Today's text - Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
An angry, murderous king.
Clever midwives.
A frightened mother.
A baby adrift.
A pharaoh’s daughter with compassion.
This story at the beginning of the book of Exodus, at the beginning of the life of Moses - this story is one of the classic stories in Biblical literature. It sets the stage for great things to come. It is a story filled with drama - and a happy ending.
I’d like this morning to ask you to join me in entering into the lives of the characters in this story because I think what they are going through can give us insights to what we are going through right now in our lives.
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Those of you who were here last week may remember that Joseph - son of Jacob and Rachel, grandson of Isaac and Rebecca, great grandson of Abraham and Sarah - Joseph rose to power in Egypt, then brought his family there to save them from starvation and protected them in this foreign land.
But now time has passed and this king only knows the descendants of Joseph as slaves, people upon whom they ruthlessly imposed tasks, making their lives bitter with hard service. You can understand why the enslaved African Americans in our country identified so closely with the oppression of the Israelites and the prospect of someone leading them to freedom.
The king is worried that the Israelites are reproducing too quickly and soon may overpower the Egyptians, so he orders the Egyptian midwives to kill the Hebrew male babies. It’s a horrifying order.
Two midwives - Shiphrah and Puah - take it upon themselves to resist the king’s order. When he calls them in to question why male babies are not being killed, they concoct this story about vigorous Hebrew women giving birth before the midwife arrives.
They are the first heroes in the story. So imagine you are Shiphrah or Puah facing an immoral order from a ruler - or a boss.
What would you do?
How do you weigh the directions of God against the perils of the moment?
How do you choose to resist or undermine the things that put the lives of others at grave risk?
Think of the people who first sought the abolition of slavery in this nation, those who gave their lives in the Civil War fought over stopping slavery, those women who were arrested seeking the right to vote, those people who marched for civil rights.
Our acts of creative resistance to what we see as wrong may not be so historic but I think we can draw inspiration from Shiphra and Puah. We can find the places in our lives where we need to stand up against injustice. And notice that these two women stood together. It always helps to have allies.
The king, however, was not going to be deterred. Those intent on protecting their own power seldom are. So he tries another tactic. He orders all his people to throw any newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile River - that great river that flows from Central Africa north through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.
That brings us to the next character in the story - Jochebed, the mother of Moses. She is not named in this passage - notice how often women’s names get left out - but she is named elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible.
She already had two children - a son Aaron and a daughter Miriam. Now she was pregnant again and she surely knew of the king’s order and the danger this posed to her son.
Imagine the worry on her heart. This beautiful baby boy would be taken from her and drowned in the Nile. So she came up with a plan - a desperate plan in the hope that it might save the life of her child.
Jochebed used papyrus - a kind of thick paper - to fashion a basket. She put Moses in the basket and - along with her daughter, Miriam - carried Moses to the edge of the Nile River.
What must have been going through Jochebed’s mind at that moment? She was sending her infant son into danger. There was nothing she could tell him - no warnings like Black parents give their teens as they go out into a hostile work, no words of wisdom like I gave my teens about being responsible as they joined friends for the evening. Just the sounds of footsteps on the ground.
Beyoncé, one of the great musical artists of our era, has a new video out called “Black is King.” She uses music she sang in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, then adds video reflecting the life and culture of the nations and tribes of Africa. There is a powerful scene where Beyoncé takes on the persona of Jochebed, Moses’ mother.
You see her smiling at her baby as she cradles him in her arms, you see her put him in the papyrus basket and then you see her carrying the basket towards the river. The look on her face is piercing - worry, grief mixed with determination.
Beyoncé sings a song called “Otherside:”
“Best believe me
You will see me
On the other side.”
(Here's a link to the audio of the whole song.)
We know she will in fact see Moses on the other side. But at this moment, Jochabed only knows she is sending away her baby boy with the slimmest of hopes that this act will keep him alive. And yet there is that hope.
Think of how many people these days have sent loved ones off to hospitals, fearing they may never see then again, holding out hope that they will recover, that life can go on. Think how alone, how frightened we can feel at a time like this. And know that we stand along with Jochabed, doing what we hope is best, hoping against all odds that things will turn out OK.
Moses begins his journey down the river. In Beyoncé’s video, the river is anything but peaceful. There are rocks, there are rapids throwing the basket to and fro. Moses is too young to understand what is happening and unable to see out of the basket.
There are surely days in this season that I feel that way. There are the rocks of the pandemic and the waves of the economy and the rapids of racial turmoil. I don’t know where this river is taking me. I cannot see outside the little container of my life. All of this leaves me with a sense of anxiety and uncertainty. And I certainly can feel all alone in the midst of this meandering journey.
Once again, she is not named in the text in Exodus, but later in the Bible, we learn that her name was Bithiah. Her father was the king, the pharaoh. Surely she knew of his order to drown all the Hebrew infant boys. She was one of the privileged ones in Egypt of that time - part of a powerful and wealthy family, servants coming with her to the river as she prepared to bathe.
And then she sees a basket floating down the river. Perhaps she heard a baby crying. One of her servants grabbed the basket out of the water and brought it to Bithiah. She saw the baby. She recognized it as a Hebrew baby. She knew what she was supposed to do - throw him into the river.
And yet…and yet…she hesitated. She risked defying her father to save this child. She used her power and privilege to help others.
As we get to the end of the story, we learn that Moses’ sister, Miriam, talks with the princess, reunites Jochabed with her son and Moses grows up in the royal home. Later, he will lead his people to freedom.
We also learn later in the biblical Book of First Chronicles that Bithiah marries one of the Hebrew men, has children with him and travels with the Hebrews to freedom. She clearly had taken a stand that cost her privilege in order to help others.
That notion of helping others I think is one of the keys to this whole story.
Shiphra and Puah used their creative resistance to save the Hebrew children.
Jochabed was accompanied on her journey to the river by her daughter, Miriam, who in turn would act to reunite Moses with his mother.
Bithiah and her servants worked together to save Moses from the river and to raise him in a place where he would be safe.
We know the worry of mothers like Jochabed, we know the uncertainty of Moses in a basket floating down a river, we know what it is like to be in a position to reach out to others.
We know that by working together, we can make life better for those who are struggling,
One of the wonderful things about this story is how it is embraced by all three of faith traditions that grew out of the family of Abraham. Of course it is in the Hebrew Bible, that we as Christians use as the backdrop for our own understanding of the life and message of Jesus. It is also in the Qur’ran, the sacred scripture of the Muslim faith, told in essentially the same way.
We can all appreciate the way this story sets an oppressed people on the path to liberation. We can all appreciate how God’s grace gives people strength and hope in even the hardest times. This is a time when we need God’s grace and each other’s help as we navigate the rivers of our lives.
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