do what was right. Millions of Jews died but a few survived due to brave souls like these. Many of the children of these survivors live right here in America today.
In every generation, people are placed in situations that call for civil disobedience. Most will go with the flow without question even if they are witnessing great atrocities. But a few coeurageous ones see the evil right in front of them and choose to act even at great cost to themselves. Queen Esther found herself in a position to choose to act when her cousin Mordecai asked her to beseech the King on behalf of the Jewish people. When Esther was reluctant, Mordecai responded with these famous words, “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Who knows whether each one of us has been placed in our position for such a time as this?
