So please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1, we're going to begin looking at verse 15 through the end of the chapter, verse 22. Exodus chapter 1, beginning in verse 15, reading through verse 22, a reminder that this is God's holy and inspired word that we now give our attention to. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, when you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him. But if it is a daughter, she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, why have you done this? And let the male children live. The midwife 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. So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. And then Pharaoh commanded all his people, every son that is born to the Hebrews, you shall cast into the Nile, for you shall let every daughter live. This is God's holy word. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word, and we ask that you would bless the reading and preaching of your Word. May you work mightily by your Spirit, giving us open ears, hearts, and eyes that we might see and understand what you would have us learn from your Word. We ask that you would use it to build us up in our faith and to draw us closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray this in his precious name. Amen. As we finish chapter one this week, last time we saw the great persecution that had come against the people of God as Pharaoh, he enslaves them. He's afraid of them, and so he subjects them to slavery and to hard labor. This is a persecution. We made those comparisons of this battle, this cosmic warfare going on between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And especially here in the beginning of Exodus, that's a major theme of what's going on. There's this conflict going on. Pharaoh is the enemy of God. He's the enemy of God's people. He's oppressing them. And God is coming along as a deliverer to redeem them, to destroy the power of Pharaoh, and to bring them out into freedom. There is spiritual conflict going on here. And we saw as well that God was faithful. He was faithful in keeping his promises, his promises of blessing and multiplying the Israelites. That's begun to be fulfilled here in chapter 1. And he is continuing, despite the persecution that they endure, despite the hardships, he's continuing to work. He's continuing to bless them and prosper them, even in the midst of those hardships. this week as we turn to the end of Chapter 1. This is providing some of the context for the birth of Moses, which is going to start in Chapter 2. This is the atmosphere of what Moses is born into. But in particular as well, this is a particular episode that encapsulates everything that Chapter 1 has talked about up to this point with the oppression of Pharaoh and everything that's going on. We see here that the serpent is striking viciously against the people of God to snuff out God's promises, the murder of the male children. And yet we see God is at work as well, working through His servants, these midwives even, through their faithfulness. God blesses them and provides deliverance. We see along the way also that God blesses those who honor And those who are faithful, confessing God before the world, and doing their best to please Him, God will honor them and bless them as well. If we look at this passage, I want to begin, first consider this command that Pharaoh gives. We see it, two iterations of it. The first is in verses 15 and 16, and then at the end, he gives an even more general command. The first one is just to the midwives. Verse 22, he gives this command to everyone in Egypt. We read in verse 16, when you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live. In verse 22, Pharaoh commanded all his people, every son that is born to the Hebrews, you shall cast into the Nile, but you should let every daughter live. We're not sure if there was a specific event that prompted this command, Generally speaking, we've seen already that Pharaoh is afraid. As God is prospering in Israel, they're becoming more populous, they're becoming powerful. He's concerned that they might turn against him militarily, and that could be a very real reason for why he would do this, particularly young men. Those are where you get your military power from, and so to kill off a generation of young men would really cripple the strength of the Israelites. Plus, that would result in a shortage of men to be able to marry and multiply, and this would give Pharaoh greater opportunity to subjugate Israel even further. Israel wanted to have the strength to resist or to stand against him. Some think that there may have been something else going on, particularly that there may have been this idea that Perhaps his magicians, those sorcerers in his court had ascertained in some way or had some idea that perhaps a child was going to be born that might supplant him or cause great harm to him. Similarly to how the wise men come to Herod and it reveals to Herod that they're looking for a king to be born. And well, Herod's very interested in that. I don't want any king coming around. And he tries to deceive the wise men, but God overcomes that. So perhaps there's something like that going on. The text just doesn't tell us those details. But at the end, what's going on here is that Pharaoh, for whatever reason, wants to destroy Israel. If you're to cut off this whole generation of men, that would not only cripple Israel militarily, but that would result in the death of Moses, the savior, the mediator who's going to come and bring Israel out of Egypt. And along with that, it would effectively, in many ways, cut off the people as a whole. For them to be able to continue would require assimilation with the Egyptians, full assimilation. And it would snuff out this line of Christ and the promise to come. That's why when you have these kinds of events in Scripture, these events that threaten the birth of Christ, these are significant spiritual events. Not just about murdering children, that's here, but it's more than that. There's a spiritual event going on. Satan is seeking to destroy the seed of the woman, similarly to how King Herod sought to snuff out the seed by killing Christ in Bethlehem. One question that arises here, as Pharaoh gives this command, he's seeking to destroy all these children, some people raise the question, well, if that's the case, why are there only two midwives here? Especially if the whole people have been multiplying like crazy, as the text has been telling us so far. How in the world are two midwives able to handle all of those births? Well, the reality is there's probably a lot more midwives than just these two. These are probably the chief or the head midwives, and so the idea is Pharaoh goes to them, he gives them these instructions, and then they would be responsible for ensuring that all the midwives among the Hebrews would follow these orders. And so Pharaoh gives this command to them, he gives this command that all the children, the male children, should be killed. This brings us to the disobedience of the midwives, which we see in verse 17. But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. The midwives disobey this edict, and this is rooted in the fact that they fear God rather than men. There's an important principle going on here, and we see this throughout the scriptures. The Scripture very clearly teaches that their authority exists, that there are proper authority figures, whether it's in the family, husbands, wives, parents, things like that, whether it's in the church, pastors, and elders, or even within the state, such as kings and emperors. Romans 13 and 1 Peter both talk about how we are, especially Christians, are to be subject to the governing authorities, and we are to obey them. Yet we have in Scripture this principle that overrides that. And that's the fact that our allegiance is first and foremost to be God above every other authority. This is not to supplant the authority of what God has established here on earth. This is the fact that God is the chief authority. All authority is derived from Him. So yes, civil authorities are to be obeyed, but they are not to be obeyed. They are to be disobeyed when they either forbid what God commands, or command what God forbids. Some famous examples in the Bible include Daniel. When he's praying in his window, the king passes an edict that forbids, well, it both forbids something and it commands something. It forbids praying to God. It forbids you to be able to pray to the true God, the only one you're allowed to pray to. The command then is that you pray to the king. And so both of those are wrong. Both this forbidding, what God commands us to do in praying to him, and then also this restriction, this command that the only one you can pray to is to a false god, the king in this instance. And so Daniel, he disobeys the authority. He doesn't, he goes, he goes into his window, he prays again, and he gets in trouble for that, but God delivers him. His friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are another example is when they are told to bow down to the idol. That's a command that the king is giving that's something that God has forbidden. And they stand up and they don't obey. They don't follow it. And they stand and say, we're going to follow God and do what he commands rather than what the king commands. The apostles are another example of this. Early on in their ministry, they get arrested. They get investigated by the chief priests and the priests give them a strict charge. Do not preach this Jesus Christ anymore. Don't go and spread this. Don't talk about this. And what is it that they respond? They say, we have to obey God rather than men. And so they go out and they just keep preaching all the more. And that's what we see going on here with these midwives. This command from Pharaoh was a wicked command to murder these children. And so the midwives, they fear God. It's interesting, too. These are Hebrew midwives. They're in slavery. They're in bondage. You might think there'd be a temptation to compromise. Think about that. What has God done for them? It's been hundreds of years. Their condition has only been getting worse and worse. They're becoming more and more enslaved. And now the Pharaoh is telling them to commit an even greater persecution. There might be a temptation here. Well, for hundreds of years, it looks like Pharaoh's winning. Outwardly, we're all losing. We're enslaved. He's got all the power. He's got all the strength. And now he's going about killing us. Maybe we should side with him rather than God. From a human perspective, that might make sense. There doesn't seem to be any hesitation here. They fear God. He is their number one priority. He is their Lord. He is the one they serve. And so when the king of Egypt gives them this wicked command, there's no question in the midwives' mind what they should do. They are not going to obey this wicked command, but rather they are going to follow God first. And that means that they are going to disobey. They're going to disobey the earthly authority because their heavenly authority is more important. That's something that's important for us as well, especially as we live in a civil society where there is so much wickedness that's becoming prominent and popular. And even in the highest parts of our land, there is wickedness that is promoted as something good. And we are approaching a day, and even experience in different quarters of this country, times when the civil authorities are promoting wickedness. And may get to the point where they're not just promoting it, but may require it of Christians. They'll either command what God forbids, or they will forbid what God commands. And the question that we will have to face at that time is, how are we going to respond? Do we fear God more than we fear men? Are we willing to be seen as outsiders? Are we willing to be reviled? Are we willing to be imprisoned? Are we willing to be persecuted for the sake of Christ? That's essentially what these midwives faced and they responded by following their God. And that's a question we have to face as well. When that moment comes, do we fear God or do we fear man? This brings us now to verses 18 and 19. We have this interview that happens between Pharaoh and the midwives. As they disobey the king, the reality is it's kind of hard to hide the fact that you're disobeying, because there's boys being born. You can't just hide that. You might be able to hide one, like Moses, for a period of time, but even that became too difficult. And so it becomes pretty obvious at some point that something's not right. I told the midwives to kill all the boys. There's tons of boys being born. Okay, what gives? Why is this happening? So Pharaoh calls on the women. And so he asks them, he asked them, why have you done this? Why do you let the male children live? And then we have this response here from the midwives. They respond, because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them. So basically what they're saying is, and there's a little bit of debate about what exactly they're saying, because the language for vigorous can be used to talk about kind of how animals give birth. And so are they saying the Hebrew women are better than the Egyptian women? Are they demeaning the Hebrew women? It's a little ambiguous there. But the point of it at the end is, well, it's not our fault, Pharaoh. It just happens too quickly. They just come out. And by the time the messenger comes and we get to them, the child's already born, and we can't sneak them away and kill them. There's nothing we can do. And this has raised a question. There's a significant ethical question here that I want to try to answer a little bit. The question is, are the midwives lying? And if they are lying, how should we understand this? Is this normative for us today? Should we follow their example? This also is connected to Rahab when she hides the spies and she says, no, they went this other way. She lies to protect them. Is it okay to lie to protect life? That's a difficult question. And so there's a whole lot that's been said about this, but I want to briefly summarize four views of how we should understand this and explain which one I think is probably the best, though I recognize good Christians disagree on this. The first one is this. There's a lot of people who look at this passage and they make the argument the Hebrew midwives did not lie. They would argue that God works supernaturally. in order to preserve the lives of the baby boy, he made it that their pregnancies went quickly and the birth process went quickly and that what they were saying was true. This was the real reason why. It's not that they did anything wrong. It's that, well, they show up, baby's already born, nothing I can do now. I don't think this is the right view and I think the reason is It doesn't seem to fit with what was said in verse 17 about fearing God rather than man, and the idea that the midwives are disobeying him. Because if what the midwives are saying is true, they haven't actually disobeyed Frederick. All they're saying is, we were unable to carry out your command. They wouldn't have carried out the command if they were in a position to, but it seems to indicate that they didn't actually disobey Pharaoh if this was the case, because babies born, they're not needed. They got there too late. And so based on verse 17, that the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, and then, of course, the response about how God dealt well with them, I don't think that their statement here is the entire truth. So the second view then is, the second and third view both say that they did lie. The second view says they lied and they shouldn't have. This was a sin. This was something that was wicked, but God forgave them in some way because they were doing it for the right motives, but they shouldn't have lied. There's a number of Christians throughout the history of church that this is their position. Christians should not lie. And but God can forgive even that sin. Some people say, well, yes, this was a lie, but it was a justified lie in the sense that it was an act of love saving the lives of others. If I had to choose between these two views, I would tend to side on that third one. There is an aspect that murder is worse than lying. And so there's an aspect here that they are attempting to save lives. That doesn't mean it's necessarily good that they lied, but there is an aspect that maybe justified may not be the right word here. But it's a lesser sin in the sight of God than participating in. a murder. Another example or case of this would be in World War II, hiding Jews as they were, as the Nazis were trying to kill them, would it be appropriate to lie there? And that's the same kind of ethical question. And there you've got that idea. You're trying to preserve life, and sometimes people would lie in order to protect them. Then the fourth view, and this is what I think is most likely what's going on. The fourth view is that While they didn't tell the whole truth, it's not an outright lie. What's going on here is they're saying something that's kind of, I mean, their statement's kind of crazy. It's a little bit fantastical. I mean, you've got a whole, I mean, a huge population of people, lots of pregnancies, a lot of births happening, a lot of boys being born, and Who in their right mind, naturally speaking, believes that all these boys are being born that quickly without any complications, any need for a midwife, you know, any of that going on? I mean, Pharaoh should recognize that this doesn't quite pass the sniff test. And yet he buys it. And so there seems to be this idea here that it's not that they're lying to Pharaoh, but it's almost like a sarcasm or a jesting. An example of this, again, back to World War II, there was a little Protestant town in France that was famous for their hiding and saving of Jews during World War II. And the Nazis would come and interrogate them and ask them and they they wouldn't just like outright lie about it, but they would give answers that would that weren't telling the truth, but it was almost kind of a certain not making fun per se, but a certain mocking, a certain jesting, a certain of, well, I don't see any Jews around here. And of course, at that moment, you're not seeing any Jews. You know where they are, but you don't see them right now. And it's kind of that thing going on, if that makes sense. And so it seems to be, I think this is probably what's going on. And of course, with the written word, it's harder to understand all the nuances of communication that happens. But there seems to be this aspect of, well, I mean, there's nothing we can do. They're just so vigorous. They just give birth so quickly. I mean, they're not like the Egyptian women. They're different. And Pharaoh is deceived. He's blinded. And I think that fits in particular with just everything else that happens. There's this cosmic warfare going on. God is fighting Pharaoh. And God is beating Pharaoh at every turn. And in particular here, Pharaoh loses to a bunch of midwives. Like, the most powerful man is beaten by midwives. And there seems to be something significant there. I mean, notice as well, we mentioned this before, Pharaoh's name is not mentioned in the entire book of Exodus. And yet here, immediately, verse 15, then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other, Puah. Like right off the bat, here's their name. Pharaoh is seen as the loser, and these midwives are seen as the victor. And so I don't think it's fair to say that the midwives are outright lying. I think there's a little bit of deception, a little bit of hiding the truth, but in a way that really makes Pharaoh look bad. And especially when you see everything that happens afterward, this war between God and Pharaoh. Pharaoh, he always ends up looking back. That's the thing that happens. God is embarrassing Pharaoh. He's defeating Pharaoh at every single point. Such that everyone on Pharaoh's side is like, please stop. We've lost. Pharaoh, his heart is hardened and he doesn't see it. So that may not be the best explanation. If you have questions, we can talk about it later. But that's the best I have right now for what I think is happening in this particular section, this response of the midwives to Pharaoh. This brings us now to the last section, verses 20 through 21, which is God's blessing of the midwives. And here what we see going on is that God honors those who honor him. Whether there was sin in their words or not, you can disagree on this question, God honors the right intentions and their actions to deliver the lives of the infant boys. Whether they were fully right, the midwives here, their desire is to honor God. And they are striving to the best of their ability in this difficult moment. We want to be careful. This is a difficult thing that the midwives are going through, and we want to be careful about judging them too harshly. But they are doing their best as normal people to follow God. Here they are. They're just midwives. They're brought before Pharaoh, and Pharaoh says, go and commit murder. This great murder. Kill all these probably thousands of boys. And they stand up to the most powerful king. They stand up to him. They say, no, we're going to follow God at the risk of their own lives. God honors them. God blesses them. Their names are recorded. And then we read in verse 20, God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Because of their actions in saving the children of God's people, God blesses them with children themselves. There's something important here for us to consider. I mentioned already, we are going to have to face the questions, if we haven't faced it already, about are we going to follow God or are we going to fear man? And here you have, in the example of the midwives, not only their Not only their example of their decision, we're going to follow God. But we also see as well how God responds to it. God blesses them. God honors them. He notices this action. He notices that they stood up to Pharaoh. He notices who they are. Their names are recorded. Pharaoh is forgotten. We don't actually know which Pharaoh was the king of Egypt during the exodus. We can make guesses, but we don't actually know. His name is forgotten. It's not recorded. But these two midwives, their names are recorded because God sees and notices even what might be considered small or difficult acts for him. In our study in Proverbs, some of the Proverbs we've studied recently are things like Proverbs 15, 16, better is a little with fear of the Lord, the great treasure and trouble with it. And that's what the midwives are embodying here. It is better to risk the wrath of Baruch and fear God than whatever honor he might have bestowed on them and have the trouble of that sin and God's wrath on them. One of the things that Jesus tells us is that if we confess him before men, he will confess us before his father in heaven. That's the same idea of what's going on. Christ honors those who honor Him. And so the question for us is, what are we gonna do? Which is the better way? Are we gonna be afraid? Are we gonna be willing to compromise? Are we gonna give in when the time of trial and persecution comes? Are we gonna be faithful to our Savior, Jesus Christ, confessing Him before a watching world, being willing to live and die with Him? because that is better than whatever the world may try to buy us with. No matter what consequences we may experience in this life, whether it's just hardship, financial, or otherwise, or even if it be death itself, it is better to be on the side of Jesus Christ. His path is the best path. He's our Savior. He came for us. He died for us. He has bought us. So let us strive to be those that confess Christ before men. And let us have that comfort and assurance as we confess Christ, he confesses us before his Father in heaven. Let's close this evening in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and we ask that you would use it to build us up in our faith. Bring these words to our remembrance and memory. As we go throughout the week, as we experience different trials and difficulties, that you would be working to sustain us, to grow us, to build us up, that we might be faithful and following you. That we would not grow weary, that we would not faint on the way, but that we would find strength and you are a great God. We pray this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.