Meditation on Exodus 1:8-2:10
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Pastor Karen Crawford
Aug. 27, 2023
This past Thursday, I hosted another Bedtime Story and Prayer gathering on Zoom for the children. Four families participated—11 children plus parents, on and off camera.
Are you wondering why am I doing this? I’m pretty sure most pastors aren’t doing Zoom Bedtime Story and prayers with the children of their flocks. The main reason I wanted to do this was to stay connected with the children and young families over the summer. I saw the Bedtime Story and Prayers as a way to do pastoral care with children and young families. It was also an opportunity for ministry beyond the church walls.
After the first story time on Zoom in July, I felt so emotional at spending time with the children in the intimacy of their homes that I became convinced that the gatherings on Zoom at bedtime would help me get to know the children better and for them to get to know me, as well as helping to nurture their faith. I have seen children wrapped in hoodie towels after swimming in their pools, eating a dish of ice cream or finishing dinner in their kitchen. I have seen them in footie pajamas in their living rooms, hugging stuffed dogs as big as they are.
And you know how some of the kids are shy in church? Well, most are NOT shy and quiet when they are in their homes, talking to me on Zoom! I have gotten caught up on their summer news and happenings, seen their smiling faces and heard their giggling—a lot more than they do in church!
As the story comes to a close, I have seen the younger ones yawn. That makes me feel all warm and peaceful. The parents are probably yawning off camera! The best part of all—and there are many good parts to this—is when I ask if any of the children have joys or prayer requests to share. They rarely need any prompting.
We have prayed for healing for family members, blessings on the new school year—that they would have a good time and make new friends. We have prayed that God would bless their parents when the busy time of school begins, once again. We have thanked God for God’s Son and the wonders of summer, all the fun things we have been able to do, and for this day—the beauty of the rain, the clouds, the sunshine. We have prayed that God would continue to watch over and keep all the children and families safe, in the Lord’s tender care.
Yesterday, I got to thinking of how radical the Zoom bedtime story and prayers really is! We are welcoming the Holy Spirit into our children’s homes and lives and teaching them how God wants to hear everything that is on our minds and hearts, that God wants to be known to all the children and families, and that God loves us and wants to help us and be with us, forever. We are teaching them, without saying in so many words, about the power of prayer, not just in church, but also in our homes or wherever we are!
Is there anything more wonderful to God and more offensive to the powers and principalities of darkness than teaching our children to hope in the Lord and be led by the Love in their hearts?
Our Exodus reading features mostly ordinary folks who do radical and courageous things in a dark time for God’s people. The life-saving acts are done quietly by women whose lives in ancient times are limited to the domestic realm.
The midwives—Shiphrah and Puah—are the first to be heroic in this passage. They are ordered to kill all the infant boys born to the Hebrew-speaking people who have lived in Egypt for generations because of Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph rose to second in command to the pharaoh of his time when he interpreted the pharaoh’s dreams and predicted a famine, saving the lives of many people—Egyptian and Hebrew-speaking alike.
Joseph dies; years pass. A new pharaoh rises to power. He has either forgotten the good that Joseph did for Egypt or doesn’t care. He enslaves the entire population of Hebrew speaking people, and he worries what might happen if there is a war, and the slaves side with his enemies. The more afraid he becomes, the more he seeks to oppress God’s people.
The midwives have a choice—whether to live out their faith and “fear” the Lord or submit to the evil, frightened pharaoh and take the lives of the children of their own people. One author [1] writes how the midwives’ refusal to follow the Pharaoh’s genocidal instructions “may be the first known incident of civil disobedience in history.” A theologian agrees (Jonathan Magonet), calling them “the earliest, and in some ways the most powerful, examples, of resistance to an evil regime.” [2]
I am sure Shiphrah and Puah aren’t thinking of their legacy or patting themselves on the back for helping their people avoid genocide. They are only following their hearts. Midwives are, of course, devoted to helping women survive childbirth and give birth to strong, healthy babies. Giving birth was incredibly dangerous! Joseph’s mother, Rachel, though she is helped by a midwife, dies while giving birth to her second child, Benjamin, on the way to Canaan. Midwives are the gynecologists, obstetricians, and pediatricians of their day. They make house calls! They use the latest technology available to them, such as, did you catch the detail?—the women are using birthing stools.
What’s amazing is the story Shiphrah and Puah tell when the pharaoh learns they are not following his orders. It feeds right into his fear of the growing Hebrew-speaking population when the midwives say that “the women are not like Egyptian women.” They are more “vigorous” and give birth before the midwives arrive.
God rewards the midwives for their acts of bravery. God gives them families of their own—so we have another peek inside this ancient society, where midwives are usually women who cannot have children. Now even the midwives are giving birth!
Pharaoh responds by ordering that every male Hebrew child be thrown into the Nile.
Moses’s mother hides her beautiful son for 3 months, (how can she do that, right?) and when she can no longer safely conceal him, she puts him into the Nile, as the pharaoh has commanded. But first she lays him in a papyrus basket that has been sealed and water-proofed with the technology of their day. She sends her older daughter, Miriam, out to keep an eye on him. What’s a bossy, older sister for?
By the grace and mercy of God, the woman who discovers Moses in the Nile is none other than the pharaoh’s own daughter. She knows he is a child of the Hebrew people and what her father would do if he found out! Yet, she follows HER heart and loves and cares for him, anyway. Sister Miriam is right there to suggest a Hebrew mother to nurse the child for the Egyptian princess until he is old enough for her to raise him in the palace. She suggests the baby’s own mother. Of course, she’s the one!
Yes, the Lord uses a number of brave women and a girl to save the life of baby Moses. All of them follow the love in their heart and choose goodness over evil during a dark and terrible time. They choose the ways that lead to life over the ways that lead to death.
And God blesses them and uses them for a MUCH bigger plan to save God’s people. They have no idea, at the time.
After I said goodnight to the children and their parents at my Zoom storytime and prayers Thursday night, I told my husband how well it went. I thought aloud, “I guess I am finished with my summer program.”
Later, I received notes from two mothers, sad that they had missed Thursday’s gathering. “I hope you had a great turn out,” one said, “and that we can catch the next one .” The other said the family was busy celebrating their son’s birthday. “Hope to catch you another time,” she said. “Give us a reminder about the September one.”
The funny thing was that I wasn’t planning on continuing the story time—not till next summer. My husband and I looked at each other and grinned. How can I not do another? And another?
You never know how something small at the beginning turns out to be more important and even radical and dangerous to the power and principalities of darkness.
Paul in First Corinthians 15:57 says that God has given us the victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have nothing to fear from any evil thing in this world.
I urge you today to have the courage of the midwives Shiphrah and Puah, Moses’ mother, sister Miriam, and the pharaoh’s own daughter.
May you choose goodness over evil.
With God’s wisdom and strength, may you choose the ways that lead to life.
And may the Lord bless us and use us for a MUCH bigger plan of salvation.
Will you pray with me?
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Parent, Gracious and Merciful God, thank you for leading us in your wisdom and giving us the strength and creativity to try new things to reach out to those within and outside our church walls. Thank you for the children and young families in our congregation. We are so blessed! Bless them, Lord, watch over them and keep them safe as they prepare to begin a new school year. Help them to find time and energy for Sunday worship and fellowship with their church family. Stir us to encourage one another and resist giving in to fear, the spirit of the age, when it comes to making decisions. Draw us to daily seek you in prayer, hope in you, know your will for us, and to choose the ways of life. Keep us living in obedience to You and following the love your Spirit has poured into our hearts. In the name of Your Son, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
[1] Francine Klagsbrun, Voices of Wisdom, ISBN 0-394-40159-X
[2] Magonet, Jonathan (1992) Bible Lives (London: SCM), 8.
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