Taking hope

Linda Pollock August 20, 2023 2 3

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Exodus 1: 8-22 (NRSVA)

8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ 17 But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ 19 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.’ 20 So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 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.’

There is so much in this story and many questions occur to me as I read the passage.

However, after several readings of the text, what persists on this occasion is this: What am I willing to do to maintain the habitat of hope where God has placed me?

Shiphrah and Puah disobeyed the ultimate powerful person in the land and, in their disobedience to Pharaoh, they also lied to him. They risked everything because they understood that their God was THE only true power worthy of obedience.

I must ask, are we willing to stand for something, namely the Kingdom of God’s bias to poor ones, or is it easier to fall for anything, i.e. churchiness and poverty of heart, in the name of Christ Jesus?

Whether we like it or not, we share with oppressed people, impoverished people, marginalised people, the same habitats of hope because we share God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Will you speak out against oppression as these ancient midwives did, and help give birth to the glory of God?

Will you stand against the powerful people of our day, defying government policies around poverty, asylum seekers and ecology, to name but three concerns?

Is your habitat of hope yours exclusively, “you in your small corner and I in mine,” or do you see the bigger picture that Shiphrah and Puah may have glimpsed? Their decision to obey and trust our God, gave birth to Moses and the story of God’s interaction with His beloved children of Israel. Who knew the vast implications that brave choice would have? 

PRAYER:

Holy God, renew Your call to us to stand firm with Christ Jesus as we co-create habitats of hope in lives far and near, in the Name of Jesus we pray. Amen.