Read Exodus 1 & 2

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.’”  Jeremiah 22:3

The story of Moses is a familiar one, a Sunday school story from our nursery days if we were raised in the church. Barely more than infants ourselves, we were challenged to imagine the baby set afloat by his mother in a basket in the reeds, the princess who finds him, and the sister who thinks quickly and responds to the situation bravely. We know this story of Moses, who was rescued from the waters of the Nile and grew up to lead his people out of slavery.

In this story from Exodus, from the moment Moses is plucked from the reeds by Pharaoh’s daughter’s servants, the focus of the story turns to him: the boy raised in Pharaoh’s court, the impulsive young man trying to come to terms with the treatment of his people, who commits murder and flees the country. While the Bible’s focus is on the man, Moses, it does not require much imagination on our part to understand the vital role of the five women who provided for him in his early life. These women were Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam and Thermuthis. (Pharaoh’s daughter’s name is not recorded in the Bible, but the ancient historian, Josephus, names her, Thermuthis.) 

Moses’ very survival was the result of the faith and actions of these women, of their obedience to a higher power rather than the law of the land, of their willingness to risk their lives in acts of civil disobedience to an unjust situation. And so our focus here is not on the baby who grew up to become a great leader for his people; it is on the community of women who helped birth him, who encouraged and supported each other, and who turned to God for guidance in a difficult situation.

The Bible’s account does not tell us if the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, attended Jochebed in the birth of this particular Hebrew baby, but certainly the story of their courage in defying Pharaoh’s orders to kill Hebrew babies was known throughout the Hebrew community and by other midwives, who in turn followed the example of civil disobedience established by these two. In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh had ultimate power. Pharaoh was god. His commands were obeyed without question and without hesitation. Yet, these two women of little status came up against this ultimate power of the ruler, continued their acts of disobedience to his instructions, and encouraged others to follow their example. Little by little, a people in bondage and servitude, discovered the awesome power of God. God provided protection against Pharaoh.

Like Shiphrah and Puah, Jochebed and Pharaoh’s own daughter resisted the wicked plan of Pharaoh and conspired to rescue this infant. Jochebed hid and protected her beautiful male child until finally, unable to hide him any longer, she did what every mother must do in order to provide the ultimate protection for her child – Jochebed released her baby into God’s loving arms and his protection. Her act of releasing Moses to God’s care saved his life and set the stage for his delivery of his people from Egypt. Jochebed’s actions allowed God’s plan to develop more fully in placing Moses in the care of Pharaoh’s own daughter. Moses received his early training and education under Pharaoh’s own roof. What better education could have been provided to the man who would someday come face-to-face with Pharaoh to negotiate for his people’s freedom!

God’s provisions and his plan for Moses’ life began before his birth, then continued in his early life with the faithful midwives, and with the loving parents who hid him and safeguarded their infant, with the quick-thinking sister, and the tender-hearted Egyptian daughter of the ruler of the land. God’s touch can be seen throughout the story and life of Moses.

Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam and Thermuthis all responded to God’s desire for justice when the opportunity presented itself. God calls each of us to this task daily, in both great and small ways. How can you personalize these words from Jeremiah to guide your response to opportunities that present themselves in your daily life? 

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.’” Jeremiah 22:3

We may never know what mighty difference our small acts of compassion and justice-seeking will have in the history of our world, but as Christians, God calls us to respond to the injustices of our day, just as he called Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Miriam and Thermuthis.

Carol Honderich, 2011