PRETTY & WISE
Picture

  • Home
  • Worthy Conference
  • Who We Are
    • Lyndsay Terry
    • Gay Idle
    • Olivia Caldwell
    • Angie Reese
    • Alexandria Brown
    • Tanya Glanzman
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Community
  • Resources
    • Books by the Pretty & Wise Co. >
      • Full Portion God
      • The First Year
      • My Father's Daughter
    • Bible Study Companion
  • Contact Us
    • Article Submission

9/19/2022

Shiphrah and Puah's aUDACIOUS dEFIANCE

0 Comments

Read Now
 

written By: Gay Idle

Picture
Have you ever found yourself shifting between adapting to the subtle (or not so subtle) lies of the culture in which we live and the truth found in the Bible?  It can be easy to condition our thinking to the path of least resistance because we can become weary of truth-splaining.  When this becomes our default way of thinking it becomes easier to just do what we’re told…even when what we are told is a lie from the enemy of our souls. 

But God calls us to do so much more than live in the misery of Satan’s lies. He calls us into His truth. Jesus said that when we abide in His Word, we will know the truth and it is that truth that sets us free (John 8:31-32). And sometimes that truth calls us to step out and take a bold risk.

We find two such audacious women stepping out in the first chapter of Exodus. 

Exodus begins with Jacob’s descendants multiplying rapidly in Egypt and a new ruler in place who has no respect for the Israelites and no memory of Joseph and what he had done. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be so fearful of the sheer numbers of the Israelites that he put them in forced labor. 

“So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves and put brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down under heavy burdens. They forced them to build the cities of  Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king” (Exodus 1:11).

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied! This was alarming to the Egyptians so they made their work even harder. They were cruel taskmasters. 

“Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: ‘When you help the Hebrew women give birth, kill all the boys as soon as they are born. Allow only the baby girls to live.’ But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king and allowed the boys to live, too.” (Exodus 1:15-17).

Did you catch that? At the risk of their own safety, Shiphrah and Puah defied Pharoah’s evil edict to kill the baby boys. They feared God more than they feared Pharoah. Because these women revered God more than the current ruler and his wicked law they had the courage to step out and do the righteous thing. They took the high road and saved the lives of many Hebrew infants. And so we read in verse 20: “So God blessed the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.”  

God honored these women for their bravery. They were given the dignity of being named in God’s word. Notice the Pharoah is not honored in this way as he is not identified by name. In the big picture of God’s story, these women are more important than the King of Egypt. 

And why? By defying the king’s order, these gutsy women set in motion the story of the Exodus, the story of how God was going to free the Israelites from slavery. We read in the second chapter of Exodus that it was during this time that Moses was born. And it was very likely the actions of these two midwives saved the life of baby Moses. It is also very likely that the bravery of Shiphra and Puah inspired Jochebed, Moses’ mother, to be courageous enough to further protect him by hiding him for three months, and then setting him off to his destiny in a basket along the edge of the Nile River. Moses grows up and goes on to deliver the Hebrew people from slavery. 

So what does that mean for us? 

As I write this I keep thinking of Fred Roger’s mother telling him that when he saw really scary news on television to “Look for the helpers”. Shiphrah and Puah were the helpers…the ‘ezers’ (Hebrew word for ‘helper’). Women are called to be ezers. There are many nuances in the word ‘ezer’, but in one sense it means “rescuer”. We, God’s women, are called as image bearers of God to be ezers. To be ready when God calls us to do the right and righteous thing. 

We need to look for the ezers. Those women who are walking out the call that God has placed on their lives…as Shiprah and Puah did. When we read the stories of these brave women…when we see other women stepping out boldly for truth, we too can be inspired to courageously step out.
​

When those around us are suffering because they have believed the lies of the enemy…we need to be ready. And sometimes we need to love God enough to break the rules. 

Blessings,

Picture
Photo by Christian Bowen on Unsplash

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details

    RSS Feed

    Authors

    The Pretty & Wise Collective features:
    Lyndsay Terry - Writer, Speaker, & Creative Arts Pastor @ Kindred Church (Amelia, VA), www.LyndsayTerry.com
    Gay Idle - Author, Speaker, & Pastor's wife @ Kindred Church (Chesterfield, VA), www.GayIdle.com
    Alexandria Brown - Speaker, Ministry leader, & Worship Leader @ Joy! Church (Fernley, NV)
    Olivia Caldwell - Homeschool momma, Writer, MOPS mom, & Bible Study Leader (Chesterfield, VA)
    Tanya Glanzman - Author & Speaker (Midlothian, VA)
    Angie Reese - Girl mom, Teacher, & Missionary (Powhatan, VA)

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    Alex
    Angie
    Apathy/Heart
    Comparison/Enough
    Consistency
    Disarray/Alignment
    Doubt/Anticipation
    Esther
    Familiarity/Intimacy
    Fear
    Focus
    Gay
    Guest
    Hagar
    HOPE
    Idenity
    Identity
    Impurity/Refinement
    Joy
    Leadership
    Loss/Expansion
    Love
    Lydia
    Lyndsay
    Obedience
    Olivia
    Ordinary
    Purpose
    Re:
    Rest
    Sherry
    Tanya
    Tired/Awaken
    Transition/stuck
    Unbelief/Trust
    Women Of The Bible
    Worship

Copyright © 2023 Pretty & Wise Co.
  • Home
  • Worthy Conference
  • Who We Are
    • Lyndsay Terry
    • Gay Idle
    • Olivia Caldwell
    • Angie Reese
    • Alexandria Brown
    • Tanya Glanzman
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Community
  • Resources
    • Books by the Pretty & Wise Co. >
      • Full Portion God
      • The First Year
      • My Father's Daughter
    • Bible Study Companion
  • Contact Us
    • Article Submission