The Pharaoh – the ruler of the empire by divine right, the agent of God, the mediator between God and people, the enactor of the law, the owner of the entire land of the empire…who would dare to stand against such a powerful ruler? The Pharaoh felt himself enormously powerful even to stand against other gods. What if such a powerful reader is on one’s side! That was the experience of Patriarch Joseph, and his family he brought from Canaan. The family of Jacob could enjoy special royal provision and protection for a number of decades even after the death of Joseph. Subsequent Pharaohs seemed to know and respect the history and traditions of Egypt and they were grateful to the great service rendered by Joseph. These Pharaohs respectfully treated all the Hebrews. Then came a new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. With this new Pharaoh came new troubles for the Hebrews.

God had blessed the humankind to multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28; 9:1). This blessing was fulfilled in a special way in the case of the Israelites in Egypt. The new Pharaoh must have been jealous of the growth of the Israelites. He decided to oppress the Hebrews and to curb their growth. An all-powerful ruler with all his authority, military might, people and resources set against a disorganized, poor, hapless, “non-people.” The outcome is anybody’s guess.

Pharaoh devised cruel strategies to oppress the Hebrews (Exodus 1:9ff.). The first thing he did was to “demonize” the Israelites. He presented them as a dangerous people and a threat to the safety of Egypt. Such a propaganda against the Israelites would make Egyptians support any move from the Pharaoh to persecute the Hebrews. All persecutors follow the same pattern. First they blacken the picture of their victims and portray them in most despicable terms and then they throw them to the fury of the state and the people. Pharaoh wanted to move wisely against the Hebrews (Ex. 1:10). But what he did was to act brutally. Those persecutors who act most wickedly think that they act very wisely.

Pharaoh’s mad utterances had the force of the law and status of a policy! His dictates had the aura of a divine law. He ordered the Hebrews to be oppressed with forced labour. The task masters did their best to make the life of the Hebrews bitter. Pharaoh’ fury was not only against Israelite adults. His heinous mind did not exclude even the Hebrew babies. So, he instructed the midwives to kill the male Hebrew children. Pharaoh has spoken, who can resist it? God’s promise to the Hebrews is in jeopardy!

Nevertheless, resistance to Pharaoh came from quite unexpected quarters. Two simple women, the midwives, though they were no match to the Pharaoh, simply defied his command. They were expected to fear Pharaoh; but they feared God instead (Ex 1:17). As they were God-fearing people, they refused to obey the draconian demand of Pharaoh. The text is not clear about the identity of the midwives. Were they Hebrew women? If so, how can Pharaoh expect them to comply with his vicious plan? Or, did he expect this women to be too cheap to betray their own people? Perhaps they were Egyptian women employed by the Hebrews. The Hebrew women employed them with full trust. As these midwives were righteous, they could not betray those who trusted them. In fact, Pharaoh may have wanted the midwives to kill the babies and to convince the would-be Hebrew mothers that their babies were stillborn. Pharaoh wanted the midwives to deceive the Hebrew mothers; the midwives deceived Pharaoh instead.

These midwives were not cowed by the prevalent religious belief that the king was the deputy of God. They refused to forgo their moral reasoning before the power of Pharaoh and the system that presented any and every command of the ruler as the divine edict. The righteous reasoning, bold decision and responsible disobedience of the weak and insignificant women opened the way for the fulfilment of the divine promise and command to “multiply and fill the earth.” That the God of the Bible stands not with the mighty who make claim to rule with “divine right” and rule arbitrarily but with those who resist them on moral grounds is clear from the fact the midwives were rewarded by God (Exodus 1:20-21)!