Excerpt
The leadership lesson in this passage is that oppressors must destroy or attempt to destroy the male children of the oppressed. As we look at the contemporary scene, we cannot help but notice the condition of our young men. The Egyptians knew that the strength of a people is exhibited in their abilities related to warfare, and that, although there are exceptions to the rule, men are fighters and women are adapters. If you kill off the fighting men, the women—who are nurturers by nature—will more readily adapt themselves to a regime of enslavement.
Although the midwives were commanded by the king of Egypt to kill the Hebrew boys, they refused to do so. They realized that the king’s law, aimed at the destruction of the Hebrew boys, may have been legal in Pharaoh’s sight, but it was immoral, ungodly, unethical and just plain evil in God’s sight. There are two interlocking leadership lessons here: the first lesson is that the law of the oppressor can never be the final word that dictates the actions of the oppressed. The laws that impact the oppressed are enacted with malice aforethought to utterly destroy them. The second lesson is that it is the fear of God that strengthens the oppressed to resist the unjust laws of the oppressor. There is a suggestion in this passage that Pharaoh may have offered the midwives a monetary incentive to destroy the Hebrew boys. It was only their fear of God which was greater than their love of money that got them to refuse to cooperate in the Egyptians’ oppression of their people. Verses 18 and 19:
So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
When the king saw that the midwives did not obey his commandment, he called them in and asked them why they disobeyed him. The midwives, however, answered the king with wonderful deception and deep wisdom. They did not respond to the king as if they had not obeyed him. Rather, they came up with a rational explanation for why the Hebrew boys were not killed. In essence, they told the king that the Egyptian women were weak and that Hebrew women were strong. Egyptian women had to wait for the midwife before they could give birth, but Hebrew women would have their babies like the strong Hebrew women they were, without the assistance of the midwives. The leadership lesson here is that the oppressed must learn that revolutionary struggle is not limited to overt forms of rebellion and resistance. Wise and winning struggle against oppression includes huge doses of covert revolutionary behavior. Such covert behavior includes non-cooperation and failure to comply with unjust laws on the down low. Any fool can mouth revolutionary rhetoric, but it takes a wise person who fears God to come up with unique ways and means of subverting the system without making themselves targets for reprisals. Verses 20 through 22:
So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”
God protected the midwives from the king of Egypt’s wrath: their story was so realistic, that Pharaoh never suspected that the midwives were intentionally disobeying him. The story was realistic precisely because it was true—even though the midwives made it up on the spot. Women who are oppressed are always much stronger than the wives and other female beneficiaries of the oppressor. Our enslaved ancestors would give birth to a child in the fields and keep on working until the day’s end. It wasn’t fun, nor was it easy. In fact, the hardness of it is what made the Hebrew women and our foremothers strong.
But God went further than just protecting and blessing the midwives for their courageous subversive behavior: he gave them families of their own. They had been found so faithful in protecting God’s family, the children of Israel, that God rewarded them with their very own families. The leadership lesson here is that since God is concerned about and on the side of the oppressed, it’s just common sense that we join him in his effort to keep his people alive and multiplying greatly. To behave justly on behalf of the oppressed is to gain God’s favor.
Chapter 1 of Exodus ends with the Pharaoh commanding all the people to throw every male Hebrew into the Nile River, but to save every Hebrew girl alive. The leadership lesson for us to learn here is that the oppressor never gives up just because there is a temporary setback that we think is a victory. Oppression must be resisted in a sustained and long-term manner. Thinking that we’ve won some small victory causes us to relax just long enough for the oppressor to dig in and become more determined to keep us in bondage.
Questions for Further Reflection
1. What is there in my life right now that allows me to identify with the situation of the Israelites in Egypt? 2.
3. What addictions do I have today—aside from drugs, alcohol and tobacco—that make me just as much a slave serving a ruthless taskmaster as were the Israelites thousands of years ago? 4.
5. How can I apply the leadership lessons in chapter 1 to my own life and situation to move toward liberation and away from slavery? 6.
7. How can I apply the leadership lessons of chapter 1 to get past myself in order to serve the needs of others? 8.
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